The Lions came into Armand Sabourin Field last night standing at 2-3, looking to take down a surprisingly undefeated Bedford Buccaneers squad. South was coming off back-to-back wins, including a romp over Weston last Saturday. And while the Lions got on the board first, were tied at halftime and were within two points late in the third quarter, the Bucs held on for a 22-20 win.

The Lions were led as usual by senior quarterback Derek Russell, who lit up yet another DCL defense, throwing for 321 yards and two touchdowns, and running another one in himself. Offense has never been the problem in 2008, but the defense has struggled at times, especially in preventing the long pass.

“We played pretty well,” the two-year captain said. “We played well enough to beat them, except for two or three plays.”

One of those plays came in the third quarter, as Bedford lined up for an extra point following Ryan Carter‘s third score of the day. The Bucs had just given themselves a 20-14 lead, and instead of kicking it, they faked and Carter threw for the two-point conversion.

Those two points ended up coming back to bite the Lions, who scored soon after on a 73-yard connection from Russell to junior Chris Lewis. That made the score 22-20 in favor of the Bucs, but the Lions couldn‘t convert the two-pointer and that score ended up standing for the final margin.

“At the time we still had the whole fourth quarter to play and we really didn‘t think they could stop us,” Russell said.

Yet in the final quarter, both teams put up goose eggs, as South drives stalled and Bedford looked to run out the clock.

“We had a couple of chances to stop them on fourth down on their last possession, and we just didn‘t make the plays,” Russell said. The senior also plays cornerback.

With their record now at 2-4, the dream of making the playoffs for the first time under third-year coach Ted Dalicandro is quickly fading. Although they still are mathematically in the running, the Lions will now move into the hardest part of their schedule, five straight games against DCL Large opponents.

Next week, the Lions travel to Westford, a team the Lions beat in overtime last season. The Grey Ghosts, however, ended up at 7-4 in 2007 and hold at 5-1 record this year, most recently winning a 45-35 shootout versus Concord-Carlisle.