Windham football powers past Milford for victory

WINDHAM – For a split second Saturday, momentum hung in the air for as long gravity would allow a deflected football to stay there.

With the Windham High School football team leading by two touchdowns and facing a fourth-and-3 in Milford territory, the Jaguars tried to pass their way to a first down.

But the ball was tipped by a Spartans’ defender, and at first, it looked like Milford had come up with its first stop of the Windham offense all day. If the pass landed incomplete, the Spartans would have taken over at their own 31, and having scored on their previous drive, that momentum would have been theirs.

Instead, as the ball stayed in the air, Windham’s Parker Belsky ran to it and came down with the pass, giving the Jaguars a first down and the momentum. Four plays later, Royce Belsky barreled into the end zone from a yard out and Windham was on its way to a 42-6 win over Milford in a matchup between Division II South Conference opponents.

“We’ll be lucky any time someone wants to give us that,” Windham coach Bill Raycraft said. “Good teams make good things happen. Parker did a great job of being in the right spot and being aware. The ball wasn’t going to him but he was in the right spot.”

The Jaguars made a lot of good things happen early, as they pounded the ball at the Spartans’ defense with success. Windham outgained Milford 173 yards over the first nine minutes, using a power running attack and a successful onside kick to take a 21-0 lead with 3:32 still left in the opening quarter.

“We were prepared for a battle of the bulge,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “We knew they were going to come right at us and be tough, and we didn’t respond. It’s almost like we didn’t hear the bell for the fight to start.”

Windham finished the game with 280 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the ground, including two each from Jake Aleksa (54 yards rushing) and Victor Pizzotti (71 yards). Cody Porter added another 146 yards through the air on 9 of 11 passing.

The win was the 24th in the last 25 regular-season games for the Jaguars (2-0), and Raycraft said that all week, the players didn’t let themselves forget who that loss came against.

“Milford pushed us all over this field,” the coach said. “All week, the coaches didn’t talk about it, but the players did, (talked about) what happened last year. They took that personally.”

The Jaguars also wanted to let the division know that, after losing a handful of key players from the teams that made back-to-back championship appearances, they’re still a team to beat.

“All our guys have been watching film all week and really studying our opponent because last year we got messed up (against Milford),” Pizzotti said. “We were so prepared for this game and we really game in with a chip on our shoulder because we wanted to make a statement. We didn’t want to leave any doubt on the field and make a statement to the state that we’re back.”

Windham took the opening kickoff and ran six straight times, picking up 65 yards and taking a 7-0 lead on a 28-yard run by Aleksa. The Jaguars then recovered an onside kick and drove another 48 yards, again with Aleksa finding the end zone from 9 yards out, before Milford’s offense had taken the field.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Windham needed just five plays to score again, as Pizzotti powered his way in from a yard out to make it 21-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

The Spartans (1-1) finally got on the board on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Zach King to Dylan Salisbury, but Windham blocked the point after to keep it a 21-6 lead. King had most of Milford’s offense, as he completed 7 of 13 passes for 86 yards.

But the tipped pass and the touchdown by Royce Belsky made it a 28-6 game, and the Jaguars would add another touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Potter to Micah Sundman to make it 35-6 at halftime.

“It certainly wasn’t what I thought was going to happen, but credit to them,” Jones said. “They came out and whacked us in the mouth and never stopped. Once they got rolling, they were rolling, and we never really recovered until it was too late.”