PORTSMOUTH – The Portsmouth/Oyster River high school football team ran into a buzz-saw on Friday night that is the reigning Division I state champions.

The second-seeded ClipperCats kept the game tight in the first half, but three second-half touchdowns proved to be the difference as No. 3 Bedford advanced to its second straight championship game with a 28-0 semifinal win at Tom Daubney Field.

"The last one always hurts," Portsmouth/Oyster River head coach Brian Pafford said. "Unless you win the state championship, the last one hurts."

Bedford (10-0) will play the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between No. 1 Pinkerton and No. 4 Londonderry in next Saturday's championship game. Pinkerton handed Londonderry its lone loss of the regular season, 24-20. Portsmouth finished its season with an overall record of 10-1, 9-1 in Division I.

"Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but if I can take anything from this is that I love these kids," Portsmouth senior Angus Moss said. "We've been tight since preseason. The energy was different (this year). The coaches, ever since we were little, said they were waiting for this class to come up. Things happen, ups and downs. Today was a down day; it wasn't our day, and it ends here."

Here are five highlights from Portsmouth's semifinal exit.

Bedford pulls away in second half

Portsmouth kept it close in the first half, only trailing 7-0 at the intermission. But the Bulldogs made its run in the third quarter and never looked back.

Bedford received the ball to open the second half and went on a 12-play, 64-yard drive capped by Brody Helton's 6-yard touchdown scamper, giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead.

"We went into halftime thinking we need to get (that first) stop, they had the ball," Pafford said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get that stop. We did what we needed to do in the first half. We keep it within that one score and then hopefully we could pop something through. Then they get up two (possessions), now our game plan kind of goes out of the window."

After a three-and-out by the ClipperCats, Bedford scored just two plays into its next possession on a 45-yard pass from quarterback Danny Black to Luke Soden.

Bedford added its last touchdown with 5:15 to go in the fourth on a Soden 5-yard touchdown reception.

"We were trying to defend our home turf, claw and scratch for every inch we could get," Moss said. "But, we could only hang with them for so long before they just eventually overpowered us. We were doing everything we could. We were trying to make adjustments, and we were so limited because their defense is just stellar."

Season to remember

The ClipperCats had a winless season in a COVID-shortened four-game schedule in 2020, failed to make the playoffs in 2021, and lost in the first round in 2022.

Though they wanted more this year, the ClipperCats are proud of their 10-win season, including their out-of-state win over Oxford Hills (Maine).

"The coaches," Moss said. "They always talked about how they shifted the culture a couple of years ago. I think, standing right now, we're at the peak of that culture flip. The momentum is going in a different direction. This program is just going to get better every year."

"It's hard because this group of seniors has been so tight and just good people," Pafford said. "They are good kids who do the right thing. They answer every call."

Portsmouth playing the tempo game

Portsmouth's initial offensive game plan was to bleed the clock by running the ball, and sustaining long drives.

Portsmouth took the opening kickoff and had possession for roughly 15 of the 24 minutes in the first half. Bedford scored, punted and threw an interception on its three first-half drives.

Portsmouth ran 25 plays to Bedford's 19 in the first half. One drive, the ClipperCats moved the ball just outside the red zone, but turned the ball over, halting the team's best drive of the night.

"The first half was good," Pafford said. "We had an opportunity down to the (24). The game plan was to keep it as tight as we could, run the ball and try not to take chances because we know they had athletes in the secondary."

Bedford opened the scoring with 3:11 left in the first quarter on a 15-yard pass from Black to Domminic Tagliaferro, and took that 7-0 lead into halftime.

Portsmouth leans on ground game

Portsmouth's emphasis was to establish the run game and lead with that. Not only would that keep the Bedford offense on the sideline, it would also make Colby Gedney's job easier in his first start at quarterback. Gedney was replacing starter Aidan Thomas who was hurt in last week's quarterfinal.

Portsmouth was effective with the run game in the first half. Junior Brooks Connors had 73 yards on 11 carries, while Gedney added 17 yards on the ground, McLaughlin added 12 and Moss took the first handoff of the game for four yards. Combined, Portsmouth averaged 4.6 yards on its 23 first-half attempts for a total of 106 yards.

"We probably should've had more (yards), but we had a couple of holding penalties or whatever," Pafford said. "We thought we could run the ball at them a little bit. We knew they would start bunching up the middle which they did. We ran into a five-man front which I don't think they've shown all year. We were able to pop around the corner with our shuffle read plays a couple of times. We did what we wanted to do, we just didn't score."

The ClipperCats finished with 134 yards on the ground.

Fletcher Miles comes away with big turnover

It's not every game that a defensive lineman comes away with an interception, but it happened to Portsmouth senior Fletcher Miles on Friday, and it happened at a great time.

With Bedford driving later in the first half, Black, from Portsmouth's 40-yard line, dropped back to throw a screen to the running back. The pass hit Miles right between the numbers for the interception with 11 seconds left in the half.

"I think is just stuck in (Miles) belly," Pafford joked. "He was in the right spot at the right time. Again, a kid who has played hard all year ... he saw the screen and he stepped back in front of it."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Oyster River football loses to Bedford in nhiaa semifinal