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Eagles Fall In Football Playoffs At Lakota West
For two quarters, Milford stood toe-to-toe with state-ranked and third-seeded Lakota West. But after the break, the Firebirds turned it up, turning a slim 14-7 lead into a 49-14 runaway victory over the Eagles. With the defeat, Milford finishes the 2021 season with a 7-5 final record.
It looked like West was going to be dominant from start-to-finish as they needed just two offensive snaps to take a 7-0 lead. Milford was able to ground out a pair of first downs on its first drive, but had to punt leading to the Firebirds’ second score with just two minutes to play in the first.
Early in the second quarter, Milford was able to hold West on a fourth down, taking over near midfield. 13 plays, 57 yards and 6:30 later, the Eagles had cut the deficit to seven when Tofa Luani bulled in from a yard out on fourth down for his 19th rushing touchdown of the year.
Milford’s next possession looked promising as the Eagles moved into the redzone but a Lakota West interception at the goal line put an end to the drive.
In the second half, the Firebirds seemingly put the game away with 28 third quarter points, starting with a 75-yard punt return, then two touchdowns in 33 seconds. Milford scored for the final time near the end of the third quarter on a short TD run by Sawyer Copp.
The West defense which gave up less than 100 yards on the ground per game, yielded only 27 to the Eagles, including six sacks of Eagle QBs. Austin Hardin completed 13 of 26 throws for 115 yards, with Luke Ray the top pass catcher with four for 51 yards. Nick Klenk concluded a fine senior year on the d-line with seven tackles, half a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Click here for final game stats.
