Milford football rolls past Souhegan

MILFORD – Keith Jones isn’t sure if his Milford High School football team still has a shot at making the Division II playoffs.

All the Spartans coach was concerned with Friday was getting a win, and they did just that.

A week after getting run over by Monadnock, the Milford defense held Souhegan to 18 yards in the first half and the offense exploded for 24 points in the second quarter of a 38-7 win over the Sabers. It’s just the second win in 13 games for the Spartans against their Souhegan Valley rivals.

“It feels good to beat anybody,” Jones said. “A win is a win. I have no idea (about the playoffs). We were focused on that we needed to beat Souhegan. Then we have to beat Laconia. On (next) Saturday morning, if they say we’re in the playoffs, great. If we don’t get the call, it was a great year with some great kids who came up a little short.”

Milford (5-3) was up to the task against Souhegan, as the Spartans scored on their first six drives of the game and rolled up 270 yards in the first half, all but 10 of which came on the ground.

Evan Perron led the way with 146 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Mitchell Banuskevich added 89 yards and a touchdown, along with an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Urda. Willie Miles also ran for a touchdown in the third quarter, three plays after intercepting a pass by Souhegan’s Isaac Nevrla.

“We worked hard this week on getting off the ball and not having a repeat performance of last week,” Jones said. “We went back to basics and they did what they needed to do. It was a great group effort up front.”

The Sabers picked up two first downs on their opening drive, but Souhegan (2-6) didn’t get another until the fourth quarter. Milford forced Souhegan to go three-and-out on four straight possessions in the first half, and intercepted Nevrla on each of the Sabers’ first two possessions in the second half.

Souhegan finished with just 57 yards rushing, including just 5 yards on 11 carries for senior Drew Prescott. Casey Foulks had the Sabers’ lone score, which came with 4:44 left in the game.

“We were outphysicaled at just about every position,” Souhegan coach Mike Lochman said. “Everything that we prepared for is what we got. The difference was that their kids are a lot better than our scout players.

“We were schemed to stop the outside running game, in fact overloaded on it, and we were still unable to stop it. It was mainly their blocking schemes. The kids blocking on the perimeter were blowing our guys off the ball and staying on blocks.”

Milford wasted little time going to work, as the Spartans took the opening kickoff and went 68 yards on 11 plays, scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run by Banuskevich.

The Sabers answered by moving into Milford territory on a 25-yard completion from Isaac Nevrla to Jerrell Duguay Webster and a pass interference call on the Spartans. But the Souhegan offense stalled, and on fourth-and-12, Neverla was sacked by Milford’s Ross Briggs. The two first downs the Sabers picked up on that drive were their only ones until the fourth quarter.

Taking over at its own 46, Milford needed eight plays to find the end zone, this time on a 9-yard run by Perron.

After a three-and-out for Souhegan, – the first of four straight in the half – Banuskevich returned a punt to the Sabers’ 35. The Spartans picked up a first down, but stalled at the Souhegan 23 before Briggs made a 40-yard field goal to make it 17-0.

Milford added two more touchdowns, on a 6-yard run by Perron and Banuskevich’s scoring reception, to lead 31-0 at halftime.

“We’re disappointed in the outcome, but the thing is, we’ve got to refocus,” Lochman said. “We’ve got an opportunity to end the season on a high note. Our team and Hollis Brookline are probably very similar right now in terms of our personnel. We’ve got to be able to regroup.”

Milford heads to Laconia next Friday with a slim chance at making the postseason. Whether that happens or not, Jones has been happy coaching this Spartans team.

“It’s nice for them because (the seniors) are such a great group of kids,” he said. “I was talking to Coach Lochman before the game and was saying I’d rather be 0-11 with these kids than 11-0 with kids without character. These kids have a great character.”