Milford football cruises to win over Trinity (video)

MILFORD – October hasn’t been the best of months for the Milford High School football team in recent seasons.

Two years ago, the Spartans were cruising along when they dropped two of three games – and some key players to injuries – in October and eventually missed the Division II playoffs. Last year, Milford won four of its first five before losing two straight and three of its final four.

Once again, this season, Milford won four of its first five games, but Friday night against Trinity, the Spartans continued that early-season success.

Mark Madigan scored three touchdowns, Bryce Walker had two, and the Milford defense held the Pioneers in check on the way to 46-12 win in Division II South Conference action.

“It changes the playoff picture for us a little bit,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “It showed that we can beat a good football team when we execute and don’t make mental mistakes.

“We were trying to be physical with them and be on their side of the line of scrimmage and I felt like, for a couple of plays, we didn’t do that, but for the most part, we won the trench war. We knew that’d be the difference in the game.”

As was Madigan, as he ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and also had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to go with an interception on defense, which set up his third score late in the second quarter.

Milford (5-1) held Trinity to 154 yards, with just 40 coming in the second half, while Saikou Bau had just 48 yards on 11 carries. Four of those runs went for negative yardage.

“I thought the defense played fantastic and we grounded and pounded,” Jones said. “We tried to keep the ball as long as possible because (Bau) and (Shepard) can’t score if they’re not on the field. We were successful.”

Max Urda picked off Trinity’s Pat Mackey on the first drive of the game, and Milford marched 58 yards in seven plays, getting a 4-yard run from Walker. After a three-and-out by Trinity, the Spartans got the ball back on their 40 and started driving again.

But a holding call on first down from Trinity’s 20-yard line seemed to stall the drive, but on third-and-20, Urda found Kirk Palladino open behind the defense for a 30-yard touchdown that made it 12-0 with a tenth of a second left in the first quarter.

Trinity (3-2) answered with a drive of its own, scoring on a 3-yard run by Nick Perdue, but Madigan returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a score and a big swing in momentum.

“It rolled slow and bounced right by Walker,” he said. “When I grabbed it, I saw an opening, and I saw one guy get blocked. Then I just had the kicker to beat. The return team did its job perfectly.”

Trinity’s next drive went nowhere and Milford’s Teagan Vitali got a piece of the punt by Trinity’s Jack McCahill, giving the Spartans the ball at the Pioneers’ 42.

Six plays later, Madigan scored from 2 yards out to make it 25-6, and with Trinity facing third-and-14 on its next drive, he intercepted a pass by Trinity’s Pat Mackey at the Pioneers’ 31. Madigan scored on the next play to make 32-6.

“That was like, we always say, sometimes you’ve got to smell blood and put the nail in the coffin,” Jones said. “That was a huge play and a huge touchdown right after it.”

Padrick Harvey and Walker each had touchdowns for Milford in the second half, while Mackey found Colin Hines for a 3-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.