Milton Eagles Rally Past Hillgrove To Reach Semifinals

By Mike Blum

MILTON, GA — For the first time in school history, the Milton Eagles have advanced to the semifinals of the high school football playoffs, and will be the host team Friday night against Lowndes High School, one of two remaining teams in the AAAAAAA playoffs from south Georgia.

The Eagles on Nov. 23 defeated the Hillgrove Hawks 20 to 19, and will host the Lowndes Vikings at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30 at Denmark High School in Forsyth County. This semifinal match will not be played at Milton High School, as the Eagles field doesn't have the seating capacity to meet GHSA requirements. The home team said on its Facebook page that GHSA requires a minimum of 6,000 permanent seats for Class AAAAAAA semifinal games.

Milton played a semifinal playoff game in 1952, but there were just four regions in the state in the school's classification, and the four region champions were the only teams to qualify for state. After not winning a playoff game for 60 years, the Eagles finally ended the drought by reaching the quarterfinals in 2014, and have won six playoff games since then — three of which occurred this season.

Lowndes won state championships in 2004, 2005 and 2007, but this will be the first time since 2007 that the Vikings have been to the semifinals. Lowndes has reached the playoffs every year but one since 2007, making it to the quarterfinals in 2016 and the second round last year after coming into the playoffs ranked No. 1 in the state.

Both Milton and Lowndes advanced to the semifinals with wins last week on the road. Milton defeated previously unbeaten Hillgrove, while Lowndes won 20-15 over Grayson, a team many expected to advance to the finals.

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Milton pulled out the victory against Hillgrove with a 95-yard drive in the final period, scoring the
winning touchdown with 2 minutes and 30 seconds remaining. The Eagles faced third-and-12 from their 3-yard line, but a pass interference penalty against the Hawks gave Milton a much-needed first down. Senior quarterback Jordan Yates took over for the Eagles at that point, carrying twice for 21 yards and completing three passes, all to Holden Shaw for 38 yards, as Milton advanced inside the Hillgrove 25.

On the next play, running back Josh Edwards bulled into the end zone from 23 yards out to put the
Eagles ahead 20-19, with an attempted two-point conversion unsuccessful. A pair of completions quickly got the Hawks across midfield, but after holding Hillgove to one yard on the next three plays, the Eagles got the ball back following a fourth down sack by Allen Walker. Edwards and Yates combined to pick up a first down as the Eagles ran out the clock to match the 2014 team’s
season victory total of 11.

Until the winning drive, the Eagles had problems against a stout Hillgrove defense, with two long runs by Yates accounting for almost all of Milton’s offense through three quarters. Mill Creek, Milton’s second round playoff opponent, was determined not to let Yates do any damage with his running ability and held him to minus yards rushing. Yates hurt Mill Creek (also the Hawks) by passing for 275 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-3 win.

Dylan Leonard caught eight passes from Yates for 177 yards and two touchdowns, including a game-clinching 30-yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-8 with under four minutes to play. Edwards scored Milton’s other touchdown early in the fourth quarter, capping a 97-yard scoring drive that the Eagles repeated against Hillgrove.

A 63-yard run by Yates on the third play of the game led to a 5-yard score by Edwards against Hillgove, but the Hawks scored the next 16 points to take a 16-7 lead after a field goal early in the third quarter. On the next play, Yates shook free for 51 yards to the Hillgrove 5 and pulled the Eagles within 16-14 with a 4-yard scoring run.

For the second time in the half, Milton held inside its 10-yard line to force a Hillgrove field goal, and after being stopped on downs in Hillgrove territory, the Eagles responded with the winning drive. Syaire Waters had a key interception for Milton, with the Eagles also recovering a Hillgrove fumble in Milton territory.

The Hawks ran 64 plays from scrimmage to 47 for the Eagles and had well over a 10-minute advantage in time of possession over Milton, which was only 2-of-9 on third down conversions.
Yates finished with 149 yards on 17 carries and completed 9 of 18 passes for 75 yards, about half that total coming on the game-winning drive. Edwards carried 11 times for 44 yards, with Shaw the team’s leading receiver with four catches for 42 yards.

Lowndes survived a defensive struggle against Grayson, winning despite being held to less than 200 yards of offense. The Vikings have relied largely on their defense in the playoffs, allowing only 29 points in three games, including a second round shutout of Westlake. The Vikings went 7-3 in the regular season, losing 39-27 to Parkview, 21-17 to region rival Tift and 40-6 to Region 1 champion Colquitt, the overwhelming favorite to win the state 7A title.

Milton also lost to Parkview in a non-region game as well as to local rival Roswell, which was demolished 42-7 by Tift in the first round of the state playoffs. Lowndes is predominantly a running team with senior Travis Tisdale rushing for 1725 yards and 20 touchdowns this season, averaging nine yards per carry. Tisdale had 132 yards last week against Grayson in tough weather conditions.

The Milton defense has also come up big in the playoffs. The Eagles turned in an outstanding second half effort against South Gwinnett to win 28-19 in the first round, held Mill Creek without a touchdown in the second round, and limited Hillgrove to two second half field goals last week.

The Eagles bring an 11-2 record into Friday’s semifinals, and are 20-5 in two seasons under head coach Adam Clack with four playoff victories. Clack took over in 2017 for Howie DeCristofaro, who led the Eagles to their best ever season in 2014 before back-to-back losing records in 2015 and ’16.

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