Big fourth quarter lifts Milford football past Sanborn

KINGSTON – The Milford High School football team found itself down to Sanborn at the start of the fourth quarter Saturday.

Instead of panic, the Spartans went to work.

Harrison Urda scrambled for a 62-yard touchdown run on the first play of the frame, the first of four fourth quarter touchdowns, as Milford rallied for a 48-23 win over the Indians in Division II action.

Mitchell Banuskevich led Milford (1-0) with 153 yards rushing and three touchdowns, and Urda contributed on the ground (73 yards rushing, TD), through the air (52 yards passing, TD) and with a 50-yard punt return for a score in the final quarter.

“That was just waggle, option to throw, option to run,” Milford coach Keith Jones said of Urda’s rushing touchdown. “We always say run first, but it’s hard to get him to do that sometimes. I think he could run on more of them than pass. Obviously, he’s a veteran quarterback, and he and Banuskevich and (Evan) Perron did a great job (Saturday). They controlled the offensive side of the game.”

Milford needed that experience on offense, as Sanborn came out rolling against the Spartans’ defense. The Indians took the game’s opening drive and went 80 yards in 14 plays and scored on a 9-yard touchdown run by Zach Matthews with 5:22 left in the first.

But Banuskevich answered right away, going right up the middle for a 74-yard touchdown run on Milford’s first play. Urda found Willie Miles for a 9-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to give the Spartans a 14-6 lead, but Sanborn (0-1) came back with two scores to lead 20-14 at halftime.

“They came out, they were prepared and they punched us in the mouth,” Jones said. “We played defense a long time in the first half. It felt like we were getting nickeled and dimed, with three yards, two yards, three yards and they’re blowing us off the ball. I give them a lot of credit.”

Sanborn coach John Welch knew his team couldn’t let up if it was going to hold the lead.

“We played a really good first half of football,” Welch said. “We told them to play hard, that it’s their game, but that’s a really good football team over there in Milford. They’re tough and they made adjustments and played well.”

Milford took the opening drive of the second half and went 77 yards on nine plays and retook the lead, 21-20, on a 13-yard run by Banuskevich with 7:47 left in the third.

Sanborn wasn’t done, and the Indians went back up on a 26-yard field goal by Jackson Morton with 41.8 seconds to go until the fourth quarter, and that’s when Milford’s seniors took over.

“I think experience, probably for us, in that situation, maybe (made the difference),” Jones said. “I don’t know about Sanborn, but those (Milford) kids have been at this for three years and they weren’t phased by being down. They didn’t get nervous or go in the tank. They just had to play better.”

Welch warned his team all week about Urda’s abilities running with the football, and wasn’t surprised it was the quarterback leading the comeback.

“That’s a tough football team, and we preached all week that we had to contain Urda,” Welch said. “Don’t let him get outside of you. You saw him break tackles.”

Matthews had 43 yards rushing and a touchdown for Sanborn, and Mike Rich added 48 yards on the ground. John Morris was 6 of 10 for 94 yards passing with a touchdown.