On the Gridiron: Breaking out at the right time

For almost two complete games, there wasn't much room for Connor Bourque to run against the Bedford High School football team.

When the teams met in early October, the Goffstown senior had just 66 yards rushing on 18 carries, with his longest rush coming in at 10 yards. And through three-plus quarters in Saturday's Division I semifinal, Bourque hadn't picked up more than 18 yards on any one carry, although on his first 19 carriers, he'd compiled 90 yards.

But that all changed on his 20th rushing attempt.

After Bedford tied the game 17-17 with 1:52 left in regulation, the Grizzlies took over on their own 30-yard line. On the first play, Bourque broke the tie.

"I took the handoff and made a cut," he said. "I saw one guy and then open field and I just knew I had to take it. I ran as fast as I could, hoping that kid didn’t have an angle on me. I just ended up getting by him. I kept looking over my shoulder because I was getting worried."

After getting caught from behind a couple of times by Nashua North in the quarterfinals, Bourque was weary of the Bedford safety making a play. But Bourque thought that because he hadn't broken any big gains against the Bulldogs, it may have caused the last defender to be out of position.

The 70-yard touchdown run was something that Goffstown coach Justin Hufft felt had to come eventually.

"You want to keep giving him chances," Hufft said. "He's a home-run threat. We knew they were going to try to take him away. Not every play is going to be a home run against these guys, you've got to work for it. But if you give a guy like that enough chances, he's going to make something happen. We found a formation we liked, we got a great play call with the bunch formation and we got Connor outside of it."

While Bourque averaged better than four yards per carry on the 37 attempts he had against Bedford before the touchdown, some frustration at not breaking a big run was beginning to set in for him.

"I just wanted to get one touchdown because it's my last game on this field," he said. "I knew it was going to come eventually and that's why you don't want to get frustrated. If you get frustrated, it's not going to happen. I just kept with it."

Now Goffstown (11-0) will try to finish off a perfect season, and get the program's first championship, against Exeter (9-2) in Sunday's Division I final.

"It means a lot to the program and to Goffstown," Bourque said. "Goffstown is a very small town and it’s not on the map. Last year, we won in the lacrosse championship, so that put us on the map for lacrosse. Now it’s time to put us on the map for football."