Milton soars into region championship, defeats Denmark 48-0
The Milton Eagles move themselves one step closer to a region title on Friday night and did so in dominating fashion as they defeated the Denmark Danes 48-0, improving to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the region standing. The Eagles would set the tone defensively on the opening drive of the game for Denmark after Milton’s Jacorey Stewart would come up with a sack of Denmark quarterback, Matthew Baer, setting up a third down and 10 yards to go for the Danes.
On the next play of the Denmark drive, Faisal Sokoya would intercept a Baer pass and return the ball inside the 20 yard line of the Danes. Later on the Eagles’ offensive possession, running back TJ Lester would battle his way through the Denmark defenders for his first of two touchdowns of the night, helping Milton take a 7-0 first quarter lead. The next score of the game would not come until the second quarter as the Eagles found themselves backed up at their own goal line, however quarterback Luke Nickel would be poised enough to connect with CJ Wiley for a 99 yard touchdown catch and run and the Eagles would take a 14-0 lead.
On the ensuing possession for the Danes, Sokoya would pick off another Baer pass for his second interception of the night and that would lead to Nickel and Wiley connecting on an 84 yard touchdown catch and run, and Milton would themselves up 21-0. As the Eagles’ defense continued to tout their dominance, Lester would rush for his second rushing touchdown, extending the Milton lead to 28-0, a score they would take into the locker room at the half.
The second half would feature more dominance across the board for the Eagles as they would put up three more touchdowns, including a pick-six by Caleb Bell and Milton would go on to pick the 48-0 win. The win would mark the third time in four games that Milton has held an opponent scoreless and they have allowed just 14 total points through those same four game. “We always try to just peak at the right time and as you get to the end of the season and start talking region championships and playoff runs, that’s what our team is doing now, I commend them for that,” Milton head coach, Ben Reeves said following the Friday’s win.
Now in his second season as head coach of Milton, Reeves also discussed how he challenged his defense as they prepared for the week, asking them, “you want to be good or you want to be great. If you want to be good, then yeah, keep points off the board, if you want to be dominant, take the ball away,” something the Eagles did four times Friday night, coming up with three interceptions and one fumble recovery. Milton will now turn their attention to the Lambert Longhorns, who they defeated for the region championship last season and Reeves knows that the one loss Longhorns will give the Eagles “their best shot” and look to get the road one, as the Eagles did when these two met last season.
“They would love nothing more than to come over here and take one from us,” Reeves said and praising the coaching staff of the Longhorns. “Their players always play hard and fly around, so we’re going to have to earn it every single snap and that’s going to be the emphasis in practice,” Reeves said.
