No. 1-ranked Milton of Class 7A dominated Hapeville Charter 45-0 on Friday night, taking a 31-0 halftime lead and scoring touchdowns on almost every drive that didn’t end in a lost fumble. Devin Farrell passed for 149 yards, and Scott Moskowitz scored three touchdowns.
“In a whole body of work, we played extremely clean and efficiently,’’ Milton coach Adam Clack said. “Our mistakes were big. We know we have to take care of the football and we know we have to own the red zone. When we got it in the red zone we turned it over three times, and that’s unacceptable. Something I know our players will be in tune to and our coaches will be in tune to as we go back to work on Monday.’’
Milton had 350 yards of total offense, 173 yards on the ground and 177 passing. Jordan McDonald, a preseason all-state running back, led the ground attack, rushing for 82 yards and even throwing a touchdown on a trick play to Brooks Bortle before suffering an ankle injury. His status going forward is unknown.
“We don’t know the severity of Jordan right now,’’ Clack said. “We know he was in a lot of pain. You hate it for the young men who put so much time and effort into it that they have to miss any moment. You love the opportunity of next man up and building your depth.’’
Milton star defensive lineman Lebbeus “L.T.” Overton did not play. He’s week to week, Clack said.
Milton has depth, and backup tailback Moskowitz stepped up big for McDonald, rushing for three touchdowns.
It was an efficient night passing for Farrell, the Virginia Tech commit who completed 15 of his 20 attempts.
Milton’s defense didn’t allow a third-down conversion and forced two turnovers, one a 91-yard interception returned for a touchdown by Bryce Thornton.
Hapeville, ranked No. 7 in 4A, did amass 211 total yards, but it was wasted on failed fourth downs or turnovers. Quarterback Sedrick Hll threw for 122 yards.
Milton has a touch stretch of games coming up, one against No. 3 North Cobb next week, then games against national programs St. Joseph’s Prep of Philadelphia and Life Christian Academy of Virginia.
“I hope we don’t have a hard time getting their attention because we have monsters ahead of us,’’ Clack said. “The whole goal of the non-region is to prepare you for the region and hopefully an eventual state run. The goal of this stretch is to simulate what a quarterfinal, semifinal or state championship run has to feel like,”
Hapeville Charter 0-0-0-0 -0
Milton 9-22-14-0 - 45
M - Safety
M - Brooks Bortle 28 pass from Jordan McDonald (Felipe Mota kick)
M - Scott Moskowitz 4 run (Devin Farrell run)
M - Debron Gatling 12 pass from Farrell (Mota kick)
M - Moskowitz 3 run (Mota kick)
M - Moskowitz 8 run (Mota kick)
M - Bryce Thornton 91 interception return (Mota kick)
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