Second-half surge, late field goal give Milton win over Gainesville

GAINESVILLE — Milton’s Derrick Baker and Gainesville’s Kharim Hughley, both Power 4 quarterback prospects, were expected to put on a show Friday night.

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But it was a final-minute field goal by kicker Ryan Jung — the consensus No. 1 senior kicker prospect nationally that transferred from IMG Academy — that clinched the 49-46 win for Milton, who was considered a 22-point underdog, according to the Maxwell projections.

Gainesville looked like they could run away with the game early on. Hughley was in rhythm, the defense was limiting Baker and the Eagles, and the home crowd was into it.

In the Red Elephants’ first two drives, Hughley was 7-for-9 for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Gainesville also tacked on a two-point conversion on the game’s opening score thanks to a Milton offside penalty.

Baker got off to a slower start in the passing game, going 5-for-9 for 84 yards, a touchdown and a pick-6 in the first half. He made up for it by carrying the ball four times which resulted in 85 yards and a score.

On a Gainesville third-and-3 in the second quarter, Hughley tucked the ball and ran toward his sideline and grimaced as he was tackled. He crawled to the sideline, yelling in pain as the Gainesville offense tried to keep its attention on the field to move the ball down the field.

Hughley, who also missed the previous game against Riverwood with a leg injury, made his way to the bench and favored his left ankle while Gainesville settled for a field goal to extend their lead to 18-7 with 8:29 until halftime.

“I was sad to see him go out because he was balling in the first half and seeing him go down was tough,” Baker said. “You want to get that challenge, that guy on the other side who is going to keep pushing you. They were able to still do that with their offense, but we were able to come out on top.”

Despite Milton being down 30-17 at the half, the visitor’s locker room at Bobby Gruhn Field was calm. There was no blaming of teammates, no “woe is me” and very little doubt.

“We weren’t down at all,” Baker said. “We saw what we needed to do. There were some things we were missing and we were able to come back out and start connecting. Especially on that first drive where we started a little slow. As we progressed through, we started to see the changes.”

The changes came instantly, with Baker prancing into the end zone from 7 yards out less than a minute into the second half. Five minutes later they scored again to take their first lead of the night at 31-30.

Milton outscored Gainesville 21-13 in the third quarter on the way to a win that gave the Eagles the inside track to a Region 7-6A title.

Baker finished the night 13-for-22 for 196 yards a touchdown. He also rushed for 116 yards, averaging 9.7 yards per carry, and two touchdowns.

“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter dog fight,” Milton coach Ben Reaves said. “We just got back to playing clean football, as easy as that sounds. We didn’t feel like they were going to be able to stop us and we were going to be able to score as many as we needed to.”

Gainesville’s sophomore quarterback Cooper Papka, a week after throwing for 243 yards and five touchdowns against Riverwood, managed the game well enough, finishing 16-for-17 for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

Coach Santavious Bryant couldn’t ask for much more from the underclassman.

“I’m proud of Cooper,” Bryant said. “He’s growing. He’s fighting. I love what he did tonight. He gave us a chance.”

After the game, Milton celebrated with their teammates, coaches and family who made the trip. Baker, who missed much of the season a year ago because of injury, hugged his parents and took pictures with some friends.

It was another win in his growing list of big games.