The Milton Eagles are one win away from back-to-back state champions and their first perfect season after a resounding 56-28 win over the visiting Lee County Trojans Friday in the Class 5A semifinals.
The top-ranked Eagles (14-0), ranked No. 2 nationally by MaxPreps and the top seed from Region 7, will play No. 4 Hughes (13-1) in the 5A championship 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Hughes, a No. 1 seed from Region 3, hosted and beat seventh-ranked Coffee 49-26.
The Trojans, ranked No. 2 and a 1-seed from Region 2, finish 13-1.
Eagles quarterback Luke Nickel was 12 of 19 passing for 302 yards and four touchdowns and had 92 yards and two more touchdowns on eight carries to lead the offense. The defense did its part, holding a Trojans team averaging 55 points a game to a season-low in points scored. After the Trojans beat Sprayberry 64-0 last week in the semifinals, they were reduced to watching the fourth quarter play out with a running clock.
The Eagles defense also denied Trojans quarterback Weston Bryan the chance to become the state’s first high school player with at least 30 rushing and 30 passing touchdowns. He needed just one touchdown pass to reach the milestone, but instead the Eagles limited him to 4 of 10 passing for 50 yards and two interceptions, though he rushed for a game-high 290 yards and four touchdowns on 31 carries.
“We feel like we’ve got the best defense in the state, one of the top defenses in the country,” said senior cornerback Ty Redmond, who intercepted Bryan with 0:36 remaining in the first half. “We’re showing that.”
The Eagles jumped to a 14-0 lead with 3:15 left in the first quarter, and it appeared as though it’d be a repeat of the prior week, when they dominated another Region 2 team, Houston County, 41-3. However, the Trojans came alive on their third possession, after punting their first two away, when Bryan broke a 73-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-3 with 2:13 left in the first.
The Eagles responded their next drive with TJ Lester’s nine-yard run to start the second quarter, and the Trojans answered with a 1-yard touchdown by Bryan, with Trojans running back Ousmane Kromah giving the Trojans good field position with a 57-yard kickoff return that put them on the Milton 42. The Eagles’ next possession lasted one play, with an early snap hitting an unprepared Nickel’s facemask and bouncing forward, with the Trojans’ Jerveah Martin recovering and the Trojans taking over on the Milton 21. Four plays later, Bryan ran in his second 1-yard score to make it 21-21 with 8:59 left.
The Trojans wouldn’t score again until early in the fourth quarter, when Bryan’s final touchdown run, which went for 31 yards, brought the score its final margin.
Milton took a 28-21 lead on Lester’s 19-yard run, and went up 35-21 with 0:59 left on an incredible and contested one-handed catch by CJ Wiley. The Trojans’ took over with 0:36 left in the half and Redmond intercepted Bryan on the first play of the drive, on a deep ball, and the Eagles took over on their own 35. The drive lasted one play, with Nickel throwing a deep ball that blew past double coverage and into the arms of Wiley, who outran the field for a 65-yard touchdown to make it 42-21 heading into half.
“That was great for momentum,” Redmond said of the touchdown after his pick. “We needed that because they were getting the ball first in the second half.”
The Trojans’ opening drive of the second half lasted just four plays and resulted in a punt, and the Eagles tacked on another touchdown, a 61-yard pass from Nickel to Wiley, which signaled the beginning of the end for the Trojans.
The Eagles won 7A last year, and they can win the third championship in program history, the other coming in 2018, also in 7A. They extended their win streak to a current state-high 23 games in what was their fourth straight semifinals appearance.
Wiley had 165 yards and three touchdowns on five catches, and Ethan Barbour had three catches for 60 yards and a touchdown. Lester finished with 170 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries.
Kromah finished with 69 yards on 17 carries and had 48 yards on two catches. The Trojans were trying to reach the title game for the first time since 2020, when they were runners-up in 6A.
Lee County 7 14 0 7 - 28
Milton 14 21 21 0 - 56
M — Ethan Barbour 26 pass from Luke Nickel (Alex Nover kick)
M — Nickel 28 run (Nover kick)
L — Weston Bryan 73 run (Ryker Moye kick)
M — TJ Lester 9 run (Nover kick)
L — Bryan 1 run (Moye kick)
L — Bryan 1 run (Moye kick)
M — Lester 19 run (Nover kick)
M — CJ Wiley 23 pass from Nickel (Nover kick)
M — Wiley 65 pass from Nickel (Nover kick)
M — Wiley 61 pass from Nickel (Nover kick)
L ‚— Bryan 31 run (Nover kick)
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