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Turnovers Proves Costly In Season-Opening Football Loss For Eagles
The turnover bug bit the Milford High School football team in its season-opening contest as an opportunistic Princeton defense forced two fumbles and three interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 34-16 win in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown.
Two of the Milford miscues came deep in Princeton territory and a tie game after one quarter turned into a Viking runaway, as the home team scored four unanswered touchdowns before a late score by the Eagles. Milford struggled to slow the Princeton running game as the Vikings piled up 443 yards on the ground, including 189 yards and three scores by game MVP Thomas Boyd. Vikings QB Hosea Hairston added 157 yards on the ground and another 124 and two scores through the air.
Eagle senior RB Cameron Kells finished with 97 yards of total offense and a receiving touchdown. Making his first career varsity start, junior QB Hunter Johnson completed 16 of 34 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, but was also intercepted three times. Big play WR Dylan Hughes had 140 yards and a touchdown, but also committed a pair of fumbles.
The first quarter featured a pair of big plays through the air and ended with a seven-all tie. Hairston and the Vikings struck first as he found Trey Key for a 61-yard catch and run at the 4:06 mark of the period for the initial score of the season. The Eagles tied it just over three minutes later when Johnson went up top, finding Hughes from 51 yards out to tie the game.
The first two minutes of the second quarter featured a pair of big plays by the Vikings, first a 27-yard scoring burst by Boyd to make it 14-7. Milford looked poised to tie the game again when Johnson found Hughes, with the latter cutting all the way across the field, only to be hit from behind and fumble inside the Princeton 10.
Interceptions and punts ruled the middle stages of the quarter until Princeton again made a big play, but with an odd twist near the 2:30 mark. The Vikings’ Jaheim Thomas intercepted Johnson at the PHS 1, but Hughes forced the Viking defender to fumble into the end zone for what proved to be an Eagles safety. Princeton dipped into its bag of tricks just before the half, as Hairston completed a short toss to Kaleb Crawford who quickly lateraled to Key who raced 35 yards for a touchdown with under a minute left in the half and a 20-9 Viking lead.
The second half proved to be the Boyd show as he scored rushing touchdowns from 21 and 88 yards out, pushing the Princeton lead to 34-9 in the fourth. Johnson threw his second TD of the game late, finding Kells out of the backfield for a 22-yard score.
The Milford defense was busy as three Eagles finished with double figures in tackles. Senior Jacob Turner led the way with 14 tackles, while his fellow linebacker Hayden Johnson had 12. Senior DB Dustin Laudermilk tacked on 11. Senior DB Owen Martin also recorded his career interception.
Click here for the final Milford-Princeton game stats.
Milford returns to the field for the second of three consecutive road games to start the year when it travels to Dixie Heights (KY) next Friday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
