Alvirne quarterback Charlie Crawford is sacked by Bedford's Jacob Sheff during the third quarter of Saturday's Division I quarterfinal. The Broncos fell to the Bulldogs 24-14. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/NH-HighSchoolSports.com)

BEDFORD – It isn’t always about how you start and that’s been a good thing for the Bedford High School football team for most of this season.

It was once again in Saturday’s Division I quarterfinal against Alvirne.

Down two touchdowns in the first half, the top-seeded Bulldogs grabbed some momentum just before halftime and made the right adjustments in the second half to rally for a 24-14 win over the No. 8 Broncos.

Bedford returns to the semifinals for the third year in a row, where it will host No. 4 Pinkerton at 7 p.m. next Friday.

“We’re pumped,” Bedford senior quarterback Jack Maye said. “We were a little slow to start. We finished hard.”

Maye was a part of the slow start, as he threw an interception to end the first drive of the game, and Alvirne scored off the turnover to take an early 6-0 lead. But the senior bounced back, completing his final 12 passing attempts to finish the day 14 of 16 for 157 yards and a touchdown.

That touchdown was a 9-yard completion to Brody Helton, which got Bedford (9-0) on the board right before halftime.

Helton also had what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 4:14 remaining, as he ran for 177 yards and caught five passes for another 49, while Maye had a 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that tied the game.

“We have some really good players,” Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. “That’s the most physical I thought anybody has played us in the last two years. Credit to those guys. They don’t have any depth, but the starters they have out there, those kids are good football players and they battled their tails off.

“They gave us a run for our money up front and I think our kids were surprised by that in the first half, honestly. We had to find another gear. They put us into tough situations, they were physical, and we had to figure out how to attack them because of some of the things they were doing.”

In the first half, what the Broncos (7-4) were doing held Helton in check in the running game, as the junior had 39 yards on 10 carries. But he had four catches for 35 yards, including three on the touchdown drive going into the half.

And in the second half, Bedford was able to get its running game going, while shutting down Alvirne’s ground attack, as the Bulldogs outgained the Broncos 242-43.

“It’s tough to tackle (Helton) for four quarters,” Alvirne coach Matt Lee said. “The whole game plan was built around him. Can we tackle him in the run game and then cover (Bennett Matthews) in the pass game. We did a pretty good job, but he’s good. We’re playing eight guys both ways, it gets tough.”

Mike Landmesser had 77 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries for the Broncos, but 64 of those yards came in the first half. Charlie Crawford completed 13 of 28 passes for 123 yards and had a 6-yard touchdown pass to Quintin Tetreault with 1:35 left in the first half.

The two connected again on the two-point conversion that gave Alvirne a 14-0 lead.

Bedford responded with a six-play drive that saw Maye complete all six of his passes, with his receivers getting out of bounds to stop the clock. Helton caught three of those passes, including the touchdown toss with 22 seconds left in the half that made it 14-7.

About the only bad news on the drive was an injury to junior Bennett Matthews, who left with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return.

“It was a big confidence thing for the kids,” Zach Matthews said of the scoring drive. “We’ve got to play some better football in first halves. This has been a constant thing for most of the year. We have these slow starts and then we ratchet it up and play really good football in the second half. We’re trying to solve this puzzle and obviously it’s still not there yet.”

Bedford will have a chance to do that against Pinkerton, in a rematch of a game the Bulldogs won 28-25 on Oct. 11.

Alvirne has one of the best seasons in program history come to an end, but another piece of the foundation Lee is trying to build was put into place.

“It hurts right now, but the further you get away from this game, the big picture is what will be the lasting memory,” the coach said. “I’ve only been here two years, but just looking at records, I think this is probably the best Alvirne football team in its 29 years. They should be proud of that.”