Tigers comeback falls short against Bulldogs

BEDFORD — For the first time since 2016, the Bedford Bulldogs (3-0) come away with a win in the Back 40 Battle for the Haybale Trophy Friday against the visiting Lenox Tigers (2-1) in a 41-30 showdown.

It was another slow start for the Tigers in what would be their first regular-season loss since Sept. 25, 2020, against CAM.

Lenox had first possession, junior quarterback Gabe Funk breaking away for a 15-yard quarterback keeper to earn a first down, but it was their only one of the drive. The Tigers punted from their own 27-yard line, but it was blocked by Bedford’s special teams. Funk, the punter, made the touchdown-saving tackle at the Tigers’ 17-yard line.

Funk, a 2022 first team 8-man District 9 quarterback, has nine touchdowns (three passing, six rushing) in three games, logging four against the Bulldogs.

His passing stats left something to be desired, going 3-7 for 42 yards and two interceptions. He more than made up for it on the ground with 204 rushing yards on 29 carries for four touchdowns including a 73-yard rushing touchdown.

After making it to the state semi-final game at the UNI-Dome last season, the Tigers have big hopes of returning for redemption, but they have big shoes to fill.

Graduating the district’s offensive and defensive players of the year: running back Isaac Grundman and outside linebacker Trayce Miller, the team is working to fill in those gaps.

The Bulldogs used three plays to cover the 17-yards for a touchdown in their first possession, running back Silas Walston taking the touchdown and the two-point conversion to lead the Tigers 8-0 with 7:43 left in the first quarter.

Walston was a force on both offense and defense, logging 104 rushing yards, two touchdowns, eight solo tackles, two and a half sacks and three and a half tackles for loss.

The second possession began better for the Tigers, Funk and running back Jordan Martin-England taking turns running the ball down the field for four first downs before a big sack on Funk backed the team up to a second-and-17. Another negative play set up a long third-and-20.

Funk dropped back, taking a shot at the first-down with a 20-yard pass to 6-foot-2 running back Donald Bashor who leapt to come down with the pass despite tight coverage from Bedford junior Garrison Motsinger. He logged an interception later in the matchup.

Funk ran for six yards on first down, Martin-England picking up two on second down. With seven seconds left in the first quarter, the Tigers found a first and goal on an encroachment call on the Bulldogs. It was Funk who took the ball in to pick up a touchdown, but he couldn’t find the endzone for the two-point conversion, keeping Bedford up 8-6 to end the first quarter.

The Tigers would go on to fail all five two-point conversion attempts, leaving 10 points off the board.

“They had it covered,” Lenox co-head coach Michael Nardini said. “They did a good job with it, and we’ve got to look at that and see what we’re doing and adjust. That’s got to be an evaluation for us.”

Sophomore Dawson Evans came away with multiple tackles on the next drive, but the defense couldn’t keep Motsinger out of the end zone. With a good point-after attempt, the Bulldogs extended to a 15-6 lead.

Evans had six total tackles on the night, but it was Dalton Kitzman and Martin-England who led the Tigers with 11.5 and 11, respectively.

A three-and-out by Lenox followed by a 10-play 52-yard drive for a touchdown by the Bulldogs had the Tigers down 22-6 with four minutes left in the half.

This was the second consecutive game the Tigers found themselves down early to a rivalry team after going down 14-0 in the first quarter against Fremont-Mills in week two before coming back to win 52-26.

“Our kids have faced adversity before, and they’ve gone up against good programs, good teams and been resilient through,” Nardini said. “We can’t make it a habit of putting ourselves in that position.”

On the ensuing drive, Funk completed a 13-yard pass to Evans and Martin-England picked up another 12 on the ground, but a series of miscues set up a third-and-13 at the 37. Funk’s pass for Martin-England was intercepted at the Tigers’ 28, giving Bedford the ball with less than two minutes left in the half.

The Bulldogs drove down the field in five plays, Motsinger finding the end zone for a 29-6 lead with 18 seconds left in the half.

Comeback

Unwilling to go into the half down 23, the Tigers responded on the ensuing kickoff, Gio Cruz taking the kick and reversing it to Martin-England. A perfectly-timed block by Laramie Stoaks allowed Martin-England to dodge defenders, finding a 79-yard touchdown to go into the half 29-12.

The Tigers came out ready after the half, Bashor recovering a fumble on the Bedford kick-off return to give Lenox the ball on the 37.

Lenox earned three first downs before Funk made it into the end zone for his third touchdown.

“Third quarter, I thought they executed a lot better on their assignments and sustaining blocks,” Nardini said. “I thought that was evident in the second half when we started scoring.”

The Bulldogs were forced to punt on fourth-and-8 on the next drive and fumbled on their ensuing drive. The Tigers’ defense allowed zero passing yards, recovered two fumbles and had 60.5 tackles.

Meanwhile, the Tigers scored in each of their next two drives, Funk scoring on a 73-yard run in the first and and a 20-yard in the second.

The Tigers took their only lead of the game 30-29 after Funk’s fourth touchdown.

“They did a much better job regrouping in the second half,” Nardini said. “Now we’ve got to put it all together.”

Redemption

Quarterback Conner Nally led the Bulldogs to redemption, rushing for a touchdown in each of the next two drives.

The Tigers had two minutes to overcome an 11-point deficit. They made it to the Bedford 25-yard line before Funk threw an interception in the end zone, giving Bedford the win.

Despite the heated rivalry between the schools, Nardini said he preaches setting the rivalry aside.

“We want our kids to be focused on their jobs, on their assignments, on what we’ve coached them and what we’ve prepared for all week,” he said. “We always focus on one opponent each week. That’s what we try to do, focus on our opponent and not get ahead of or behind ourselves. We’ve got to just get better.”

With the win, Bedford takes the lead in the 8-man District 8 as the only undefeated team left. Southeast Warren, East Union, Lenox and Lamoni each have one loss.

The Tigers return to action Friday for homecoming against Mormon Trail (1-2).