Football Kicks Off at Sabourin Field on Friday Night

By Julie McCay Turner

Bedford’s varsity football team comes into their 2013 home opener this Friday with a 2-game winning streak: The Bucs won their first game with a score of 21-0 on September 7 against the Vineyarders of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, and logged a 34-13 win last Friday night against the Belmont Marauders.

The Bucs first home game will be played on Bedford’s newly-installed turf field. There will be a ceremony at 6:15 Friday, just before the game, to dedicate the new field.

On Friday, September 27, the Bucs will play the Patriots of Concord-Carlisle Regional High School for the first of the two games that the schools are scheduled to play this season. Bedford’s Athletic Director Keith Mangan explained that while Bedford’s season appears to end on October 25, there will be games that month leading up to the Thanksgiving classic. These games will be determined once the final playoff pairings have been established.

Last October the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) voted, in only the second special meeting in the organization’s history, to revamp the state’s high school football playoff system. Click to read The Boston Globe’s story about the decision.

In the past Massachusetts hosted 19 regional “Super Bowl” games, but now all the schools will funnel into six state championships games.  Bedford has been assigned to Division 4 North.

If Bedford’s winning streak continues and the team makes the playoffs, the playoff games will be held in November. Should Bedford get bumped, the Bucs will play two games against other teams in their division before Thanksgiving.

Mangan noted that Bedford’s team is strong this year with nine starters returning.  Running back Olan Abner, the team’s Captain, was recently featured in the Boston Herald, and has run almost 400 yards in just two games. Experience may well pay off. “Winning is nice,” said Mangan, “especially when our kids work as hard as they do…and they get to walk out [of the game] with a win.”

All of the Bucs’ October games will be played at Sabourin Stadium:

• October 4 at 6:30pm, against Weston
• October 18 at 7:00p against Wayland
• October 25 at 6:30p against Boston Latin

But the team’s Thanksgiving match-up against Concord Carlisle will take place at 10 am on Thanksgiving morning at CCHS.

Go Bucs!