MILFORD, Mass. – Milford likes its high-powered, high-tempo offense, with quick hitting passes and the ability to stretch the field vertically, but sometimes, like Friday night’s season opener against Bridgewater-Raynham, things just don’t seem to click through the air.
So, sometimes you just have to let the big guys up front do what they do best and go right at your opponent.
The Hawks went right at the Trojans on Friday, piling up nearly 300 yards on the ground, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, allowing only five B-R first downs, and rolling to an impressive 42-0 victory.
“We’re pretty good up front on both sides of the ball,” said Milford coach Dale Olson. “We’ve been building up to this point for the past two years, the past two teams, and we’ve got four really good backs when you include Evan (Cornelius) in there. We’re going to lean on people a little bit this year.”
Milford’s offensive line of (from right to left) Oliver McKee, Anthony Dew, Ryan O’Connor, Keith Lee, and Tyler Potter manhandled B-R right from the first possession. The Hawks went 65 yards on 11 plays, 10 of them runs, to open the scoring. Romeo Holland (10 carries for 83 yards), Nicholas Araujo (five carries for 60 yards), Ronan Swineford (15 carries for 74 yards) and quarterback Evan Cornelius (eight carries for 50 yards) all took turns racing through big holes in the B-R line.
The one pass play was a nine-yard completion from Cornelius (4-of-15, 82 yards) to freshman CJ Farrell to convert the lone third down. Nate Scudo would eventually punch it in with a five-yard sweep and Araujo’s extra point made it 7-0.
Two possessions later, after a short punt and a good return from Farrell, Milford would double its lead. Holland got things started with a 16-yard run to the B-R 22. Swineford went up the middle for 11 more and, after a two-yard loss, Cornelius would make the field position count with a 13-yard keeper to make it 14-0 after one quarter.
Milford’s defense can sometimes be overlooked relative to its strength on offense, but the Hawks were hounding B-R quarterback Declan Byrne (7-of-18, 56 yards) and held running back Dawson DuBose to just 36 yards on 14 carries. Holland, Araujo, and Mason Baldic were all making plays at the line and Jayden Archeval had a nice tip in coverage on the outside. B-R never went further than the Milford 49.
“We’ve got a pretty good defense,” Olson said. “We’re young in the secondary, we’ve got a freshman starting at corner who’s going to be really good for the next four years. I think that defense is going to keep getting better and better and better.”
An 11-play drive ended with an Araujo 38-yarder that hit the crossbar, but the Hawks ended B-R’s longest drive (10 plays) at the Trojans 49. Milford got the ball back with 3:03 left in the half and was determined to add another score. Araujo had the big play, a 33-yard burst up the middle that got the Hawks down to the B-R 32. Two plays later, Holland went around the left side for 14 yards to the goal line. It took three plays, but Cornelius eventually got into the end zone for a 21-0 lead.
On its second drive of the second half, Milford finally got a big play out of the passing game. Cornelius, who seemed a little off all night and was missing his top target in senior wideout Isaiah Pantalone, threw a strike to Jacob Ligor for 41 yards down to the B-R 12. Araujo would get the ball on the next snap and find pay dirt for a commanding four-score lead.
“Since I’ve been here we’ve been slow at the start in the passing game, but we get Isaiah back next week, we’ve got a bunch of other dynamic kids on the perimeter,” Olson explained. “Our pass game will come.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Milford tacked on another. Facing fourth and one from the B-R nine, Cornelius showed great patience to wait for a hole and then raced through it for his third touchdown of the evening. Following an Owen Matthews fumble recovery, and with a running clock, backup QB Owen Callahan added more gloss to the score line when he got around the end on a 17-yard keeper for the game’s final touchdown.
“I’m just proud of the guys, the effort in the off-season,” Olson said about such a complete performance in the opening week.
Milford (1-0) will be back home next Friday night to face Wellesley.
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