Excitement was in the air. The fans all dressed in white had come in full force to see their Milford Mavericks come away with a win at home against rival Hartland.
The dark and rainy skies though would prove to be a bad omen for the Mavericks, for alas, the win would never happen and Milford would drop to 1-3 after a crushing defeat to the Eagles, who came back to score a field goal with only seconds left, and win 23-22.
This would be Milford’s second heartbreaking loss of the year, after they dropped the home opener to the Plymouth Wildcats in Week 2.
“We expected the game to be tough,” said Junior defensive tackle Tyler Lovelace. “We played well as a team, but we just made simple mistakes.”
The game would start off well with the Mavericks driving down the field, with key plays by Senior wide receiver Thomas Woodrow, and Junior Tyler Carrier. The Mavericks would cap off the drive with a 1 yard touchdown pass from Senior quarterback David Onofrio, to Senior running back Cameron Bell.
Hartland would take possession next, only to have the ball intercepted by Junior Keegan Matthews. Curtis Painter would kick a field goal to make the score Milford 10, Hartland 0.
Hartland would score a touchdown on its next possession to pull within three points. Milford would punt the ball, and Hartland scored again to take the lead 14-10, just before halftime.
In the third quarter, Hartland would tack on more points, on another touchdown run, but the extra point sailed wide.
Milford would start a comeback in the fourth quarter, as Onofrio would run the ball 50 yards for the touchdown to make the score 20-16. Carrier would keep the momentum going by recovering a Hartland fumble on the next drive. Carrier would then be on the receiving end of a touchdown pass from Onofrio, to give Milford the lead 22-20.
With 8:06 remaining in the game, Hartland’s quarterback threw an interception to Junior defensive lineman Gary Wreggelsworth. Due to the rainy conditions that night though, he fumbled the ball as he was running toward the end zone, and it was recovered by a Hartland player to give the Eagles a new set of downs. The result of that drive was the field goal, that would give Hartland the win over the Mavericks 23-22.
On offense, Onofrio would finish 16 for 28 on pass attempts with two touchdowns and he also added 84 yards on 9 rushing attempts and a touchdown. Defensively, Carrier led all Milford defenders with 17 tackles. Matthews would finish with 11 tackles, and Bell with 9 of his own.
During the game though,Milfordsustained a great loss in Senior running back/linebacker Danny Wallace, who sustained a season ending knee injury. This would be the second time a season would end for him due to injury, as the same thing happened during his sophomore season, in a game against Wayne Memorial. “It’s pretty tough to lose him,” said Senior wide receiver Anthony Varlese of Wallace. “He loves to play the game.”
Varlese would go on to say, “We gotta keep our heads up, and not dwell on this loss.”
From here, Milfordwill definitely work on getting better. “We just have to keep our heads up and work hard,” said Lovelace. “We have to be strong to come back.”
The desire to bounce back was strong, but desire only goes so far. Milfordwould end up losing the next three games toBrighton, Howell, and Pinckney.
With a current record of 1-6, the playoffs are out of the question for the Mavericks. The players and coaches alike are disappointed after working hard all season.
So what is there to expect out of the rest of this season? According to Head Coach Fox, he still wants the team to compete.
“We want our kids to play hard, and enjoy playing this great game.”