Matthews had a day to help Bedford football take home another title

NASHUA - Bennett Matthews has had a different role every year he's been a part of the Bedford High School football team.

As a freshman, his time on the field was limited, but Matthews was on the sideline when the Bulldogs won the Division I championship. Sophomore year he contributed on defense and saw a little more time on offense wherever the team needed him to step up as Bedford won another title.

A year ago, as a junior, Matthews had a more defined role, playing in the secondary on defense and at wide receiver on offense. But an injury kept him out of the team's final game, a semifinal loss to Pinkerton.

“He’s been an athlete for us,” said Bedford coach Zach Matthews, who is Bennett’s father. “We’ve plugged and played him wherever we needed. This season is what he was waiting for because he wanted to take the reins and be the quarterback.”

Not only did Bennett Matthews want the chance to play quarterback, he wanted to make his mark for a championship team, something he felt he hadn't been able to do as a freshman or sophomore.

The senior did that Saturday, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing for two more to help No. 1 Bedford get a 35-7 win over No. 3 Pinkerton in the D1 championship game at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

“A little bit,” Bennett Matthews said with a smile when asked if he felt he contributed. “I think I got a little bit back from the first two (championships) that I didn’t contribute as much. It was really special. The only thing that allowed me to contribute was the players around me and the special relationships that we have.”

That all helped Bedford (12-0) turn in a dominant performance, specifically in the first half. The Bulldogs outgained the Astros 279-50 in the opening 24 minutes, had the ball for 16 minutes, 15 seconds, and for the game, they were 9 of 13 on third and fourth down.

Matthews ran for a first down or a touchdown on all but one of those successful attempts, picking up 98 yards on third and fourth down.

“We have no answer for him,” Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly said. “He is the kind of quarterback that you run the spread for. A lot of teams run the spread because they have a passing quarterback. You can do that under center. But when you have a kid who can throw like he does, but he’s even more dangerous running the ball, there’s not a lot for that.”

It was the kind of moment Zach Matthews knows his son was waiting for for a long time. That fact that it is not only the final game Bennett Matthews, who is signed to play lacrosse at Duke University next year, but the final game the two will share a sideline together, made it more special.

“I have no idea how many touchdowns he had or what he did,” Zach Matthews said. “But I will tell you that when he gave me that hug, that’s when it all kind of starts to hit you at the end, where it’s like ‘OK, this special season and the way it’s ending is just, you can’t describe being able to do it with your son. Having the best seat in the house and then watch him play that way in a state championship game is a memory obviously I’ll have with me for the rest of my life.”

As time was winding down on the win, and after a pair of teammates gave Zach Matthews the ice bath, Bennett Matthews gave him a bear hug and carried him down the sideline as the rest of the team celebrated around them.

“To be able to end it with my dad, undefeated and go out to play a game like that is super special,” Bennett Matthews said. “I hope I can tell my kids someday that me and their grandfather, our last football game ever together, we went out with a boom.”

The championship is the third for Bedford in the last four seasons, and also the third since Zach Matthews, who had been the football and boys lacrosse coach at Kearsarge, took over as the head coach before the 2019 season.

“I moved (to Bedford) in sixth grade … I think that was the best possible that could have happened in my life,” Bennett Matthews said. “For us to be able to move here, and we have the opportunities to create bonds with these guys … I think Brody (Helton) was the first guy I ever knew from Bedford and to be able to share a backfield with him this senior year and go undefeated has been absolutely so special.”