As Milton Academy visited Concord for the seventh game of the year, the rain was falling and the temperature was dropping. Middlesex was coming off a big win against Thayer, and finally getting some of our injured players back to full speed. Milton would pose a formidable challenge, steamrolling most of their previous opponents.
Milton jumped to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, as both the Middlesex offense and defense were adjusting to their opponent's size and speed. But by the start of the second period, the MX defense had stiffened and the offense was getting real traction with its running game. MX's first score was on a short pass from quarterback Austin Dorsey '16 to running back George Morris '15 who took the ball the final 20 yards for the touchdown. Jack Lyne '16 was good with the PAT, which the lead to 14-7 . Milton would answer on a heartbreaking long run to extend the lead back to fourteen points, 21-7. MX was not done, as the offense again drove the ball into Milton territory, with running back James Burr '15 finding the end zone when he reversed field and raced 26 yards for the touchdown. With the PAT good, the halftime score was 21-14.
The MX defense continued their outstanding play as they shutout Milton in the third quarter, a muffed Milton punt would give the MX offense great field position and lead to the only score in the quarter with Morris running the ball into the end zone from the two yard line. Unfortunately, the PAT was missed but MX had cut the Milton lead to 21-20. The score would stay this way until there less than six minutes to play, when Milton would break another long run to stretch their lead to 28-20. With plenty of time left in the game, the MX offense went to work, moving the ball into Milton territory, but on a third down pass attempt, the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage falling into the arms of a Milton linebacker who ran it back for a touchdown and the final score of Milton 36 and Middlesex 20.
Credit in this game has to go to the defensive unit who was on the field most of the day, but only seemed to get stronger as the game wore on- defensive line: Steve Zawada '15, Kai Long '16, Ben Canniff '15, Will Baxter '15, Connor Sloan '15 and Peter Blunt '18. Linebackers: Sam Carlin '15, Andrew Zhang '16, George Morris '15, Ben Marchand '15, James Burr '15 and Jake Ronan '16 with the secondary of Rory Glavin '17, Sam Dwinell '17, Jack Lyne '16, Hamza Usman '15 and John Schuster '15. On offense, James Burr finished the day with 142 yards rushing and Hamza Usman led all receivers with 84 yards receiving.
There are games in football when you lose on the scoreboard, but are not defeated in the game and this was one of those games.
