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# Exeter football got back to what it does best in win over Bedford
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/exeter-football-got-back-best-win-bedford/
- Published: 2017-10-03T13:24:05.000Z
- Updated: 2017-10-03T13:24:05.000Z
- Description: The Exeter High School football team was aware of the talk of its demise over the last two weeks, and the Blue Hawks spent all last week making sure that all it was was talk. After scoring a total of 14 points over a two-game skid, there needed to be some soul-searching and a return to what the Blue
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, Exeter, football, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

The Exeter High School football team was aware of the talk of its demise over the last two weeks, and the Blue Hawks spent all last week making sure that all it was was talk.

After scoring a total of 14 points over a two-game skid, there needed to be some soul-searching and a return to what the Blue Hawks do best.

In Satuday's 24-21 win over Bedford, they found what they were looking for, as Exeter's first two possessions were both 13-play drives that consumed plenty of clock and ended in touchdowns. Defensively, the Blue Hawks forced turnovers and found ways to keep the Bulldogs from capitalizing on opportunities.

"A lot of (people) were saying Exeter isn’t playing as well, they’re not as physical as they have been," Exeter coach Bill Ball said. "(Saturday) we answered the physical bell. Now we’ve just got to keep it going."

Exeter was 10 of 15 on third-down conversions, including 8 of 8 in the first half, and although Bedford ran 21 of its 29 second-half plays on the Blue Hawks' side of the field, they allowed just seven points.

On the first touchdown drive of the game, Exeter converted third downs of 8 and 11 yards, the second of which was picked up on a 30-yard completion from Cody Morissette to Ryan Johnson. Three plays later, Morissette scored on third-and-goal from the Bedford 1-yard line.

After the Bulldogs answered with a touchdown, the Blue Hawks started moving again, but faced a third-and-9 at the Bedford 30\. Morissette kept and picked up 9 yards and Brayden Lowery got 3 more yards on a third-and-1\. Then on third-and-goal at the 4, Morissette found Johnson for a 4-yard touchdown pass.

"I think they played a great football game, they fought hard," Bedford coach Derek Stank said. "Defensively, we were struggling in the first half and they were taking advantage of us. We weren’t executing very well."

But the biggest third-down pickups of the night came on Exeter's final drive. The Blue Hawks were getting close to field goal range, but faced a third-and-1 at Bedford's 26 when Morissette executed a quarterback sneak to get 1 yard.

After getting nothing on first and second down, Morissette connected with Johnson again for a 15-yard gain on third-and-10 down to the Bulldogs' 10-yard line. That helped set up Sam Wolff's game-winning field goal from 20 yards out with 4.6 seconds remaining.

Defensively, Exeter was plus-2 on takeaways, including two interceptions by Morissette, one of which stopped a Bedford drive at the Exeter 4-yard line. The Bulldogs also lost a fumble going in for a touchdown that would have tied the game at 21 midway through the third quarter.

"Bend but don’t break," Ball said of his defense. "I thought we played really tough. We needed this badly and now we have to build off it. It was a real solid win for us."