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By Matt Michelone
For the Mirror
LOCK HAVEN -- Rewind to last season and Bedford finished off a campaign where it went 3-7 and missed the postseason altogether.
The Bisons took the summer off to refocus and get back to what they desired to be as a program, one that recaptured the District 5 Class 2A championship along with winning games in the state playoffs.
The turnaround was impressive for the Bisons but like all good things, the 2024 season came to an end as after an early turnover, things unraveled quickly as they fell to Troy, 42-16, in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals at Lock Haven University Friday.
"I don't want to take anything away from our kids," Bedford coach Kevin Steele said. "Our kids have battled, they fought, there's not a person in the state that thought we'd be in the final eight in the state when this thing started back in the summer. We have a great bunch of kids who play with a lot of pride and a lot of heart.
"When the dust settles from this there's a lot to look back on and be proud of. They restored some pride in this program after last year. I'm absolutely positively as proud as I can possible be in that locker room."
Bedford finished the year 10-4.
Play of the game: Troy's Joseph Frye picked off a Quincy Swaim pass and returned it to the Bisons 49 in the first quarter. The Trojans went on to score a touchdown and never looked back.
Player of the game: Trojan RB Brendan Gilliland racked up 117 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns.
Unsung heroes: The entire Trojan defense who came up with two key turnovers leading to 14 points.
Most vital statistics: Troy didn't pass the ball much but it was efficient going a perfect 7-for-7 between three separate quarterbacks. The Trojans racked up 11 of their 18 first downs during the first half.
Troy coach Jim Smith: "Defensive takeaways are really hard to come back from, and we had a couple tonight. We did a good job shutting down their run game. They've got a great quarterback (Quincy Swaim), tough kid, and a good scheme that they run the ball on everybody. I can't express enough how happy am I with the play of our defense tonight. We respected them enough where we didn't play with safeties. We just locked man and kept everyone else in the box. The kid's strong enough, and his vision is good enough.''
Lessons learned: "When you get to this level of the state playoffs, you expect to play really good football teams, and they're a really good football team. Tonight was their night, they dominated the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Their skill kids made plays all over the field.''
Steele on the season as a whole: "We talk about Bison grit, there's a lot of fellas in that locker room that have a lot of Bison grit. There's a lot of fight in that group. They had a strong desire to be successful from when we started this thing back in the summer and they worked hard. Their dedication to the game plan and studying film and all of the little things, that's a pretty special group. They may not be the biggest or the fastest, but they were extremely coachable. They worked hard, practice was a pleasure. They embraced all the things we needed to embrace as a program to be successful.''
Notable: The game was delayed twice as the result of a chain malfunction. ... Neither side fumbled the ball. ... The Bisons had two punts that set up the Trojans with short fields which led to touchdowns on the ensuing possession. ... This is the first time Troy has ever won a state quarterfinal game.
Records: Bedford (10-4), Troy (14-0)
Next week: Troy will play the winner of Saturday's game between Riverside and Williams Valley next week at a site and time to be announced. Bedford's season is over.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bedford 0 0 0 16 - 16
Troy 7 14 21 0 - 42
First Quarter
T--Woodward 1 run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 1:14.
Second Quarter
T--Chimics 15 pass from Smith (Lykon-Leffler kick), 6:23.
T--Gilliland 11 run (Lykon-Leffler kick), :55.
Third Quarter
T--Gilliland 48 run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 10:23.
T--Woodward 15 run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 6:54.
T--Millard 1 run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 2:17.
Fourth Quarter
B--Evans 17 run (Taylor run), 6:24.
B--Taylor 16 run (Taylor run), 2:35.
TEAM STATISTICS B T
First downs 11 18
Total yards 235 387
Rushes-yards 28-160 47-312
Yards passing 75 75
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 5-16-2 7-7-0
Punts-avg. 4-26.5 2-36
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-44 4-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Bedford, Swaim 16-79, Nave 3-2, Taylor 7-30, Evans 2-49. Troy, Gilliland 15-117, Smith 5-27, Millard 10-38, Woodward 7-89, Frye 1-9, Martin 3-27, Kutt 2-(-1), Allen 1-3, Roy 1-2, Parks 1-(-1), Frisbie 1-2.
PASSING--Bedford, Swaim 5-16-2-75. Troy, Woodward 4-4-0-45, Smith 1-1-0-15, Kutt 2-2-0-15.
RECEIVING--Bedford, Horne 1-0, Nave 2-26, Taylor 1-14, Koontz 1-35. Troy, Chimics 3-31, Frye 1-40, Gilliland 1-(-3), Smith 1-4, Warburton 1-3.