With seconds remaining and his team trailing, Roswell Hornets quarterback Ethan Roberts felt calm and confident with what was about to happen. The ball was snapped to him as he stood in shotgun, he pivoted to his right and delivered a short strike to Kamonty Jett, who caught it with his back to the end zone, made a 180-turn, shook a tackler and burst a few yards in for the go-ahead touchdown.
And just like that, the unranked Hornets defeated AAAAAAA’s No. 3 Milton Eagles, 22-20, in front of a stunned crowd at Eagles’ Landing on Friday.
“It was the perfect play,” said Roberts, a junior who finished 12-for-24 passing with 145 yards and two touchdowns. “We worked so hard for this all summer. We’ve had this game circled on our calendar.”
Roberts hit Jett with five seconds remaining, then the Hornets delivered an onside kick to chip away at the clock. The Eagles took over on their own 41 with three seconds and managed to score, but an obvious forward pass was made on a lateral and the game ended on that penalty.
For the Hornets (4-0), it’s a sharp turnaround for the program, who have already surpassed their win total from 2017 when they finished 3-8 in Matt Kemper’s first season. In the two years prior they went 14-1 under John Ford, who left for Buford.
“This win just lets the kids know that they can believe what we’ve been doing here is right,” Kemper said.
The Eagles (3-1) entered the game enjoying their highest ranking in program history after opening the season with victories over three ranked teams — No. 3 Archer, No. 9 Alpharetta, and Cardinal Gibbons (Fla.), ranked No. 20 in the nation. But on Friday, they came out flat to fall behind and, in the end, they couldn’t protect their lead after coming back.
On the first play from scrimmage, Eagles quarterback Jordan Yates’ hand-off to running back Joshua Edwards was fumbled on the exchange, with Roswell recovering on the Milton 38. The Hornets capitalized, with Brian Najar nailing a 23-yard field goal.
The Eagles’ ensuing drive stalled on the 23-yard line, where a 40-yard field goal attempt was blocked and recovered by Hornets linebacker Matt Huelsman, who scooped up the ball and ran 66 yards for the touchdown. On the play, Hueslman broke a tackle 40 yards into his run and then followed his blockers into the end zone, giving the Hornets a 10-0 lead with 3:44 left in the first quarter.
“Better for us to take a 10-0 lead then be down 10-0,” Kemper said. “We needed a big play in the kicking game and we got it.”
Early in the second quarter, the Eagles caught their first break when Roswell attempted a punt from its own 7. Milton’s Charlie Keeney blocked it and the Eagles took over on the 10.
Two plays later, Edwards rushed 11 yards for the score, making it 10-6 Roswell after the missed extra point, a score that would hold through the third quarter.
Six seconds into the fourth quarter, Edwards scored on a 2-yard run to give the Eagles their first lead at 13-10. On Roswell’s next possession, a Hornets fumble was recovered by Jeremy Olagoke, who ran it back 45 yards for another touchdown, giving Milton a commanding 20-10 lead with 9:22 remaining.
“We still believed we could win” Roberts said.
Roswell would take over on its own 22 and, on the drive’s 11th play, Roberts found Jeremy Slaughter on a 17-yard touchdown strike for the offense’s first points of the game, pulling them to within 20-16 after a missed extra point.
The Hornets defense would keep the Eagles on their side of the field the next drive, with Milton forced to punt from its own 21 with 1:35 remaining. The punt was shanked out of bounds after going just 10 yards, setting up the dramatic finish with the Hornets taking over on Milton’s 34.
Eight plays later, with Roswell facing a fourth-and-2 on the Milton 16, Roberts found Jacob Jarrett for a 4-yard gain and, after a defensive pass interference penalty, the Hornets were facing first-and-goal from the 8 with 30 seconds remaining and no timeouts. The next play was a fade route into the back corner of the end zone that was caught by Jarrett, but the referee ruled him out of bounds. The Hornets would score on the next play.
Jett led Roswell with 75 rushing yards on 18 carries, followed by Roberts with 59 on 11 carries. Tripp Cooper had 56 receiving yards on four catches and John Copenhaver had 46 on six catches.
For Milton, Yates finished 11-for-14 passing for 93 yards and rushed for nine yards on nine carries. Jordan Davis had 70 yards on four carries and Edwards had 66 yards on 16 carries. Jordan Cox had 56 yards on four catches.
Roswell 10 0 0 12 – 22
Milton 0 6 0 14 – 20
R – Brian Najar 23 FG
R – Matt Huelsman 66 blocked FG return (Najar kick)
M – Joshua Edwards 11 run (kick failed)
M – Edwards 2 run (Hayden Hairston kick)
R – Jeremy Slaughter 17 pass from Ethan Roberts (kick failed)
R – Kamonty Jett 8 pass from Roberts (kick failed)
