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TEMPERANCE - Temperance Bedford had only attempted 15 passes through their first four games this season, which made its approach to Friday's game against Ann Arbor Pioneer seem, if nothing else, out of place. Rather than sticking to their bread and butter run attack, the Kicking Mules went to the air, and quarterback Jared Kujawa threw for 187 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 28-21 upset over the Pioneers, who are ranked sixth in Division 1.

"I told them all week that we were going to make sure that we were balanced both run and pass, that we had to keep them off of us," said Bedford coach Jeff Wood. "We didn't do a great job of that, but we were able to score enough points to win the game."

A large part of the reason Bedford had to go to the air was the inside play of Pioneer defensive lineman Esham Farha and Ryan Richmond, who for three-and-a-half quarters dominated the trenches. But with the duo playing both sides of the ball, Bedford's interior linemen eventually wore them down and were able to effectively open up holes in the middle for the game winning drive.

"Their two kids were hammering us," said Wood of Farha and Richmond. "We kept telling our kids keep wearing on them because they're going both ways so much, keep wearing on them."

With the scored tied 21-21 and 4:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, Bedford took over possession at the Pioneer 45-yard line after forcing them to punt from their own endzone. Kujawa called his own number on six of eight plays, all runs up the middle, including the 1-yard keeper for the game winning score with just 34 seconds left on the clock.

"He told me three or four times, the midline is going to come open, let me hammer it," said Wood.

"Our O-line did a great job of blocking their men and kicking them out," said Kujawa. "Coach told me just read the play, if it's there you keep it and get up there."

Pioneer's Hail-Mary attempt  as time expired was broken up by a swarm of Bedford defensive backs who were soon joined by the student section at midfield.

"We'll be fine," said Pioneer coach Jeremy Gold. "This will be an opportunity for us to respond to a negative and the only way we know how is to come out swinging.


"It's a tough defeat, but it does not derail us off any our goals. We just have to come out to work and allow this loss to motivate us going forward at practice and next Friday night."

The game opened up with a rush of offense, but was marked by hard hitting defense. Bedford (4-1, 4-0 SEC) scored on the third play of the game, a 73-yard pass play from Kujawa to Zach Messer, and Pioneer responded with a 65-yard drive capped by an 8-yard rushing score from Terrell Moran. Pioneer led at the half 14-13 after another rushing score by Moran and another pass from Kujawa to Messer.

Pioneer (4-1, 2-1 SEC) scored on a drive where they switched to the option in the third quarter, but couldn't consistently move the chains otherwise.
"We had some success with the option, but we also had some success between the tackles and we wanted to stick with that game plan," said Gold.

The Pioneer defense kept Bedford from going ahead with a goal line stand in the fourth quarter, but quickly punted it back to the Mules for the game-winning drive.

"We definitely left some opportunities out there on the field," said Gold. "We're a team everybody is gunning for, everyone is going to play their best game against us, and Bedford played a great game.

"This is one of those times, we just have to come together as a program and a coaching staff."