Mikol at the center of Bedford football's evolution on offense

Zach Matthews hasn't been the head coach of the Bedford High School football team for that long, but there's one position where the depth chart has been completely turned around.

Joseph Mikol was fifth at the quarterback position, after leading the Bulldogs' freshmen team during the 2018 season, when Matthews took over in the spring.

By the time Bedford lined up for its preseason scrimmages, Mikol had worked his way up to the top of that chart, and after last Saturday's 48-7 win over Goffstown, the sophomore quarterback has helped the defending Division I champs to a 3-0 start.

"This is a kid who, as a sophomore, when I first took the job, he was coming up from freshman football and his name was fifth on our depth chart," Matthews said. "Every single workout, he was at. Every single summer session, he was at. He’s continuing to improve and I can’t say enough complimentary things about the kid."

Mikol taking over at quarterback wasn't the only big change going into this season for the Bedford offense, as the Bulldogs lost a lot of contributors from a year ago. Combined with the coaching change, and the system changes that came with that, Matthews knew it would take a few weeks for the offense to reach its potential.

In the opener against Windham, the defense and special teams helped set the offense up with a short field all game long, as Bedford's starting point was the Jaguars' 40-yard line. The Bulldogs took advantage, scoring 41 points in a one-sided victory.

The following week against Concord, the offense moved the ball, but couldn't find the end zone as often in a 16-0 win over the Crimson Tide.

But against Goffstown, everything fell into place, as Bedford scored on all five of its possessions in the first half and the defense put the game away with two scores in the second half.

"It’s a new system for them, so I figured they’d be getting better each week," Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. "That’s what you saw. They were definitely better than in weeks one and two. We knew that was probably what was going to happen. We were hoping that it wouldn’t but it did."

At the front of that progression was Mikol, as he completed his first five passes and was 13 of 15 for 151 yards and two touchdowns in the first half; he threw one incomplete pass in the second half before coming out.

"I’m impressed by his accuracy and his decision making, but then there’s certain times when you see those sophomore moments," Matthews said. "We just try to learn from those and try to put him in good situations."

Mikol knows that those moments are going to happen this season, as he continues to gain experience, but his focus has been on what is coming next.

"You’ve always got to keep your head up, even when you mess up," he said. "You’ve got to push through to the next play."

That was the mindset Mikol took on to the field with him for Bedford's first drive Saturday. Goffstown scored its only touchdown moments before on an 83-yard catch-and-run by Jonah Lopez, the first deficit the Bulldogs' had face all season; Bedford answered with a 14-play drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock.

"As a coach, I knew it would come along," Matthews said. "It’s a situation where it’s a new offensive system, new coach coming on board, sophomore quarterback, there was a lot of things.

"Early in the season, it takes a little bit longer for offenses to get their feet under them and start performing at a high level. I think our defense, absolutely that first week, carried us. Now we’re starting to hit our stride and the kids understand our expectations."