Roswell defeats Milton, stays unbeaten

By Michael Blum

For the AJC

Roswell avenged a narrow 2008 loss to its main rival and remained at the top of the Region 6-AAAAA standings with a 34-14 victory over Milton on Friday.

The unbeaten and unranked Hornets (8-0, 7-0) go into their two end-of-the-season showdowns with Walton and Lassiter with a chance to win the region and claim a No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

Roswell coach Leo Barker appreciated the performance of his team and will wait a few more minutes before looking ahead to the big upcoming games.

“We’ll worry about next week next week,” he said, referring to the Walton game as “another fun one. Hopefully we won’t be too banged up.”

The Hornets played without two key skill position players on offense, but showed no signs of a letdown.

With two of Roswell’s three tailbacks unavailable, Duvall Smith carried the running load himself and rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns.

“Duvall was huge,” Barker said. “Especially with our other guys out.”

Smith put the Hornets on top with a 41-yard scoring sprint to cap an opening 67-yard drive, and capped the scoring with a 19-yard run in the final minute. He also scored on a 10-yard run in the last 30 seconds of the first half, with the Hornets sweeping 43 yards in four plays after a bad Milton punt snap set up Roswell in excellent scoring position.

Richie Leone’s second field goal of at least 40 yards gave the Hornets a 20-7 lead early in the third quarter before the Eagles responded with a 17-play, 80-yard drive, twice converting on fourth down. Quarterback Wil Perry scored on a 7-yard run.

The Hornets put the game away with a 63-yard march engineered by backup quarterback J.P. Douglas, who hit Brett Beidel for 7 yards and the score, and also teamed up with Chris Boyd for the 2-point conversion pass.

The Hornets are assured of a playoff berth after missing postseason play last year for the first time since 2002, due largely due to a 20-19 last minute loss to Milton.