Jake Morrison completed eight of nine passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, and Eric Miles ran the ball 19 times for 156 yards and two scores, as the Bedford Buccaneers overwhelmed St. Bernard’s High School Friday night, 34-12.
The Fitchburg parochial school is small but has a proud football tradition, including winning the last two MIAA Division 8 Super Bowls
But the Bernardians had no answer for the multi-dimensional, up-tempo Bedford offense, which never came close to punting, scored from everywhere on the field, and totaled 384 yards of offense because Head Coach Tom Tone chose to keep the ball on the ground with a comfortable second-half lead.
The Bucs are now 3-1 and have won two straight on the road.
Bedford opened the game at its 40, and Miles was met by a wall of defenders for a one-yard loss. Then Morrison’s pass to Charlie Naylor went off his fingertips, and that was followed by a false start penalty.
Then the Bedford offense found its rhythm. A 13-yard completion to Miles, an 11-yard pass from Morrison to Mike DeLia to convert a fourth down, and five plays later Miles pounded into the endzone from the five. Nick Tatarczuk’s extra point made it 7-0 after 200 seconds.
It took St. Bernard’s the rest of the first period and one play into the second to score on a one-yard run, and an attempted fake kick for the point-after went awry. And that was as close as the game would get, as the Bernardians, though effective at times running the ball, had no passing game.
The second Buc scoring drive took 124 seconds, and everything was on the ground. Morrison ran twice for 22 and Miles did the rest: six rushes, 36 yards and a TD. The kick was wide.
Sr. Bernard’s followed with a three-and-out, and that was pretty much the ballgame because the Bernardians didn’t come close to stopping Bedford’s attack. The Bucs made it 20-7 when Morrison connected with Charlie Naylor running full stride in the endzone, just past the halfway point in the quarter.
And when the Bernardians were stopped on downs at the Bedford 22 with a minute-and-a-half in the half, the visitors had plenty of time to add another TD. Morrison set it up with a 20-yard completion to Tatarczuk, and on second down from the 42, found Naylor on a bubble-screen to the left side that turned into a 58-yard scoring play.
Each team scored in the third quarter, with Morrison taking it in from the one-yard line for Bedford.
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
Images in the post-game gallery are (c) Shay Fedele, 2021 all rights reserved ~ Click each to see it at full size
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