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Eagles Fly High In Week 2 Football Win At Dixie Heights

Posted on: September 2, 2018

In a game that kicked off on Friday night and concluded on Saturday morning after a thunderstorm moved through Northern Kentucky just before halftime, the Milford High School football team broke into the win column for the first time in 2018 in a big way, steamrolling Dixie Heights by a 50-14 score. The high-octane Milford offense rang up 424 yards of total offense, with big numbers both on the ground and threw the air.

 

Senior RB Cameron Kells led the way for Eagles, showing power and speed in rushing for 161 yards and three touchdowns. Junior QB Hunter Johnson showed marked improvement from Week 1 as he connected on 14 of 26 passes for 242 yards with touchdowns to three different receivers.

 

After forcing a three-and-out the start the game, Milford looked poised to take an early lead, driving right down field, before fumbling in the red zone. The Eagle D forced another punt, setting up senior Jake Ayler from the wildcat QB position, rushing in from six yards out. Ayler then found Connor Foster for a two-point conversion to give Milford an 8-0 lead.

 

Five minutes in the second quarter, Foster, Milford’s massive 6’8” 280 pound tight end, found himself in the end zone again, this time after hauling in a short toss from Johnson, fighting off multiple defenders and rumbling 65 yards for a score. The play was later tabbed the No. 2 play of the night on Fox 19’s Final Quarter.

 

The next big play of the game came from Milford senior DL CT Phillips who sacked Dixie QB Jeremy Adams and forced a fumble which was pounced on by senior LB Hayden Johnson. Just one play later, Hayden’s younger brother Hunter quickly went up top, hitting senior Dylan Hughes with a perfectly placed ball in the back of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown. Grace Ertel’s PAT made it 22-0 with 5:20 left in the half.

 

Despite the quick momentum swing, the Colonels answered as Adams engineered an eight-play, 77 yard drive, going the final 14 yards himself to put the home team on the board for the first time. Kells scored the first of his touchdowns on the next Milford drive, bulling in from one yard out, just prior to the lightning delay and postponement.

 

When play resumed on Saturday morning, it took both teams a little while to wake up, before Kells made a beautiful run from 30 yards out at the 7:10 mark of the third quarter for his second TD. The senior advanced the Eagle lead to 36-8 with a two-point conversion.

 

The score remained the same until early in the fourth quarter when Kells scored for the third time, this time on a 10-yard rush. The Eagles needed to drive just 17 yards to score again thanks to a 43-yard punt return by senior Dustin Laudermilk. Adams and Colonels matched Kells’ score on the next drive however, as the QB darted in for a 24-yard score with 6:28 to play.

 

Milford rounded out the day’s scoring late when Johnson found Ayler open after a short throw with the latter showing a burst of speed into the end zone from 49 yards out.

 

Despite nearly doubling the Eagles in time of possession (31:54 to 16:06), the Colonels managed only 222 yards of total offense. Max Ward led the Milford D with 10 tackles, while Caleb Johns and Brian Stevens had eight each. Laudermilk added six tackles and three pass break-ups to his impressive punt return. Johns also got in the special teams act with a 55-yard kickoff return.

 

Click here for the final Milford-Dixie Heights game stats.

 

The Eagles will face a third straight road trip to begin the season next Friday night and the match-up will be a challenge as Milford squares off with Kettering Fairmont. The Firebirds handed the Eagles a 42-0 loss in Week 3 last season and have opened the 2018 campaign 1-1 with a win over Alter and a narrow defeat at Northmont.

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