Mikol, Bedford football find late success to advance past Manchester Memorial

MANCHESTER — Friday wasn’t a day made for throwing the football. Below-freezing temperatures after a day of unprecedented October snow seemed like running weather, but Joe Mikol played ignorant to the elements.

The junior quarterback improbably found his stride through the air when it mattered most on the way to leading the Bedford High School football team to a 31-8 win over Manchester Memorial in a Division I preliminary-round contest.

The Bulldogs scored three times in the fourth quarter, including two touchdowns from Mikol, to secure their spot in next Saturday’s quarterfinal against either Goffstown or Concord, who play Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bedford.

“At halftime, everyone was really talking about how we needed to get this game going,” Mikol said. Bedford led 11-8 at the half. “Everything started clicking. We were getting our blocks while everyone was getting open and running great routes. The balls were just getting there and we started connecting.”

After starting his night 0 for 6, Mikol completed six of his seven other attempts, amassing 131 yards and his two touchdowns. In addition to bookending the fourth-quarter scoring with touchdown tosses of 19 and 30 yards to Alex Zwickau, Mikol also unleashed a 35-yard bomb that led to Bedford’s other score in the final frame, a 2-yard run from Russ Erwin a play after Mikol’s pass.

“When you don’t have that full nine-game schedule it’s a little bit tough to get in a rhythm,” Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. “We believe in him tremendously and he obviously has a great arm. They started committing some guys to the box and you get some one-on-one situations in the secondary. Joe does a good job of just putting the ball up and letting our guys go get it.”

Throwing a high ball can put some quarterbacks in trouble, but Mikol has the luxury of a big target like Zwickau, a brute yet lanky tight end. The 19-yard connection between Mikol and Zwickau to give Bedford an 18-8 lead with 10:05 to play was especially masterful. Zwickau timed his jump perfectly to rise above the defensive back to snare Mikol’s liner without issue.

“He played a great game (Friday), catching balls like I’ve never seen him do before,” Mikol said of Zwickau. “When I put the ball up there like that I know he’s the only one that is going to be able to come down with it.”

Bedford’s offense was balanced, as Erwin generated 160 yards rushing, including five consecutive runs of 13 yards or more in the fourth quarter, while Solomon Sanchez produced 166 total yards.

“I just made that commitment in the second half to try and pound the football and trade some big plays with the play-action pass,” Matthews said. “Our offensive line did a really good job making that happen. They have some big boys on the other side, but our guys really settled in with some good blocking in the second half.”

Memorial got its score on an Erik Seymore 2-yard run in the second quarter. Kai Colson ran for 161 yards overall, but was held to just 39 yards in the second half.

The Bulldogs’ defense had its fair share of shaky moments throughout the night with the Crusaders weaving through tackles or finding an edge to keep drives alive. However, moving the chains didn’t translate to scores in the first half and Bedford tightened things up after halftime.

The key defensive play that allowed Bedford to run the table in the fourth quarter belonged to lineman Magnus Steele. Down 18-8, Memorial had gotten into Bedford territory, but faced a fourth-and-long that ended with Steele dropping Memorial quarterback Jeff Josefik for Bedford’s only sack of the game. Bedford made quick use of the turnover on downs with Erwin's score, all but putting the game out of reach.

“We got into a situation where we were able to stop the run a little better, getting them in a third- or fourth-and-long and know they’re going to pass,” Matthews said. “All of the sudden that pass rush releases a little more. If it’s shorter yards, your pass rush is left waiting because you don’t know which way they’re going to go. Those long situations make it so our guys can cut it loose and get into the backfield.”