Back in 1990, Troy Nally helped Worth County win a conference title; his free throws at the end provided the decisive margin in Worth County’s 62-60 victory over Princeton that gave them the conference title. Now, a new generation is helping Bedford rise to prominence. Cooper Nally, the son of Troy and Dana (Baldwin) Nally, is one of the main players for the Bedford Bulldogs as they are establishing themselves as one of the teams to beat in southwest Iowa. Troy is one of the Bedford coaches this year under Coach Frank Sefrit.
The Bulldogs did not get past St. Albert’s, who torched them 67-48 Monday in Shenandoah. The Falcons always seem to stand in the way of any team in the area that wants to go to state. The Bulldogs coaches had every reason to worry about the size of St. Albert’s; they have one player at 6’7” and another at 6’5” and every starter is over 6’1”. But it was St. Alberts’ guard play which buried the Bulldogs; one of their main guards, Tyler Blaha, can dunk, while the other, Jake Carley, went off for 29 points, driving to the basket at will with Bedford struggling with help defense all night long.
But the Bulldogs got through districts for the first time in several years behind Cooper and several other players who will return in coming years. Cooper is also the cousin of North Nodaway athletes Bethany and Kristin Herndon and upcoming seventh grader Lauren. Another Bedford player also has local ties; Damien Henry, a shorter stocky guard who did a lot of dirty work defensively and who can pop a long three, is related to the Henrys of Jefferson; the whole clan, including Dan and Mary Collins and Theresa Schmitz were there.
Other Bedford players who will be a force for the Bulldogs in coming years include Brennan Sefrit, who can shoot from anywhere along with Abraham Weed, who is a strong driver.
It looked like Bedford was in control after Sefrit’s drive put them up 10-5 with 2:50 left in the first. But St. Albert’s was just getting started; Tyler Blaha’s free throws and dunk cut it to 10-9 before Nally’s putback made it 11-9 after one.
The two critical turning points came with three minutes left in the second quarter. First, Weed picked up his third foul; that seemed to take the wind out of Bedford’s sails. Second, St. Albert’s put on a half court trap that Bedford could not handle and they proceeded to start throwing the ball away. They surrendered the ball 10 times in the second quarter alone as they went from leading 17-15 at one point to trailing 29-17 at the half.
Joe Liston, St. Alberts’ 6’7” skyscraper, didn’t see a lot of action; he was taken out bleeding early in the game and then again early in the second half. But it didn’t matter as Fagan worked the offensive glass twice for scores and Carley took over, driving at will. The carnage was bad enough that St. Albert’s scored six points at the end without Bedford having benefit of a possession – Carley buried an NBA three, one of Bedford’s players was called for a foul after the shot, giving St. Albert’s the ball back, and Luke Waters buried another NBA three to make it 52-30 after three.
Bedford went on a 9-2 run to start the fourth – Weed scored off a drive, Sefrit – who had been heckled all night by the St. Albert’s student body after throwing up an airball earlier – finally got a 3-pointer to go down, Nally scored a pair of free throws, and Weed scored two more to make it 54-39. But by that time, the clock had gotten to the four minute mark and Bedford was forced to start fouling. St. Albert’s shot 11 for 13 in the last four minutes – with one of those misses turning into a third chance putback from Jared Gast.
But Nally did all he could to stave off defeat for his team despite only being a sophomore. He had 18 points, three blocks, and 8 boards to lead his Bulldogs. Sefrit added 16 more. Both will be a force in coming years for Bedford.
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