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Eagles’ Dream Season Comes To Heartbreaking Conclusion
A magical season that will never be forgotten in the Milford community came to a crushing end for the Eagles on Friday night as they tasted defeat for the first time this year, bowing out of the OHSAA Playoffs in the Regional Quarterfinals by a 10-9 score to Mason. While the ending was heartbreaking, the memories of an undefeated regular season, the first outright league title in nearly 40 years and the program’s first-ever state ranking will carry on.
The night featured outstanding defense by both sides, with a pair of third quarter special teams miscues spelling disaster for the Eagles. A botched extra point and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by the Comets allowed Mason to take a lead late in the quarter that it wouldn’t relinquish.
Facing one of the toughest defenses in the GMC, Milford relied on its own D to set up the game’s first points. On Mason’s first drive, Eagle LB Andrew Littrell had a strip sack on Comet QB Quinn Brown that Cole Miller scooped up and returned 19 yards. Seven plays later, Mason Cooper connected on a 27-yard field goal that gave Milford its first lead of the night.
As the first half progressed, Milford’s bend but don’t break defense kept Mason in check, but the usually high-powered Eagle offense struggled to get on-track. The defense came up big again when Daniel Walker grabbed an interception off a tipped pass by Tofa Luani that put the Eagles near the redzone once more. But the Eagle drive stalled and Mason took advantage, going 61 yards in nine plays and nailing a 31-yard field goal with just four seconds left before half to tie the game.
The second half got started with a bang as Ashton Warther took the opening kickoff 44 yards putting the Eagles near midfield. After a couple of short completions, Nathan Webster found running room for the first time on the night with back-to-back runs of 10 and 16 yards. Later, Caden Bailey connected with Ja’Mario Sebastian for a 12-yard TD strike and a 9-3 Milford lead. But Cooper never had a chance to make it 10-3 as a bad snap resulted in the holder Bailey being tackled for an unsuccessful conversion attempt.
After a Milford defensive stop, Mason made what would prove to be the game-winning play when Tyler Dalton rushed in and blocked Jacob Luecke’s punt. Teammate Kai Woolfork scooped up the loose ball and rumbled seven yards for a score with under a minute remaining in the quarter.
The Eagle defense continued to stand strong into the fourth quarter, but a Milford drive ended on a turnover on downs near midfield with just 2:59 to play. The Milford D rose up once again, forcing a punt that was muffed but recovered by the Eagles inside their own five-yard line with just 59 ticks on the clock.
The Milford crowd roared to life on the first play when Bailey found a streaking Sebastian on a deep bomb for 53 yards into Mason territory. The jubilation quickly evaported though as a questionable penalty against the Eagles wiped out the big gain. From there, the magic of the season ran out as Mason’s defense slammed the door on any thought of an Eagle comeback.
The Milford defense did its job all night, yielding just three points, 219 yards of total offense and coming up with a pair of takeaways. But Mason’s defense was just as stout, limiting Milford to just 144 total yards, a season-low. The Comets effectively bottled-up Webster who gained just 50 yards on 15 carries.
Littrell paced the defense with 11 tackles, giving him 117 for the season. Tofa and Toto Luani added nine and eight stops respectively, while Miller had seven along with his fumble return.
Click here for final game stats.
