Coming off the high of a big upset win the week before in the televised Corky Kell Classic, the Milton Eagles were back at it on Friday, this time on the road against their cross-city rivals, the Alpharetta Raiders. Despite a testy, personal-foul-riddled first half for both teams, and ill-timed Eagles turnovers, they eventually settled down to take control and leave Raider Stadium with a 37-27 victory.
Eagles quarterback Jordan Yates completed 9 of his 21 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions and his main target, Jordan Cox, had three catches for 117 yards and two scores. Kicker Hayden Hairston had a perfect night, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra point attempts.
The Eagles — ranked No. 6 in Class AAAAAAA — are now 2-0 after upsetting then-No. 3 Archer 21-19 last week as an unranked team. On Friday, they beat a Raiders (0-1) squad ranked No. 9 in AAAAAA.
“We came out real sloppy,” said Yates, a senior who is committed to Georgia Tech. “It was a big rivalry game, a lot of emotions — I expected it to happen. They played with a lot of fire and so did we — that kind of backfired on us — but we responded well in the second half and finished out strong.”
The game’s first play from scrimmage was an 80-yard touchdown pass from Yates to Cox to put the Eagles up 7-0 14 seconds into the contest. The Raiders punted on their first possession and the Eagles quickly moved into Alpharetta territory at the 41 when Yates threw his first interception to Jared Rumph, who returned it to the Milton 41.
On the very next play, Raiders quarterback Will Gerdes connected with Robbie Ruppel for a 41-yard touchdown, which came on a flea flicker from running back Kevin Watkins.
Tempers would flare on the ensuing Milton drive, where a total of six personal fouls were called between the two teams, one of which included a fight. The drive ended with a Hairston 35-yard field goal with 5:25 in the first to make it 10-7 Eagles.
Milton second-year coach Adam Clack said the team struggled to regain composure after the penalties.
“I think the fact that it was both (teams getting penalties) really helped us stay in it,” Clack said. “But I felt like we never really fully got out of that and the emotional start kind of turned into a sluggish finish and that’s just something we’ve got to get better at.”
Hairston would tack on field goals of 32 and 37 yards on the Eagles’ next two possessions to build a 16-7 lead. However, they blew a golden opportunity to pull away even further after Alpharetta’s next possession. The Raiders subbed Bradley Rowlinson for Gerdes to open the drive, and while scrambling he lost a fumble that Milton recovered on the Alpharetta 35.
On the next play, Yates connected with Cox on a 7-yard completion, but Cox tried to execute a hook and lateral while being tackled. He fumbled, and the ball was kicked around until Raiders cornerback Jamal Taylor scooped it up and returned it all the way to the Milton 3.
Four plays later on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Rowlinson punched it in for the score with 33.3 seconds left, pulling the Raiders to within 16-14 heading into halftime.
The Raiders would go three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half after muffing the kickoff to start on their own 4. The Eagles then scored when Yates found Holden Shaw in the end zone on fourth down from the Alpharetta 3, which capped a 12-play, 42-yard drive. On the drive, touchdown runs of 23 yards by Yates and 5 yards by Jordan Davis were called back for holding penalties.
Milton would force another three-and-out on Alpharetta’s next possession, then score a touchdown on a 23-yard pass from Yates to Cox to make it 30-14 with 17.3 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Eagles put the exclamation mark on the game with 4:48 remaining on Davis’ 8-yard run to bring the score to 37-14.
For the Raiders, it was a rough start to a season that follows a 2017 campaign in which they won the Region 7 title and a program-record 11 games while reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
The Raiders will travel to Lanier (1-1) next week, while the Eagles host Cardinal Gibbons (2-0) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Milton 10 6 14 7 - 37
Alpharetta 7 7 0 13 - 27
M - Jordan Cox 80 pass from Jordan Yates (Hayden Hairston kick)
A - Robbie Ruppel 41 pass from Will Gerdes (Bryce Troutt kick)
M - Hairston 35 FG
M - Hairston 32 FG
M - Hairston 37 FG
A - Bradley Rowlinson 1 run (Troutt kick)
M - Holden Shaw 3 pass from Yates (Hairston kick)
M - Cox 23 pass from Yates (Hairston kick)
M - Jordan Davis 7 yd run (Hairston kick)
A - Kevin Watkins 42 yd run (pass failed)
A - Jaden Slocum 7 pass from Gerdes (Troutt kick)
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