SETTING THE SCENE: The annual battle for the Miami Township Victory Bell comes early this year as the Milford High School football team welcome archrival Loveland to Eagles Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday night (Sept. 23). A extra layer of excitement will take place during pre-game as WLTW-TV Blitz 5 sports anchors George Vogel and Elise Jesse return for the Blitz 5 Tailgate. The Tailgate features the two anchors broadcasting the late afternoon sports segments live from a local high school game each week. Once the cameras quit rolling, the Eagles will be chasing their first Eastern Cincinnati Conference win of the season. Both teams enter the match-up 1-3 overall on the season. The Week 5 meeting marks a change from the norm as the squads have faced off in the last week of the regular season each year since 2007.
A LOOK BACK: Sept. 16 at Turpin: Turpin’s ability to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball proved to be the winning formula as the Spartans handed Milford a 38-8 setback in the opening Eastern Cincinnati Conference opener for both teams on Sept. 16. One week after rushing for 449 yards in a shootout win over Norwood, the Eagles (1-3, 0-1 ECC) were limited to just 26 by the stout Turpin D, while the Spartans (4-0, 1-0 ECC) gained 274 yards on the ground.
After a strong effort by both defenses in the early stages, Turpin struck first when quarterback Lucas Smith found Nathan Hooper for a 22-yard score with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, the Spartans scored 10 points just one minute apart with Smith dashing 59 yards for a touchdown to start. Then, after coming up with an interception deep in Milford territory, the Spartans were forced to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Harry Sand after a three and out.
On the ensuing possession, the Eagles put together their most impressive drive of the night, marching 87 yards in 11 plays to dent the scoreboard for what would prove to be the only time of the evening. The big play of the drive came when the Eagles dug into their bag of tricks for an end around 41-yard pass from Chase Witte to Max Brewer. Brewer came up big later in the drive when the Eagles faced a fourth and eight on the Turpin 12-yard line. Returning signal caller Tyler Smith rolled right and found Brewer open along the sidelines for nine yards, setting the stage for Dawson Slone’s hard fought three-yard run. Witte then cut the score to 17-8 when he converted a two-point conversion.
A long return on the ensuing kickoff and a Milford pass interference penalty proved key on the next Turpin drive that was capped by a Smith 21-yard jaunt and a 24-8 Spartans’ lead at the half. After the break, Will Hausfeld got into the scoring column with a pair of third quarter TD runs to wrap up the evening’s scoring.
Brewer finished the evening with a career-high 75 yards receiving to lead the Milford offense. One week after going over 150 yards on the ground, Slone was held to a team-high 48 against the Spartans. Smith led Turpin with 122 yards on the ground and three total touchdowns.
Click here for the final Milford-Turpin game stats.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: A look at Loveland, Milford’s 2016 Week 5 opponent:
- Friday, Sept. 16 at Turpin, 7:00 p.m.
- 2016 Record: 1-3, 1-0 ECC (10th Division II area coaches’ weekly poll)
- Top Offensive Player: Senior RB Ryan Bagnoli (271 yards rushing, 3 TDs)
- Top Defensive Player: Junior DB Ryan Batsch (3 INTs)
- Last Meeting: 2015; Loveland 55, Milford 14
- Capsule look at the Tigers: Loveland endured a tough non-conference season, losing all three of its games before finally breaking into the win column with a 21-19 win over Withrow last week.
THE MATCH-UP: A look at the Milford-Loveland match-up by the numbers (per game averages with conference team rankings):
- Milford scoring offense (7th-21.8) vs. Loveland scoring defense (5th-35.0)
- Milford total offense (6th-272.5) vs. Loveland total defense (N/A-434.8)
- Milford rushing offense (4th-201.0) vs. Loveland rushing defense (N/A-223.3)
- Milford passing offense (6th-71.5) vs. Loveland passing defense (N/A-211.5)
- Loveland scoring offense (T-5th-24.3) vs. Milford scoring defense (4th-32.8)
- Loveland total offense (4th-328.8) vs. Milford total defense (N/A-414.5)
- Loveland rushing offense (1st-294.5) vs. Milford rushing defense (N/A-270.8)
- Loveland passing offense (8th-34.3) vs. Milford passing defense (N/A-143.8)
INSIDE THE ECC: The four winners in the opening week of conference play were Loveland, Kings, Turpin and Walnut Hills, with the latter two both still unbeaten overall at 4-0.
The Week 5 ECC schedule includes: Loveland at Milford, Withrow at Anderson, Kings at Glen Este, and Turpin at Walnut Hills.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: A look at Milford’s statistical leaders:
Rushing Yards: Chase Witte (436)
Passing Yards: Chase Witte (207)
Receiving Yards: Max Brewer (172)
Tackles: Eric Richey (38)
Sacks: Bailey Knox (1.0)
Interceptions: None
Kickoff Return Yards: Chase Witte (79)
Punting Average: Chase Witte (39.2)
Punt Return Yards: Sam Pickett (76)
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Milford’s offense had a big night in the Eagles’ Week 3 win over Norwood. On a night that featured 100 points and over 1,000 yards of combined offense in a 52-48 Milford win, the Eagles finished with 449 yards of total offense, the most by an MHS team in nearly a decade. The 52 points were the most since the Eagles put up the same amount against Woodward in Week 5 of the 2010 season.
POLL WATCH: Milford did not receive any votes in the weekly Division I area coaches’ poll sponsored by the Cincinnati Enquirer and released on Sept. 19. Colerain once again earned all six No. 1 votes and leads a top-five comprised of Moeller, Elder, St. Xavier and Mason. In the Division II rankings, the ECC is well represented with Kings and Turpin ranked second and third and each the owner of two first place votes. Walnut Hills holds down sixth, with Anderson ninth, Loveland 10th and Glen Este and Withrow each receiving votes. The coaches’ poll is released every Monday at Noon at preps.cincinnati.com/coachespolls.
WHAT THE COMPUTER SAYS: The first installment of the OHSAA Computer Ratings which ultimately determines the playoff match-ups across the state have been released. In DI, the top-eight teams in each of Ohio’s four regions will earn a berth in the playoffs. The current top-eight in Region 4 by ranking are: Colerain, Elder, Northmont, Fairfield, Lebanon, Hamilton, Mason and Moeller. Milford currently ranks 13th in the region.
In the Division II, Region 8 rankings, of which the balance of the ECC resides, Turpin (second), Walnut Hills (third) and Kings (fifth) are all in qualifying positions.
ON THE TUBE: Local cable access channel ICRC-TV will broadcast a pair of Milford home contests involving this fall for tape-delayed replay. The first of the two scheduled games was against Turpin on Sept. 9 and the cameras will return for the Oct. 21 match-up vs. Anderson.
TICKET TALK: Once again this season, pre-sale tickets for all ages are available for all home and ECC away games only in the Milford High School Athletic Office for a cost of $5. Please note tickets for all ages at the gate are priced at $7 each. Come out and support the Eagles and save by purchasing your tickets in advance!