Senior Luke Brand threw four touchdown passes, three to classmate Caden Bailey, and ran for another as he led Milford to a season-opening 33-3 win over Edgewood. With the victory, Milford extends its regular season winning streak to 13 straight.
Playing with almost an entirely new supporting cast, Brand took comfort in hooking up with a familiar face as Bailey hauled in 10 passes for 155 yards and the three scores. In achieving his first career 100-yard receiving performance, Bailey also became the first Eagle since Reece Davis in 2022 (win over Little Miami) to record three receiving TDs in a game.
Brand finished an efficient 17 of 22 passing for 264 yards. After being slowed in the first half by the Edgewood D, sophomore Jordan Davis finished the night with a game-high 81 yards rushing. Christian Felix and Jake Dixon paced the defense with 10 and nine tackles each, with the latter adding a sack. Milford held a substantial edge in nearly every statistical category including a 369-134 advantage in total yards.
On its second possession of the night, the Eagles spun the home crowd into a frenzy with their first score of the new season, a Brand to Bailey 10-yard strike. Back-to-back completions to Bailey (19 yards) and David Kittrell (23 yards) earlier in the drive set up the score.
Edgewood would go on to chew up nearly seven minutes of game clock on its next drive, but had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Bryce Davidson to trim the score to 7-3 at the end of one quarter.
Two long catch and runs for touchdowns highlighted a second quarter Milford offensive explosion. First, Brand found sophomore Joey Dahmer on a screen and the young speedster bolted 54 yards for his first career score. It was déjà vu all over again on the next drive, as Brand used another screen, this one to Bailey for an identical 54-yard score to make it 20-3 with under five minutes to play in the half.
Milford wasn’t done scoring in the period as with just two ticks remaining on the second quarter clock, Brand scrambled in from six yards out for a 27-3 halftime lead.
On its first drive of the second half, Milford marched 80 yards in 11 plays, running almost six minutes off the clock to go up 33-3 when Brand found Bailey once more, this time from 13 yards out. With a 30-point scoring spread, the second half went quickly thanks to a OHSAA-mandated running clock and ultimately ended with no further scoring.
Milford will begin its defense of its 2023 Eastern Cincinnati Conference Championship next Friday night when it takes to the road to Walnut Hills for the annual battle of the Eagles.
Click here for final game stats.