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Bellingham, Whittier

HAVERHILL — With the game on the line, there was no question in Kevin Bradley’s mind.

“We were going for the win,” said the Whittier coach. “We were going for two points.”

With 1:04 left in the game, Wildcats quarterback Connor Bradley connected with receiver Sean Thibodeau on a 20-yard touchdown pass to bring Whittier to within one point.

The Wildcats then sent out the offense to go for the two-point conversion and the lead. But the first attempt was blown dead for a false start, and the second was knocked away for an complete pass and Whittier fell to Bellingham 21-20 yesterday.

“We wanted to play for the lead,” said Kevin Bradley. “We practice kicking extra points and we discussed kicking it. But with our offense, we feel like we can get 3 yards every play. We are always confident going for two-point conversions, so we went for it. We wanted to play for the win.”

With 4:41 left in the game, trailing 21-14 following a Bellingham touchdown, Whittier took over at the Blackhawks’ 31-yard line.

Senior running back Robert Gramstorff started the drive by breaking a 39-yard run, and after a pair of Jesus Sanchez carries the Wildcats had advanced to the 19-yard-line with just over 1:30 to go. But after a loss, a short gain and an incomplete pass, Whittier faced fourth-and-11 from the 20.

Senior QB Bradley then stepped up, lofting a pass to Thibodeau, who made the catch and fought through a defender for the touchdown.

The Wildcats then ran a two-point play to Sanchez who seemed to have a clear lane for a score, but the referees stopped the play for a false start. Whittier then attempted a pass, but it was knocked away and Bellingham recovered the following on-sides kick.

“We showed a lot of courage to come back when it did not look good,” said Kevin Bradley. “We were able to go almost 70 yards in just a few minutes, and I am proud of the way the guys fought. But we came out too flat early in the game, gave them 14 points and that just killed us. We also had too many penalties.”

Bellingham, who traveled approximately an hour and 20 minutes to Haverhill for the 10:30 kickoff, opened red hot. The Blackhawks scored on each of their first two drives, running 26 plays and holding a 14-0 lead before the Wildcats had run their fourth play.

“We just came out too slow,” said Bradley. “They were a tough, hard-hitting team and so were we, but spotting them that lead hurt us. We had them stopped a few times and just couldn’t finish off the play.”

Whittier was able to bounce back with a 12-play, 86-yard drive that Connor Bradley finished off with his first touchdown pass of the day to Thibodeau.

Sanchez — who rushed for a team-high 105 yards — tied the game on the first play of the second half, bursting a run 60 yards for a score. He then seemed to give the Wildcats the lead with a punt return for a score, but it was called back for holding.

Bellingham then delivered a scoring drive, finishing with an the kick that proved to be the deciding point.

“We showed some toughness, but we lacked discipline and that hurt us,” said Bradley. “The defense only gave up, 21 points, but we missed too many opportunities. We will need to regroup for a tough game next week in Weston.”