North Attleboro’s Bobby Mylod (31) runs the ball in the second half against Milford. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The game was moved from Friday night to Sunday evening because of inclement weather and the atmosphere was not nearly as charged as it usually is at Community Field. The Rocketeers started sluggishly, falling behind against visiting Milford but turned it on in the second half to break open a close game and stay unbeaten in the division.
Behind 139 yards of offense from Bobby Mylod and 134 from Nick Rajotte, North Attleboro scored 35 straight points (21 unanswered after the break) and allowed only one first down in the second half to roll to a 35-7 victory.
“Especially with our field situation,” North Attleboro coach Don Johnson said of the difficulty of preparing for a Sunday game. “We get two extra days where we can practice, but we had to go in the gym because we couldn’t get a good field where we can practice. I think that explains some of the lethargic play that we saw in the first half.”
Milford got a first down on its opening possession behind senior Blake Hill (19 carries, 83 yards), but a pair of incompletions under pressure from the North defense forced a Sean Lehane punt. Rajotte had it ricochet off his shoulder pads and Tony Mobiliarecovered for the Hawks at the Rocketeers 26.
Matt Curran (2-9, 24 yards) hit Jack Cappalletti for 10 yards down to the 15 and Hill followed with a 14-yard burst through the middle to get a first down at the one. Two quarterback sneaks later, Curran squeezed over the goal line to give Milford the 7-0 lead.
North bounced back on its next possession with Rajotte accounting for 43 yards on the ground and through the air to get in Milford territory. With North facing fourth and 13, Chad Peterson (10-12, 125 yards) looked down field to Mylod for a 30-yard strike to tie the game.
On its next possession, Milford had a chance to look down field, but Kayden Kelly could not haul in a pass on the sideline with Kyle McCarthy in tight coverage and the Hawks would give the ball back to the Rocketeers. Peterson hit David Engler twice and Mylod had a 26-yard gain on a sweep to get down to the Hawks 29. After Hill stuffed Rajotte for a loss, Peterson again laid out a pass for Mylod to run under and the 32-yard touchdown made it 14-7 at the break.
“We had a couple opportunities early in the game to keep it neck-and-neck,” said Milford coach Joe Todd. “Our defense played well at times, but we gave up too many big plays in critical situations.”
North received the ball to start the second half and set up about taking control of the game. The Rocketeers engineered a 10-play, 76-yard drive to go up by two scores. Rajotte had the first 35 yards of the drive and McCarthy broke a 20-yard run down to the 13. Mylod went straight up the gut to the one, where the ball popped loose. Engler followed the play and dove on it for the touchdown.
“I think that was important,” said Johnson of the second half drive, “and good teams should be able to do that, come out and move the ball on the first drive and establish it. We haven’t done that all the time this year, so it was good for us to do that for once.”
Milford’s next possession ended on a sack by Jack Dakin. The Hawks would not get another first down for the remainder of the game, as the North defense locked down the running game. The Rocketeers held Hill to only 17 yards on eight carries after the break by dominating the line of scrimmage, particularly Thomas Reynolds, Thomas Kummer, and Jay Loring, who battled Milford’s big lineman Riley Burns all night.
“I think we wore them down a little bit,” said Johnson. “Nice to see us doing that to someone for once, instead of King Philip doing it to us.”
With the gap widening, the Hawks were also forced to go away from their strengths needing to score quickly. Todd explained, “Once we came out of halftime and they scored on that first drive, we really needed to score after that and we didn’t. Offensively, it’s tough for us to score fast, it’s not our style, so I think that was a big advantage for them.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, North took over at its own 27. Rajotte needed only one play to add another score, breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage and then winning a foot race against several Hawks for the 73-yard score. After Loring sniffed out a fake punt on Milford’s next possession, Jonathan Shultz tacked on a 31-yard TD.
“It was nice to see Rajotte break that long one in the second half,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had that opportunity yet where we had everyone in their in the second half. We’re going to need it.”
Todd concluded, “Our strength is obviously running the football and I think they were able to find our tendencies and offensively I thought they did a great job of attacking some things that we were trying to take away.”
North Attleboro (3-1, 2-0) will travel to Sharon next Saturday afternoon, while Milford (2-2, 1-1) will try to get back on track against Foxboro at Ahern Middle School on Friday night.
Milford senior Blake Hill (42) rushed for 179 yards and three touchdowns to help the Hawks end a long losing streak against Franklin. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)
MILFORD, Mass. – The Hawks had the ball in Franklin territory for almost the entire first half but had only a Blake Hill touchdown run to show for their domination. Momentum shifted away from Milford just before the break when the Panthers engineered a 14-play, 86-yard drive that tied the game with eight seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Coming off a difficult opening game loss to Marlboro, in which they only managed five points, the Hawks could have been demoralized by the swing in the game. Instead, Milford regrouped at the break, scored on its opening possession, forced a turnover, and scored again to break the game open.
Behind three touchdowns from Hill, three forced turnovers, and an offensive attack that totaled 270 yards on the ground, Milford rebounded from week one to beat Franklin 35-7. It was the first win for the Hawks against their neighbors in 26 years, according to Milford athletic director Peter Boucher.
“Last week was definitely tough, but we used it as motivation,” said Milford coach Joe Todd, who admitted that last year’s last second loss to Franklin was one of the toughest losses he has dealt with as a coach. “We kind of used it as a wake-up call that on any given week, anyone can beat you. It doesn’t matter how talented you are at the top, you have to play as a team.”
It was a team effort in the first half, as the ball seemed perpetually in the Franklin half of the field. Milford had two drives stall inside the Panthers 40, before Hill (18 carries, 179 yards) got the Hawks on the board with a 13-yard run. The kick-off team followed that with a big play to force Franklin to start from its own 14.
The Panthers put together what turned out to be their only sustained drive of the game. Jake Noviello (14-26, 102 yards) went 6-8 on the drive, including a 10-yard completion to Jake Wolowacki (23 carries, 85 yards) on third and six to get into Milford territory and then a 22-yard strike to Connor Peterson down the seam. Two plays later, Noviello hit Kinley Baird (four receptions, 27 yards) for a nine-yard score that silenced the home crowd.
Milford got a big, 34-yard return of the second half kickoff from Ryan O’Toole out to the 47. It would only take three plays to regain the lead. Asonga Aminmentse broke a 27-yard run to the Franklin 25 and, after a holding call brought a play back, Hill broke free for a 31-yard touchdown to make it 14-7.
“That was huge,” said Todd of the quick bounce back score. “We were really focusing with our guys on finishing – finishing every play, finishing the game, and we pitched a shutout in the second half, our offense came back and ran the ball great, quarterback controlled the ball and we finished the game.”
On just the second play of its next possession, Franklin fumbled and it was recovered by Harrison Bliss at the Panthers 25. Matt Curran (6-8, 45 yards) hit Jack Cappalletti for seven yards on third and six to get the ball into the red zone. Aminmentse capped the short drive with a one-yard dive to extend the lead to two scores.
“We got the ball to [Wolowacki] 21 times in the first half (18 carries and three receptions), we established the run, it wasn’t the best and it wasn’t where we need to be but you can’t come out of half give up a quick score and turn the ball over,” said Franklin coach Eian Bain.
After a three and out by Franklin, Milford put the game away. The ground game set up the score, but Curran found Tyler Joyce to finish the drive with an 11-yard touchdown with eight minutes remaining. Joyce added a big third down sack of Noviello to end the ensuing Franklin possession.
Hill would get a hat trick of touchdowns to add gloss to the scoreline. After taking a toss for 14 yards, he was brought down by several Panthers and there was some pushing after the whistle that resulted in a personal foul against Franklin. On the next play, Hill went straight up the gut for another 14 yards and another score.
“Blake Hill is obviously a great running back but he needs blocks; he can’t run over everybody,” Todd explained, praising the play of his offensive line. “It was great to see us run the ball. That’s what we need to do.”
Bain noted, “Where Marlboro was successful is they got to him in the backfield. They were at his feet, he couldn’t get that head of steam, and early in the game we were able to do that but later in the game we started getting washed out of gaps and he started finding creases.”
The Panthers have struggled against the run in the opening two games of Bain’s inaugural season as coach, but he saw some improvements and was staying confident about the team’s development.
“We were better this week,” he said. “We’ve got guys that can do it [but] it’s a learning process for everybody…All hands are on deck, but I told the guys that we can’t lose faith.”
The victory ended a long losing streak for the Hawks against Franklin, one that predated Milford’s entry into the Hockomock League by a couple decades.
“We just knew that if we kept playing tough that we would be able to run the ball,” Todd said. “It was a great win for our program…26 years is a long time to wait for a win.”
Milford (1-1) will look to keep the momentum going next Friday in the opening league game of the season against Canton (1-1). Franklin (0-2) will look for its first win on the road at Taunton (1-1), against former head coach Brad Sidwell, who is now the coach of the Tigers.
North Attleboro, the defending Kelley-Rex champions, will look to make a splash in its first season in the Davenport. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
Outlook: After falling victim to the playoff system’s alignment and just missing out on a postseason berth, Canton will be relying on a mix of experience and youth to try and get back to the state tournament under the new alignment.
Davenport division MVP and HockomockSports.com Player of the Year Jake Ragusa is off playing at Merrimack so that will be a major void for Canton to fill. However, the Bulldogs do return some players in key spots that will help them out of the gates. Senior Anthony Ross is back under center and could see an expanded role in 2016. Dan Alice is back after suffering an injury last season and should lead a stable of running backs, led by fullback Alec Ragusa. Joe Mulkay, Dan Pierre, Tony Harris and Mike Marino should all factor into the offense as well for Canton.
Defensively, Canton has some experience on the line in Brian Smith, who also plays as a tackle on offense, as well as Mark Whalen, who saw valuable minutes last year, and Ben Paolillo. Alec Ragusa will be the anchor in the linebacking corps alongside Thomas Monagle (also the team’s kicker) and Marino. Harris, Alice and Mulkay figure to be important pieces in the Bulldogs’ secondary this year.
“The kids have a strong work ethic and had a good offseason and now a good preseason,” head coach Dave Bohane said. “I think we’ll be strong up front on both sides and we have kids in key spots with experience.”
Outlook: Coming off the program’s first league title since 2010, the Foxboro Warriors are hoping to stay near the top of the Davenport division again this year. And with one of the top returning quarterbacks in Mark Clagg under center for another year, the Warriors will likely be in the thick of the division race.
Clagg threw for nine touchdowns last season, third most among returning quarterbacks. After splitting some time with Darren Kelly last year, it looks like it was be Clagg’s spot full time in 2016. Another positive for having Clagg back is the experienced wide receivers he will have to work with. Jamaine Few is a big, experienced target at 6’3 and will be a tough one on one matchup for defensive backs. Trey Guerrini also has experience with Clagg while Phil Dure and John Whitehouse could be viable options as well. Foxboro will have to fill the void at running back, after the stability of Ronnie Martin and Keeyon Neal in previous years. Eseosa Omuemu, Matt Mullally and Anthony Capachietti are all possible choices to start in the backfield.
Defensively, the Warriors will rely upon experience in the linebacking and defensive back corps. Junior Matt Pond and senior Brandon Corey will be key cogs among the linebackers while Paul Darcy and Guerrini will be key pieces in the Warriors’ secondary. Foxboro will look to develop solid options on both the offensive and defensive lines.
“As always, the senior leadership plays a key role in the success of the 2016 campaign,” head coach Jack Martinelli said.
Outlook: The Scarlet Hawks have posted back-to-back 7-4 seasons and are hoping to continue their winning ways in 2016. With 11 starters returning, Milford is on the right track to do so.
It all starts with Yale-commit Blake Hill, who will be a top player on both offense and defense this season. Offensively he can hurt you in many ways, including running with the ball or catching passes. Hill will have some space to run thanks to an experienced offensive line that includes Riley Burns, Ryan Gray and Pat Brogioli. Junior Matt Curran will take over under center for the Scarlet Hawks and will have Jack Cappelletti, Tony Mobilia and Tyler Joyce as pass catching options to work with.
Defensively, Hill is one of the top linebackers in the league. He’ll be flanked by Harrison Bliss, Asong Aminmentse and Joyce. Burns, Gray and Brogioli will all be two-way linemen for the Scarlet Hawks. Shapel Feaster, who will also see touches on offense, will be in the secondary along with Alec Salamone, Mobilia and Cappelletti.
Outlook: As with any defending league champion, the North Attleboro Rocketeers will have some holes they’ll have to fill this year. But Big Red also has a slew of talented, experienced players back as North Attleboro looks to make a splash in its first season in the Davenport division.
Junior Chad Peterson is back under center after a breakout sophomore season in which he tossed 13 touchdowns, second most in the Hockomock League. While Kelley-Rex MVP Nick Morrison has graduated, North Attleboro returns Bobby Mylod and Nick Rajotte, who will give the Rocketeers a variety of attacking options. Thomas Reynolds will anchor the offensive line from the center position while Peterson will look for Hacmoni Cuevas, David Engler, Mario Bresko and Nick Dean to emerge as receiving threats.
It will be a lot of the same faces making plays on the defensive side of the ball. Reynolds and senior Tom Kummer are two major pieces and will take up the center of the defensive line. Mylod emerged as one of the top linebackers in the Hockomock and in the state last season and will be complemented at the position by Ryan Kingston, Zach DeMattio and Cuevas. Rajotte and Kyle McCarthy both had solid years in the secondary last season and will be big pieces to the defensive puzzle again this season.
“It’s going to be an interesting year switching to the Davenport division,” head coach Don Johnson said. “It certainly isn’t going to be any easier.”
Outlook: A lot of the players listed as key and returning players for Sharon this season were also on last year’s list, and that’s a good thing for the Eagles, who are looking to take the next step forward in 2016.
Junior Drew Naisuler will step into the starting role at quarterback and will have some weapons at his disposal right away. Running back Juvan Elisma had a stellar 2015 campaign as a junior, rushing for eight touchdowns – tied for fourth most in the Hockomock League and tied for second in the Davenport. Now Elisma will look to cap a strong football career at Sharon by leading an Eagles’ rushing attack that will likely include junior Sam Spencer as well. Naisuler will have an experienced receiver as Josh Rotman is back for another year while junior Austin Dodes figures to be another target this season.
“Our season will be decided by how physical we can be and if our new varsity players can step up and make an impact,” head coach Dave Morse said.
The Eagles will also bring back some experience on both sides of the line. Nate Hirsh has been a key cog of the line on both sides of the ball for the Eagles. Ian Langol-Leonard and Wilhelm Bolt also will likely be key experience pieces up front for Sharon. Defensively, Rotman also is back as a talented defensive back. Xavier Hackett is another name to keep an eye on, as the senior has been able to make plays for Sharon in the past and looks to do more of the same in 2016.
Outlook: No matter what team, it’s always going to be difficult to replace a three year starter at quarterback. But with the talented offensive line Stoughton has back this season and senior Dave Cellucci taking over under center, the Black Knights’ offense is in good shape.
The offensive line returns starters Lino Azul, Ryan Pierre and Andrew Iverson while Harry Kimball and Brendan Walsh – who both started on the defensive line – will play on both sides of the ball now. That experience will help give Cellucci a little more time in the pocket when he’s called upon to throw. Meanwhile, Ryan Sullivan, Izon Swain-Price and Justin Ly all figure to be key pieces in the backfield. Sullivan and Swain-Price caused havoc for defenses last season with a combined 10 rushing touchdowns. Swain-Price will also be a receiving option while Jack Connelly is back for another year at tight end.
Stoughton will look to continue its tradition of having a staunch defense. The Black Knights have depth on the defensive line with Pierre, Azul and Kimball all seeing time there along with junior Jason Joseph. Iverson, Ly and Connelly will all see reps at linebacker and Sullivan and Izon Swain-Price will likely be two of the top defensive backs in the entire league.
“We hope to stay healthy and get into the playoffs,” head coach Greg Burke said. “This has been a great group in the weight room and conditioning, that will have to carry us in the league. We know it will be a tough league this year.”
Stoughton junior Ryan Sullivan (95 yards, two touchdowns) carries the ball in the first half against Milford. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com) By Ryan Lanigan, Editor-in-Chief
MILFORD, Mass. – Over halfway through the third quarter, Stoughton had a comfortable 30-7 lead and an offense that had moved the ball nearly at will.
But less than six minutes later, Milford had found the end zone twice and pulled within one score. Trailing 30-22 less than a minute into the fourth quarter, the Scarlet Hawks suddenly had almost of the momentum and forced Stoughton into a fourth down situation for the first time all game.
The Black Knights kept the offense on the field from the Milford 31 and senior Jake Gibb delivered a 13 yard strike to junior Ryan Sullivan for a first down. Three plays later, Gibb hit senior Steven Elice in the endzone for a 16 yard touchdown. A two point conversion from Sullivan recreated the cushion and the Black Knights emerged with a 38-22 win.
The win earned Stoughton a share of the Hockomock League Davenport Division title, the second straight year that the Black Knights had won a league title. It’s the first time in program history at Stoughton has won back-to-back league titles.
“That play was huge,” Stoughton head coach Greg Burke said of the fourth down conversion. “We were struggling and Gibb had two great throws there. They recovered that onside kick and scored and that throws you back some. It was good to get that play and keep the momentum.”
With a 24-7 lead at halftime, Stoughton took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on nine plays, capped off with a five yard rush from senior Guy Eddy to make it 30-7.
But there was no quit in the Scarlet Hawks. Milford responded with a 11 play, 56 yard drive to find the end zone. Milford senior quarterback Zach Lanzetta worked the offense down the field, highlighted by an 18 yard reception from Jack Cappelletti, an 11 yard reception from Asong Aminmentse and a 12 yard catch from Ryan Nesta. Lanzetta then his Shapel Feaster for a four yard score to make it 30-14 with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Milford’s Sean Lehane hit a dribbler straight down the middle and Dan Cossette was able to fall onto it to get the ball back for the Scarlet Hawks.
Milford quickly moved up the field as Lanzetta hit Cappalletti for 16 yards and Jack DeSantis (16 carries, 78 yards) ran up the middle for 11 more. Facing third and 2, Lanzetta used the QB keeper for a gain of nine and on the next play, Lanzetta connected with Cappalletti, who was able to haul in the pass with one hand for a seven yard score. Blake Hill plowed into the end zone for the two point conversion to bring Milford within eight at 30-22 with 10:39 left.
“It was great to see our guys battle in the second half,” Milford head coach Joe Todd said. “Obviously [Stoughton] is a very good football team, they have a great offense and run game and great quarterback. Number 20 [Ryan Sullivan] is a great player, he made that catch and I think that was probably the play of the game. If we stop them there we have a chance to go down and tie it. We’re proud of our effort, hats off to them for fighting and we just have to regroup and come back next week ready to go.”
Stoughton moved up the field to the 29 but a tackle for a loss from Feaster and then a pass break up from DeSantis and Feaster put Stoughton into fourth and long. That’s when Gibb hit Sullivan.
“Hats off to them, they made it interesting,” Burke said. “We had trouble getting to their quarterback. I’m glad we put up 38 points and got the win. We played pretty well defensively just couldn’t get to the quarterback and they made a couple of nice plays.”
Gibb finished 8/11 for 173 yards with the one touchdown pass while Sullivan had 95 yards on the ground on 14 carries with a pair of touchdowns and then 84 yards through the air on three receptions. Stoughton amassed for 456 total yards, with 283 coming on the ground.
Lanzetta was 19/34 for 154 yards with a pair of touchdowns for the Scarlet Hawks.
After Milford was forced to punt on their opening series, Lehane pinned Stoughton inside the five at their own three yard line. The field position didn’t phase the Black Knights as they took just eight plays to move the ball field. All eight plays were rushing plays and the last was a 44 yard burst up the right side from Christian Hill for a touchdown.
Milford responded immediately, going 13 plays to move the ball 56 yards. DeSantis had a big run to convert a third down and then hauled in a 14 yard pass from Lanzetta for another first. From one yard out, Hill punched it in and Lehane’s extra point gave the Scarlet Hawks a 7-6 lead with 10:17 left in the second quarter.
It took Stoughton less than a minute to get the lead right back though. Sullivan had a big kick return that set the Black Knights up at the Milford 22 yard line. Three plays later, Sullivan dove in from two yards out to make it 12-7.
Just three plays into MIlford’s next series, Stoughton linebacker Harry Kimball read the screen play perfectly and intercept Lanzetta to give the Black Knights the ball at the Milford 25 yard line. Seven plays later, Sullivan went up the middle for a five yard score to make it 20-7.
Another Milford punt gave Stoughton the ball and Gibb moved it up the field quickly. He hit Elice for 32 yards over the middle and two plays later, Izon Swain-Price (10 carries, 80 yards) took the toss to the left side and raced up the field for a 30 yard score to make it 24-7 with 2:23 left in the half.
Stoughton nearly scored right before the half as Gibb hit Sullivan for 43 yards but he was tackled by Nesta on the two yard line as time expired in the first half.
After losing the first two games of the season Stoughton has bounced back nicely and will likely be the 5th seed in D3 Southwest. Those two first opponents for Stoughton just happened to be Marshfield (7-0), who is widely regarded as the top team in the state, and North Attleboro (7-0), who won the Hockomock League Kelley-Rex and will likely be the second seed in the D3 Southwest.
“That was huge for us to take on two great teams,” Burke said. “People questioned why we played Marshfield but we’ll play anyone, we didn’t want to sit out for a week. We’ll play. Sometimes you want to milk your schedule but we learned a lot and I think we did as well as anyone against Marshfield. We got points from Marshfield and North because they won every week. I’d do it again too.
“I’m happy we’re to win the league title, that’s two years in a row. And that’s really, really important for the town and our program. We have a lot of kids playing their first year so to be where we are, I’m really excited for the kids.”
Stoughton (4-1, 4-3) will likely travel to #4 Walpole in the first round of the playoffs. We will have the playoff seeds posted as soon as they are announced. Milford (2-3, 3-4) looks to have just missed the playoffs, less than .2 points behind Norwood. The Scarlet Hawks will be back in action next week against an opponent to be determined.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at RyanLanigan@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.
SHARON, Mass. – A week after giving up 42 points to league leading Foxboro, the Milford defense came into Saturday afternoon’s game at Sharon on a mission to give the Hawks a chance to play next week for a Div. 3 Southwest tournament berth.
Mission accomplished for the Hawks (3-3, 2-2), who forced three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) and held the Eagles (2-4, 1-3) scoreless until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter. Milford took advantage of the turnovers to pull out a 17-7 win that keeps the Hawks in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs.
“We had the tough loss last week and our kids knew that we needed this game for us to play meaningful football in November,” said Milford coach Joe Todd. “We played good defense all game to the very end…our emphasis all week was to play better defense and I think we got that done.”
Sharon took its opening possession all the way to the Milford 22. Junior running back Juvan Elisma carried the ball nine times on the drive for 24 yards and senior Rob Bayha (16-25, 197 yards) completed all three of his passes, but the Eagles could not finish and were stopped a yard short on fourth down.
Milford immediately marched downfield to open the scoring. Zach Lanzetta (9-12, 60 yards) was 3-3 on the drive, including an 11-yard completion to Leonard Moronta to the Sharon 16, and also ran for 12 yards. Junior Blake Hill had four carries for 31 yards and punched it in straight up the gut from four yards out.
Sharon’s second possession ended in a fumble by Elisma that was recovered by Milford’s Alec Salamone at the 25. But, the Eagles defense held strong and, with help from a holding call, forced Milford to punt.
“We gave up the turnover and gave them a short field and held them out, got the ball back,” said Sharon coach Dave Morse. “But Milford did a pretty good job when they had the ball of not getting too many three and outs, if any, and just moving the ball.”
He added, “They punted the ball real well and that was a big factor in the game.”
Once again the Eagles moved the ball and got into Milford territory. Bayha continued to be accurate with his underneath passes and spread the ball around to four different receivers, but he tried to go up top and underthrew his receiver down the middle and was picked off by Ryan Nesta at the Milford 33.
Morse explained, “It’s also bad when you have turnovers when the guy’s open. Overthrows or underthrows and you’re right there, it’s a little disheartening but it’s a game of inches and we’ll work on it.”
The Hawks marched 67 yards in nine plays, including a 23-yard completion to Hill that converted a first down, even with a block in the back penalty down the field. After an eight-yard run by Shapel Feester to the four, Lanzetta completed the drive with a four-yard keeper.
“That’s a good football team right there and without those turnovers, it’s a whole different game,” said Todd. “Hats off to our defense being in the right place, reading their keys, making plays when they had the opportunity and not dropping interceptions.”
On Sharon’s first possession of the second half, the Hawks defense again made a play to end a drive that had Milford on its heels. Hill made a leaping, twisting interception on a pass deep down the middle to get the ball at the Hawks 20.
“That was a huge play by Blake,” said Todd. “I think that was one of the biggest plays all game on defense.”
In the fourth quarter, Sharon was forced to go for it on fourth down at its own 24 and turned it over on downs. Four plays later Sean Lehane kicked a 33-yard field goal that put the Hawks ahead 17-0 with 3:25 left and seemingly wrapped up the win.
The Eagles needed a big play and, after narrowly missing on several deep throws, finally found the connection with Bayha hitting Craig Titus in stride on a post route for a 64-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 17-7 with 3:01 left.
“From week one we’ve certainly improved in the passing game,” said Morse. “Usually, the running game is there too but Milford did a great job of taking that away from us in large part.”
The Hawks ran out the clock and gave the ball back with only a few ticks left on the clock.
“We’re back to where we need to be,” said Todd. “We have a big challenge coming up this week with Stoughton…but we’re ready to go. Given the circumstances of our records, we couldn’t ask for a better situation. It’s going to be a good battle next week.”
Sharon will also be facing one of the three teams currently tied for the Davenport lead when it hosts Canton next week.
“They’re having a great season, they’re well coached, they have a lot of fight in them, a lot of toughness, and we’re going to give them our best shot,” said Morse. He added, “I don’t mind playing spoiler.”
Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
