On the Gridiron: Defense sparked Merrimack football's comeback

The scoreboard didn't indicate that last Friday's game between the Bedford and Merrimack high school football teams was close until the Tomahawks found the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter.

But that score doesn't mean much with the Merrimack defense playing lights out for most of the second half of what turned into a 24-20 win for Bedford.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs needed eight plays to go 76 yards and take a 17-0 lead on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Connor Robert to Noah Chaberek. It was the third consecutive drive that Bedford had scored on and it looked like the Bulldogs were putting themselves in position for another blowout win.

"They have so many weapons," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. "They scored a flurry of points at the end of the first half and we couldn't stop the momentum then. That put us in a bad position."

But instead of getting blown out, Merrimack's defense tightened up. Bedford's offense ran 29 plays for the rest of the game, gaining just 54 yards - an average of 1.9 yards per play - and was forced to punt six times.

The Bulldogs' lone scoring drive during that stretch came after Merrimack lost a fumble at it's own 12-yard line, setting Bedford up with a short field that it took just two plays to cover.

That stout defense meant that when the offense finally got going, Merrimack still had a chance to win, instead of simply making the final score look a little better.

"It showed that we’re going to be a tough defensive team this year," Jackson said. "We had to rotate in some other guys on our interior line and they really did step up because we had our two best interior defensive linemen didn't play much in the second half. Other kids stepped up."

Game-saver

With the offense struggling to move the ball in the second half, Bedford needed its defense to make a play, and it got a big one from Nick Cannone.

After forcing the fifth of six punts in the half, Merrimack got the ball at its own 20-yard line, down three points with 3:58 left to play. On first down, quarterback Justin Grassini dropped back to pass and was swarmed by Bedford defenders.

"We had a blitz called and I was shooting A-gap," Cannone said. "Our defensive line all game has been going hard and (Merrimack's) o-line really gave it to us. They're solid up there. That play, I just saw an opening and I was able to sneak through."

Cannone was in Grassini's face quick enough that the quarterback had little time to react, which included leaving the ball exposed.

"I was trying to get in and get an arm on him, but finally caught the ball," he said. "He was scrambling to the side and I reached out to get a hand on it and I got the ball and was able to knock it out of his hand.

"There's that split moment when you can't believe this is happening. The tide turned in that game. Momentum for us was down and they had it. We needed a play like that to get us back up. I felt the ball come loose and I scrambling for it."

Caleb MacDonald ended up recovering the fumble for Bedford, and two plays later, Sean Tierney scored what proved to be the winning touchdown.

Best Week 1 ever

Did Division I just have all of its best games of the year in the first week of the season? Or was it just a preview of what's to come this year?

Along with Merrimack falling short in its comeback bid against Bedford, three other games were decided by a touchdown or less in the final seconds.

Winnacunnet rallied from 12 points down with less than four minutes to play to take a three-point lead over Bishop Guertin. But with 1:14 to play, the Cardinals drove 73 yards to take a 32-28 lead on a touchdown pass from Sam Raitt to Henry Boyle, and Bishop Guertin would hold to win.

Portsmouth and Keene combined to scored 44 points in the fourth quarter, as the lead changed three times in the final 2:08 before the Clippers claimed a 49-46 win over the Blackbirds.

And on Saturday, Goffstown trailed Londonderry 14-13 with 65 seconds to play when a the Grizzlies' Adam Moses recovered a Lancers fumble in the end zone to give his team a 19-14 win.

Could it be possible to top that in Week 2?