The turf belongs to Bedford in victory over Ann Arbor Pioneer

TEMPERANCE – Bedford’s football felt right at home its’ new stadium turf Friday, moving to 2-0 on the season with a 30-6 win over SEC Conference Red Division rival Ann Arbor Pioneer.

The Kicking Mules took the opening kickoff and drove nearly the entire length of the field, taking up nearly all of the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead on a 5-yard run by Owen Przybylski with 1:22 left to play.

That drive set the tone for the game as Bedford dominated the line of scrimmage and time of possession, holding the ball for more than 35 minutes.

Photo Gallery: Ann Arbor Pioneer at Bedford Football

“That’s what we do,” said Bedford’s third-year head coach John Phillips. “We don’t score a lot of points because we’re using up the time of possession. That’s our game plan.”

The Mules were playing their first home game of the season on new turf and under a new lighting system installed this summer. The turf replaced a natural grass playing surface.

Phillips said the new turf “is fantastic. The fact that we can come out here and practice, and then come back out and play the game and not have to worry about the turf being different really lets us get to work.”

Phillips wasn’t the only person happy with the new field. Cory Meggitt is director of Bedford’s marching band.

“It’s nice and level,” he said. “Everything is measured correctly so it makes dressing the formations a lot easier.

“It’s great for all of our students and the different sports programs, and it’s also nice that the music department can benefit from it,” he said.

Bedford took a 14-0 lead into halftime on a 7-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Lucas Gerber to Thomas Huss, and a Gerber pass to Tyler Boerst for a two-point conversion with 1:22 left to play.

“Gerber managed the game really well,” Phillips said. “There were a couple of places where he could’ve gotten down after he made mistakes, but he came back out.”

Przybylski got his second rushing touchdown of the game with 10:46 to play in the third quarter and with a PAT by Jack Decker, Bedford was up 21-0.

Boerst finished up the third-quarter scoring for the Mules with a 19-yard TD run with 4:34 to go, to put Bedford up 27-0.

A Decker 25-yard field goal put Bedford up 30-0 in the fourth quarter before Pioneer got on the board with 5:12 to play in the game.

Trey Brueggermann led a balanced Bedford rushing attack with 82 yards on 10 carries. Boerst had 70 yards on just 6 carries, followed by Hunter Poignon with 44 yards on 9 carries. In all, Bedford rushed for 300 yards.

“We’ve got some work on cleaning up some technique and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” Phillips said. “But I love the fact that we were able to run the ball. I love the fact that we played team defense with, between our secondary and our rush, we dominated.”

Brueggermann also led the defense with four tackles, followed by Huss with 3.5 and Avery Labadie with three.

Pioneer managed just 94 yards of total offense.

“I’m real proud of these guys,” Phillips said. “They played a great game all the way around, with great sportsmanship. They just took care of business.”

Bedford will be home again Friday, hosting Dexter.

First Quarter

B – Owen Przybylski 5 run (kick blocked)

Second Quarter

B – Tommy Huss 7 pass from Lucas Gerber (Tyler Boerst pass from Gerber)

Third Quarter

B – Przybylski 6 run (Jack Decker kick)

B – Boerst 19 run (kick blocked)

Fourth Quarter

B – Decker 25 field goal

P – Ocean Babbs 4 pass from Kalan Wong (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing: Trey Brueggemann, B, 6-70; Hunter Poignon, B, 9-44; Owen Przybylski, B, 5-37; Brandon Rozek, B, 6-32.

Passing: Kalan Wong, P, 11-18-94; Lucas Gerber, B, 3-12.

Receiving: Ocean Babbs, P, 4-35; Cullen Wellman, P, 1-30; Samuel Bonasso, P, 1-13; Joe Bonenberger, P, 3-11; Tommy Huss, B, 1-7; Tyler Boerst, B, 2-5.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: The turf belongs to Bedford in victory over Ann Arbor Pioneer