Pinkerton football made sure there'd be no Bedford comeback this time

The Bedford High School football team was in the habit of getting off to slow starts this season.

In some of the Bulldogs bigger games this year, that meant trailing by two touchdowns at some point in the first half. But when that happened, Bedford's offense answered on the ensuing drive after going down by 14 points.

Except for last Friday's Division I semifinal against Pinkerton.

With the Astros up 14-0, having scored on their first two possessions, Bedford started its next drive from its own 24-yard line. Two plays later, it ended with a touchdown, but it was Pinkerton scoring again.

Bedford's Jack Maye tried to find Bennett Matthews for what would have been a first down, but instead, Pinkerton's Matt Morrison jumped the route. The senior's timing was perfect, as he intercepted the pass in stride and raced 32 yards to the end zone.

"Our defense does a great job putting pressure on the quarterback," Morrison said. "We stay in coverage so it makes it hard for them to make a throw. My guy ran a hitch and I just kind of sat on it and the quarterback was under pressure, so he threw it my way.

"When you can get up three scores on a team off a turnover like that, really quick, it brings a lot of momentum to your side and it’s hard for a team to climb out of that hole."

That gave No. 4 Pinkerton a 21-0 lead with seconds remaining in the first quarter, and after top-seeded Bedford rallied in the third quarter, Morrison added a 50-yard touchdown midway through the fourth to secure the 27-13 win for the Astros.

Pinkerton (10-2) now gets ready to play in the D1 title game for the first time since 2018, and will look to win the program's first championship since 2014, against a familiar foe. For just the second time, the Astros will face No. 3 Londonderry for the D1 title; the first came in 1993.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The teams have met in the playoffs in five of the last six seasons, with the exception being 2020, when Pinkerton ended its season early due to COVID-19. Londonderry has won the last four of those meetings, including a 42-7 win in the semifinals in Derry last year when the Astros were the No. 1 seed.

"Whenever you end the season on a game like we had last year, you’ve got something on your back to try and come back and make up for it," Morrison said. "This was a big game for me. It was almost a revenge game, to play the full game, complete it and come out with a victory."

Morrison played only seven snaps when Pinkerton lost to Bedford, 28-25, in early October, as a broke finger forced him to leave the game early and then miss the last three games of the regular season.

The Astros were also missing fellow senior running back/defensive back Jamie Isaac in that game, and this time around, the pair accounted for all of Pinkerton's touchdowns.

They also came up with big plays on fourth down, with Isaac scoring on a 53-yard run on fourth-and-1 to open the game. Morrison's first touchdown came to cap the second drive, as he scored from the 1 on fourth-and-goal, which was set up by a 22-yard completion from Aiden McDonald to Anthony Caruso on fourth-and-12.

And three plays before Morrison's game-clinching score he picked up three years on fourth-and-2 from the Pinkerton 39-yard line.

The Astros needed those timely conversions against a Bedford defense that made a surprise adjustment from the regular season.

"We saw we couldn’t play them in an even front, so we put another defensive lineman in and played them with a five-man front," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. "Which, on film throughout the year, that has definitely given them more problems than an even front. We had a little bit of success with that, but they put you in a bind because they can power up inside, but Morrison is pretty athletic and he busted a couple."

While Pinkerton was surprised by Bedford's defensive adjustments, the Astros were ready for them.

"They did a nice job defensively," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "They changed up their defense from last time. I never thought they’d go to a 50 (defensive alignment) but we were ready for it. They controlled the later part of the game.

"Zach Matthews did a really good job. He took away my outside game and my off-tackle game. We were really searching around until the end. Then when all else fails, we just lined up with a power offensive line and give the ball to Matt and let him do what he does."

And now Morrison and the Astros get one more chance to do it.