By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor
The Milford Eagles football team welcomed quite the crowd to their regular-season opener on Aug. 26 against Hamilton. Unfortunately, Mother Nature showed up and sent everyone home early.
Lightning delayed the game with just over two minutes left in the second half and Milford driving deep into Hamilton territory. By the time the light show ended, the game was postponed to early Saturday, Aug. 27 with Milford down 14-7.
How did they get to that point? Hamilton struck first in the contest, with Eric Jackson throwing an eight-yard touchdown to Vince Sanford to cap off a six-play, 65 yard drive that took 2:47 off the clock.
Less than six minutes later, Blake King scored on a nine-yard scamper that tied the game. That lead held until midway through the second quarter, when Jackson scampered in from seven yards away to put the Big Blue back on top.
After what basically amounted to one of the longest halftime periods ever, the Eagles returned to the field on a steamy Saturday morning looking to tie things up. They did just that, with Chase Witte hitting Max Brewer for a seven-yard score with 6:33 left in the contest.
Neither team did much offensively after that.Milford recovered back-to-back fumbles at one point in the fourth quarter, but could not get anything going offensively. Hamilton struck late in the fourth quarter. Jackson hit Stanford again for a 59-yard gain on third and 10 that put the ball at the Milford five yard line. Trace Sword then converted a 22-yard field goal to give the Big Blue the lead.
Sword’s field goal was only the first game-winning play he would make against the Eagles on Saturday. Later that same afternoon, he scored the game-winning goal in Hamilton’s 3-2 win over the Eagles boys’ soccer team.
Milford had one last play on offense, but Witte’s pass was thrown into double coverage and intercepted. Hamilton held on for the 17-14 win.
King would lead the Eagles in rushing, tallying 57 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Witte added 35 yards on 14 attempts. He also completed five of his nine attempts at passing the ball for 71 yards and a touchdown, which was caught by Max Brewer. Brewer totaled 51 receiving yards on four catches.
Defensively, Evan Baugh led the team with 12 tackles. Bryce Dugan totaled 10 and forced a fumble. Eagles’ head coach Shane Elkin said he was happy with his team’s performance in the game considering the rash of injuries the Eagles are dealing with.
“I was super pleased with how the team played,” Elkin said. “We really had a rough preseason in the sense that I’ve never been this injured as a player or a coach going into a game. We were down five, six starters and we had a lot of shifting to do.”
One of those starters was King, who played quarterback before the lightning delay. Elkin said he had a foot injury that was uncovered during the break.
“He’s had a nagging foot issue, we thought it was something he could play with,” Elkin said. “Nobody realized he had a broken foot. Nothing happened in the game other than during the lightning delay he was icing his ankle because he thought it was his ankle bothering him. It never got better with the ice, so the team doctor decided to x-ray it. That night, I found out his foot’s broken.”
Elkin added he was pleased with how his team reacted to the adversity.
“They never gave up,” Elkin said. “When you’re dealing with high-school age athletes, when they face adversity sometimes their head just drops and they don’t play that hard. This group of kids, they’re just tough. We’ve been dealing with these injuries for two or three weeks now and they just keep coming back for more. I’m super excited about the effort and their attitude.”
While it can be difficult for coaches to get the same level of performance from quarter to quarter, having a 12 hour break between halves can be extremely hard to manage as a coach. Elkin said the team just treated it as the start of a normal game, with a few exceptions.
“We reset our times, just like a normal pregame,” Elkin said. “As a coaching staff, we met earlier and watched film to see where we were having issues. We came in about an hour before the kids came in. We talked to them about what we needed to improve upon based on what we saw from the previous night’s film. They took to the coaching.”
Another group that has taken to what the Eagles have been preaching on the field seems to be the fan base. Lots all across the campus were filled Friday night for the opener, and Elkin said he’s happy to see how the support for the program has changed during his tenure.
“One of the things that is exciting for me as a head coach is seeing the evolution of the program as I’ve taken over,” Elkin said. “We call our fans The Flock, and the kids have been phenomenal. They’ve been super supportive of the players, and that’s one of the things that’s changed the most since I’ve started. The kids are excited, they come with their chants and really get into the game.”
The Eagles have another difficult task ahead of them in week two as they travel to Dixie Heights. Elkin said the team will have to prepare themselves for a ground attack.
“They’re a run-heavy team,” Elkin said. “They only punted four times in the film we watched, and they’ve been able to move the ball and do some things even though they’re run-heavy. When I look at this game, we have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and force them to throw the ball. That’s the challenge we’ve put on our defense this week.”
The Eagles’ bout with Dixie Heights is expected to begin at 7 p.m. on Sept. 2.
