Milton Academy rips Governor’s Academy
BYFIELD — It seemed nothing could go wrong for Milton Academy on Saturday afternoon, and the No. 2 Mustangs left Governor’s Academy with a statement win in the Independent School League as a result.
Fueled by a monstrous first half that saw the defense produce a turnover on all five possessions by No. 4 Governor’s, quarterback Jacob Holtschlag took advantage of short field position to toss four touchdown passes as Milton Academy (5-0) cruised to a 41-14 win.
Hard hits, a trio of sacks, a stifling effort against the run and persistent pressure guided the defense to force three fumbles, an interception and two turnover-ondowns in all, and a muffed kickoff from Governor’s (3-2) in the second quarter embodied just about all of how the highly-anticipated matchup turned into a convincing blowout.
“Turnovers were the name of the game,” said Milton Academy head coach Kevin MacDonald. “I was thrilled with this win because I figured this was going to be a very close game like it always is. Everything just went our way today. … All the stuff that we worked on, and our defensive coordinator Mike Mason’s worked on, kind of paid off. In a way, it is a statement win because we’ve been preaching turnovers.”
The Govs offense actually was methodically driving on its opening possession when the first domino fell, and the hole just kept getting deeper with every turn.
Aidan Cole started it with a clear shot at Governor’s quarterback Tristan Aboud, forcing a fumble on a bruising sack at midfield. Eight plays later, Holtschlag (10for-12, 163 yards) found Andrew Rappleyea for a 10yard TD to get on the board. Each of the next four Mustangs possessions started with excellent field position, too.
A fumble recovery by Owen Howlett at the Govs 48-yard-line following a stripped rush attempt led to a 10-yard touchdown run from Luke Thorbahn (16 carries, 99 yards). Governor’s fumbled at its 28 when going for a fourth-and-short rush to set up an 18-yard touchdown connection from Holtschlag to Qayson Kara, and then a bad snap on a punt resulted in a turnoveron-downs at its 14. Holtschlag hit Sam Jeffe for the 9-yard TD to extend the lead to 27-0 before the ensuing kick traveled low, ricocheting off a Governor’s player into the arms of Milton Academy.
The game was all but over two plays later as Holtschlag lofted a 45-yard touchdown pass to Mathias Fowler, giving the Mustangs a 34-0 halftime advantage. Holtschlag left nothing he got to waste.
“Jacob really stepped up today,” MacDonald said. “He’s getting better every week. … He’s a very good quarterback.”
Keith Nally (10 carries, 55 yards) capped off the offensive day for Milton Academy with a 9-yard touchdown run for a 41-0 lead before Governor’s finally started to look like itself.