McInnis, Windham football win battle with Milford

WINDHAM – When the game is on the lone, Windham High School football coach Bill Raycraft has put the ball in the hands of junior quarterback Brendan McInnis.

Two weeks ago, McInnins rewarded Raycraft’s trust by turning a fourth-and-1 one play into the game-winning touchdown against Souhegan. On Saturday, McInnis did it again, throwing for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to lead the Jaguars to a 27-23 victory over Milford in a Division II South Conference game.

McInnis finished the day with 216 yards passing and three touchdowns through the air, as Windham (4-1) took a step ahead of Milford (3-2) in the hunt for one of the conference’s two postseason berths.

“We knew this was a huge game,” McInnis said. “We knew we could march the ball. We had a few stupid turnovers that bit us in the butt, but we knew we had a chance to take it. We knew we had to play perfect football (in the fourth quarter) and we played pretty close to that.”

Down 23-13 at the start of the fourth quarter, McInnis turned a fourth-and-3 play at Milford’s 32-yard line into a touchdown pass to Anthony Gallo – the receiver’s second scoring reception of the day. The two-point conversion was good to pull Windham within two 23-21 with 9:06 left.

After a three-and-out by the Spartans, McInnis hit Joey Frake for a short gain on second down. Frake slipped a pair of tackles and outran the defense down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown reception. This time, the conversion failed, but the Jaguars still led 27-23 with 6:11 remaining.

“He’s a guy that we want to have the ball in his hands,” Raycraft said of McInnis. “He’s coming of age.”

Windham also got a rushing touchdown from Shane Lafond, and after giving up a touchdown on Milford’s first three possessions, the Jaguars’ defense held the Spartans to just a field goal the rest of the way. Mitchell Banuskevich ran for 219 yards and three touchdowns, but after Milford’s opening drive of the second quarter, Windham was able to hold the Spartans in check, and when the Jaguars weren’t, they forced turnovers.

“They made some adjustments that worked well,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “We tried to counter with some other things. It was a little cat-and-mouse. We felt comfortable with what we were doing offensively, but there’s no magic for the bad things.”

The Spartans took a 20-13 lead into halftime, and after forcing a fumble on Windham’s opening drive, Milford pounded its way inside the Jaguars’ 10-yard line. But on first-and-goal from the 9, Evan Perron (52 yards rushing) fumbled the ball and Windham’s Kellin Bail recovered at the 3.

The Milford defense was able to hold Windham and the Spartans got the ball back on the Jaguars’ 42, setting up a 27-yard field goal by Ross Briggs that made it a 23-13 lead for the Spartans with 2:03 left in the third.

It looked like the Spartans were going to get another stop, but McInnis was able to scramble away from pressure and found Gallo alone behind the secondary.

After the Jaguars took the lead, Milford got down to the Windham 23, but a fumble by quarterback Harrison Urda was recovered by the Jaguars. The Spartans were able to get the ball back with 1:19 left, but on second down, an Urda pass was picked off by Bail.

“Both teams left it out here,” Jones said. “This stinks, but I don’t think anybody can walk away saying they didn’t give it everything they had. It was a great game, we’re on the wrong end of it, but there’s always next week.”