PENACOOK – The Bow Falcons and speedster senior running back, Kody McCranie, ran away with a win against the Merrimack Valley Pride on Friday night.

With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, McCranie returned a punt for 68 yards after he found a huge gap on the left side and dodged multiple tackles for a touchdown.

That score gave Bow its largest lead of the night but, from the start, there was no catching the Falcons. Although the Pride shut the Falcons out in the second half, they could not muster a comeback, despite a valiant effort in the fourth quarter, as Bow secured a 23-13 victory.

“I looked up. I saw the ball. I looked back at the defense, and I see the biggest hole I’ve ever seen on the left side because of my amazing blocking teammates, and I just put my head down and my track speed kicked in,” said McCranie.

McCranie, who had never played football before this season, was also Bow’s kicker, putting the Falcons up by three points at the end of the first quarter with an 18-yard field goal to open the scoring. He forced a fumble on the return of the ensuing kickoff, which he also kicked. Elliot Rheaume recovered that fumble inside the 20 and a short drive ended in a 5-yard touchdown run by junior running back Miles Miller to make the score 10-0.

“Big shoutout to the O-line. They do their job so well making those holes, and it’s just the running back’s job to read off of that and take advantage of what they’re doing,” said Miller.

Bow moved the chains consistently and patiently, and Merrimack Valley had multiple flags on both sides of the ball that cost the Pride precious time of possession.

“We teach the running backs to run hard, hit the holes as fast as they can and run with a passion. And they did their job today. I think all the running backs and line did fine. We killed the clock,” said Bow’s offensive coordinator, Ryan Lover.

Chase Flagg ran in a touchdown to put Bow up 17-0 and McCranie’s punt return touchdown made it 23-0, but MV responded quickly. Senior running back Reece Clermont scored on a 78-yard touchdown run on the first play after the kick return. Going into halftime, the Pride were down, 23-7, but not completely out yet.

MV’s defense clamped down in the second half as senior defensive end Michael Heine and temmate Clermont took turns making big tackles for losses and stopping Bow’s run game.

They forced the Falcons to punt more and gave the ball to their offense, but moving the chains was a big challenge with false start penalties, strong pressure from Bow’s defensive line and even a loose dog running on to the field that held play in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the second week in a row that we pitched a defensive shutout in the second half. So I think that that’s something that our guys can definitely hang their hat on,” said Pride head coach Matt Shaw.

Merrimack Valley’s junior quarterback, Jack Parris, found a rhythm in the fourth quarter.

With 10 minutes left and the score still 23-7, he completed big passes to junior wide receiver Chris Babonis for 21 yards on a slant route, to senior running back Colby Sheffer for 15 and to Clermont for the touchdown to bring the Pride within 10.

However, the Pride still needed a two-point conversion to come within eight points of the tie. A false start flag backed MV five yards and Parris was sacked on the attempt by sophomore Caleb Schumacher, who had been a threat on the defensive end all game.

“Anytime you play a team like Bow you have to execute, and you have to be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. And unfortunately, tonight, that wasn’t us,” said Shaw. “I think, the second half, we actually played really well and sort of came at it with a more balanced attack.”

The game slowed down after the score and Bow was able to hold on to the lead it established early on in the game. Both football teams dropped their opening games and looked to even their records on Friday, but only one emerged victorious.

Bow head coach Paul Cohen was hoping and pushing for a win at Merrimack Valley before the Falcons’ homecoming game next week.

“I think rebounding from last week’s hard loss, we didn’t play our brand of football, and we said to them all week long, ‘If you want to turn this around, it’s actually really simple. You got to play consistent, hard football all around.’ We bent, but we didn’t break,” said Cohen. “We said to them all week long, ‘This game is going to determine what kind of team we have.’ ”

Merrimack Valley’s players were upset they were not able to turn the game around, but they showed flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball.

“I think that the way we build off of that is look at the positive stuff, defensively we played really well in the second half,” Shaw said. “We found a rhythm, and I feel like we’re an inch away from figuring out what we need to do and once we figure that out I think we’ll start clicking and get on a roll.”

The Falcons will play the Kingswood Knights in their homecoming game on Saturday. Merrimack Valley will play at St. Thomas on Friday night.