Five different players scored and defenders intercepted three passes as the Bedford High School Buccaneers won the first high school football game played in winter, 34-14 over Weston late Friday afternoon at Sabourin Field.
The contest was a successful start to the so-called Fall II season, created to buy time so certain fall sports would have an opportunity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Cheerleaders were also active on the sideline. There were a number of precautions, including a slew of mandatory timeouts, as well as distancing on the bench. But the game looked and felt like football.
Bedford controlled the action almost the entire game except for a six-minute window at the very end of the second quarter and the first part of the third when Weston scored twice and shut down the Buc offense.
But as Weston drove for the tying score, senior Adam Legere hauled in a deep Mack McManus pass near midfield, and that ended the visitors’ momentum. Senior Zackery Poor scored on a six-yard run late in the quarter, and again in the fourth quarter after a Charlie Naylor interception return to the five.
The Bucs jumped to a 19-0 lead, scoring three times in less than 20 minutes. Sophomore Eric Mile opened the scoring in his first varsity action less than three minutes into the game, as he and junior quarterback Jake Morrison grabbed rushing yardage in chunks, covering 88 yards in nine plays.
Then Morrison scored from the two with a little more than two minutes left in the first period, keyed by a 20-yard third-down completion on a bubble screen with sophomore Nicholas Tatarczuk.
At the 4:23 mark of the second period, Morrison found Naylor in the endzone for a 27-yard touchdown. Tatarzczuk, who set up that scoring drive with a pass interception, kicked the extra points on the second and third TDs.
McManus’s big arm got the Wildcats back into the game. First, the quarterback threw a strike to Isaiah Kacyvenski, who streaked beyond the coverage for a 57-yard TD catch with only 25 seconds left in the first half.
On the Wildcats’ opening possession of the second half, they put together a scoring drive on effective runs by Liam Carter, a deep McManus pass to JoJo Uga, and a 15-yard Bedford penalty. Carter’s touchdown and rush for the points made it 20-14 with eight-and-a-half minutes to play in the third quarter.
Bu the rest of the way, Bedford shut out the Wildcats, 14-0.
A lot of Buccaneers saw action Friday as Head Coach Tom Tone is enjoying one of the deepest rosters over the past two decades – almost 50 players. Among the leading tacklers were senior Gustavo Coto, and sophomore Jamie Buchannan. Morrison, Miles, and Mike DeLia handled most of the ground game in the first half. Then Morrison went repeatedly to his heavy-duty back Poor over the last 15 minutes.
Bedford continues its Dual County League Small Schools schedule next Friday at 4:30 at home against Cambridge Rindge & Latin.
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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