Published: November 07, 2009 12:18 am      

Bedford too much for rival Chestnut Ridge

BEDFORD — Marcus Shippey carried 17 times for a season-high 177 yards and three touchdowns as Bedford outlasted county rival Chestnut Ridge 31-20 Friday night.

The Bisons’ defense forced four turnovers, including a fumble returned for a touchdown, and yielded just one play longer than 40 yards.

“Our kids bent, but they didn’t break,” Bedford coach Dan Smith said.

“They didn’t let the big play happen. They didn’t let a fumble or interception or penalty hurt us.”

Bedford’s offense made plenty of big plays of its own.

Fullback Paul Detwiler got things rolling late in the first when he turned a handoff up the middle into a 37-yard touchdown, shaking off two tacklers inside the 5 before going in for the score. The senior finished with 98 yards on 16 carries.

On Bedford’s next drive Shippey ran a triple option, keeping it himself and breaking a handful of tackles before darting down the sideline and putting the Bisons ahead 13-0.

“We seemed like we dug ourselves a hole and kept climbing in,” said Chestnut Ridge coach Max Shoemaker, who was back in Bedford for the first time since he walked the Bisons’ sideline as one of the winningest coaches in school history.

Case in point: Chestnut Ridge answered Bedford’s score on its next drive, an

11-play, 70-yard effort capped by a 16-yard pass to Josh Shane from Brad Hengst.

And the Lions looked poised to score again later in the second quarter before Bisons safety Kurt Crawford made a leaping interception and stalled the drive at Bedford’s 5.

The Lions didn’t go away. Facing a third and short from Bedford’s 45, fullback Jude Donatelli found daylight and barreled down inside the 10. Two plays later he hauled it in from 7 yards out.

Donatelli led Chestnut Ridge (5-5) with 18 carries for 121 yards and cracked the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Bedford (4-6) answered with two quick scores that effectively put the game out of reach.

Shippey called his own number from the 1-yard line with under a minute left in the third, and on the ensuing kickoff Ridge returner Tyler Rush fumbled near the 30.

The ball bounced directly into Bedford kicker Guillaume Valette’s hands, and he darted 34 yards four a touchdown.

Smith had nothing but praise for Valette, a foreign-exchange student and member of Bedford’s soccer team, afterward.

“I told him in soccer you only score one point and you scored six,” Smith said.

“We’d almost be tempted to put him out at receiver. He showed us that if he picks the ball up he knows what to do with it.”

Yet again, though, the Lions clawed into the deficit.

After a pass interference call on third down set his team up at Bedford’s 34, Donatelli found a hole for 16 yards. Two plays later he found another one, this time going untouched into the end zone from

6 yards out.

Shippey’s third score – a 29-yard quarterback keeper – put the game out of reach for good with five minutes left to play.

The teams meet again Thursday for the District 5-AA championship.