Milton Beats Alpharetta 35-28 in High School Football

It looks like Milton High will soon be getting a visit from Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle to serve lunch, as the Eagles sent the Raiders to defeat, beating the home team 35-28.

Belle Isle and his counterpart in Milton, Joe Lockwood, had a bet in the first "Mayor's Matchup" that the mayor whose team lost would go to the other school and serve lunch one day.

The Raiders scored twice in the final two minutes of the game to threaten the Eagles, but fell short in the end.

According to the statistics supplied by the "Milton Stats Guy," Bill Berry, Alpharetta got into the end zone first. A six-yard pass from Josh Gobbs to Rodney Morris put the Raiders on the board, and Thomas Waller's PAT made the score 0-7. The Raiders marched 80 yards on 15 plays over nearly 5 minutes for the score.

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The first quarter was nearly over when the Eagles scored, with C. Mills putting up a 27-yard field goal. The 16-play, 70-yard scoring drive took 5 minutes, 35 seconds, making it 3-7.

Neither team had much luck finding the end zone in the second quarter until Milton got the ball around the 3-minute mark. It took 9 plays covering 76 yards before A.J. Bush rushed 1 yard into the end zone, with Mills again kicking the PAT. The Eagles went into the locker room at halftime leading the Raiders 10-7.

Mills got called on again deep into the third quarter to kick another field goal, this time a 42-yard kick that split the uprights. The scoring drive took 2 minutes, 27 seconds off the clock and covered 50 yards in 5 plays, making it 13-7.

Treyvon Paulk made the first of his two TD runs, rushing 41 yards downfield as the clock wound down under 2 minutes left in the third quarter. It took just one play and 16 seconds for Paulk to add another TD to the scoreboard at Raider Stadium. Teammate Peyton Barber rushed for the two-point conversion, bringing the score to 21-14. The way the Raiders ended out the game, the caution in getting the two points seemed warranted.

Alpharetta came right back after that in the third quarter to close the score within one TD. After marching down the field for 80 yards, DeAndre Wise recovered a fumble in the end zone to score. Waller's PAT made the score 21-14.

Milton responded in the fourth quarter with back-to-back TDs. Paulk capped a 3-play, 56-yard drive with his 2-yard run into the end zone. Mills' PAT increased the Eagles' lead to 28-14. The drive only took 29 seconds.

The Eagles' defense held, and Milton then ran 5:39 off the cock with a 9-play, 70-yard drive. Bush's 8-yard TD run and Mills' PAT increased the Eagles lead to three TDs, making it 35-14.

The Raiders weren't done, however, and in just over a minute they had come back to score two TDs, threatening to snatch victory from the Eagles.

First came a Raiders' drive that covered 4 plays and 38 yards – and just 1:01 off the clock. Daniel Clements pulled in a pass from Dobbs for a 9-yard TD and Waller followed with a PAT to make it 35-21.

Alpharetta didn't waste any time, getting the ball back almost immediately. Quarterback Josh Dobbs ran 46 yards for the TD, with Waller again delivering a PAT. The play just took 15 seconds off the clock and the Raiders had closed to within one TD of the Eagles, with the score 35-28.

But this time the Eagles held onto the ball and killed the 1:34 left on the clock, ending the Raiders' hopes.

The Eagles outrushed the Raiders, with 430 yards on 56 attempts, an average of 7.7 yards per rush. The Raiders had 137 yards on 25 attempts, and a still respectable 5.5-yard average per rush.

The Raiders did have the better passing game, in attempts, completions and TDs – though two interceptions were spoilers. the team completed 20 passes on 39 attempts, with 2 interceptions, and gained 234 yards through the air.

Even with the passing yardage, Alpharetta fell short in total offense. Milton had 456 total offense yards to Alpharetta's 371 on nearly the same number of plays – 66 for the Eagles and 64 for the Raiders.

For complete stats, view the pdf file from "Milton Stats Guy" Bill Berry that accompanies this story.