Score before halftime helped swing momentum Bedford football's way

BEDFORD - The Alvirne High School football team was on the verge of doing something that hadn't been done in almost two years, but only if the clock could run a little faster.

The eighth-seeded Broncos were about to take a two-touchdown lead over No. 1 Bedford, and if they could use up enough time, they'd likely go into the half having shut the Bulldogs out over the first 24 minutes. That hadn't been done to Bedford since the first half of the 2022 Division I championship game, the first of its back-to-back titles.

And with Alvirne getting the kickoff to open the third quarter, a 14-0 lead would be huge in Saturday's Division I quarterfinal, which Bedford went on to win 24-14.

"It was definitely on my mind when we were going in to score, that we wanted to leave as little time as possible for them," Alvirne coach Matt Lee said. "I would have liked to have bled that down a little more."

Instead, Bedford coach Zach Matthews called a timeout with 1:40 left and Alvirne facing a second-and-goal from the 6-yard line. Coming out of the timeout, Charlie Crawford found Quintin Tetreault for a touchdown and the two connected again on the two-point conversion for that two-score lead.

But the Broncos took just five more seconds off the clock and the Bulldogs returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 43-yard line with 90 seconds remaining in the half.

"I was going to go no-huddle on our next drive anyway," Matthews said. "I thought it was good we had to go to it because the clock was against us and our backs were against the wall. We had to go up-tempo, which a lot of the time, gets the defense on its heels a little bit."

Bedford quarterback Jack Maye threw incomplete on first down, but the Bulldogs were called for an illegal shift. Alvirne took the penalty, but on the next play, the Broncos were called for defensive holding, giving Bedford a first down at its 48.

"Matchups, leverage, we only had two timeouts, so we needed to get out of bounds," Maye said of what he's looking for in that situation. "Make sure there are no sacks or no stupid penalties. We practice that every single week, so it’s part of our game plan."

From there, Maye completed all six passes on the drive, starting with an 11-yard completion to Noah Cassamassino for a first down at the Alvirne 41. Maye then checked down to Brody Helton for a 10-yard gain and another first down.

On both plays, Cassmassino and Helton were able to get out of bounds to stop the clock.

After the Bulldogs lost a yard on first down, Maye went back to Helton for another 10-yard gain, and on third-and-1, the senior hit Peter Suozzo for 13-yards to the Alvirne 9-yard line with 33.6 seconds left.

Maye couldn't find anyone open on the next play and started to run, but as he approached the line, Helton broke free. The two connected for another short pass and Helton danced his way into the end zone with 22 seconds to go in the half.

Helton had three catches on the drive for 29 yards and the score, while Maye was 6 for 6 for 52 yards.

"We knew we weren’t getting the ball back, so we knew we needed to score on that drive," Maye said. "If we didn’t score there, we weren’t going to be in a good spot to win the game. They were taking everything out deep because they were worried about the deep ball. They weren’t worried about Brody, so that worked out."

Alvirne had been worried about Helton, but more in Bedford's run game, and the Broncos had done a decent job slowing the junior down to that point. He went into halftime with 39 yards on 10 carries.

"The whole game plan was built around him," Lee said. "Can we tackle him in the run game and then cover (Bennett Matthews) in the pass game. It was certainly maximize the numbers in the box to stop (Helton), tackle him low, squeeze the C gaps as much as possible because he’s very successful hitting the B gap. We did a pretty good job, but he’s good."

Helton finished with 177 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 4:14 left to break a 14-14 tie and give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. He also had five catches for 49 yards to go with the receiving touchdown.

Maye tied the game on Bedford's first drive of the second half when he ran in from 10 yards out, after Helton 34 and 12 yards, respectively, on his previous two carries.

"They were in a six-man line, so I knew they were going to have a guy outside shade," Maye said. "He looked like he was coming for Brody. I took the ball and scored."

The Bulldogs don't have Maye run often, but Matthews is confident in his senior quarterback's decision making in that situation.

"Jack is a really good passer, but running the football is not his strength," Matthews said. "To be honest, I was looking at Brody. I didn’t realize Jack pulled it until I saw him run into the end zone. It’s a great read by him. Him being able to pull that ball and get us in the end zone, specifically in the red zone, quarterback run becomes a huge advantage."

After Bedford tied it, Alvirne had a couple of chances to retake the lead, including after the Broncos recovered a Bulldogs fumble on each of their next two possessions.

But the offense couldn't get much going, as Bedford outgained Alvirne 242-43 in the second half.

"We couldn’t run the ball at all in the second half at all really," Lee said. "We were too one-dimensional. We ran it in the first half, but second half because a lot of second-and-long, third-and-long, and then they got a pretty good pass rush, too, which we had trouble with."

Bedford moves on to the semifinals for the third year in a row when it hosts No. 4 Pinkerton at 7 p.m. Friday.