Early defensive stop sets tone as Milton football beats Weymouth in battle of unbeatens

MILTON – In a Bay State Conference battle of unbeaten Wildcats, the Weymouth High football team made a loud opening statement.

Milton dominated the rest of the conversation.

Weymouth's Dante Tordiglione provided Friday night's first chunk play, taking a pitch to the left and tightroping the sideline for a 52-yard gain to the Milton 12 on the fourth play from scrimmage.

The hosts held, though, forcing a turnover on downs as Weymouth's next four plays netted just 5 yards. Milton then marched 93 yards in 19 plays for the game's opening score, setting an early tone in what became a 31-7 victory.

Milton (4-0) has outscored opponents 164-35 this season. In the initial MIAA power rankings that came out Friday morning, coach Steve Dembowski's team, which was runner-up in Division 3 a year ago, had a rating of 34.9173; not only was that tops in Division 3 by a healthy margin, but it was also the biggest number of any of the state's 272 teams across eight divisions.

Facing that kind of juggernaut, Weymouth really could have used an opening salvo. Instead, Milton slammed the door shut after Tordiglione's big play as three runs lost 3 yards, and QB Tyler Nordstrom was stopped after an 8-yard scramble on fourth-and-13.

"That was huge," said Milton quarterback Patrick Miller, who threw for two scores and ran for another. "I'm not gonna lie – I was a little nervous when I saw that big run down the sideline, but (our defensive players) do what they do. They made some stops. That really changed the momentum of the game. We had like a 90-yard drive and silenced them."

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"We knew they were going to give us some sort of unbalanced formation that we would have to adjust to," Dembowski said. "That's what they came out in. We're calling out adjustments from the sideline, but you have to tackle, you have to play downhill. I think what that (odd formation) does is it confuses you a little bit and then you're not as aggressive defensively. And they have real good skill players."

Weymouth made three other trips inside the Milton red zone and came away with just one score – Nordstrom's 19-yard TD pass to Andrew DelGallo in the fourth quarter that made it 28-7. The visitors turned it over on downs another time and lost a fumble.

"They're a very good team and we didn't execute at a high enough level," said first-year Weymouth coach Michael Donovan. "Overall, we just didn't do enough to beat a team like that. When you move the ball down (into the red zone), we've got to do a better job of finishing there. But credit to Milton; they're a tremendous squad."

Weymouth (3-1) did some nice things offensively, particularly on the ground, where Anthony Smith (16 carries for 100 yards), Cam Aieta (14-70) and Nordstrom (5-32) ran hard all night.

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"That was the type of game we wanted to play," said Donovan, a former Stoughton player who has extensive college coaching experience but is running a high school team for the first time. "At times we played it and at times we just didn't do enough. When you don't execute against a good team like that, that's what happens."

Miller (13-of-25 passing for 145 yards, 2 TDs) capped that first Milton drive with a 1-yard TD run, faking a pitch on an option play and knifing in on the third play of the second quarter.

"We had an option," he said. "I saw the outside linebacker and I knew if I pitched it outside to my guy Nate (Ehui), who's a weapon, they were going to follow him so I saw the cutback behind my big boy, Anderson Perez-Ruiz, who made that huge hole."

Milton went up 14-0 when sophomore receiver Ronan Sammon (6 catches for 103 yards) caught an 18-yard TD pass in which he reached for a ball slightly behind him in the right flat and then weaved his way through traffic.

"That's how the story's been – he makes me look good," Miller said. "That kid's a freak. He just goes out there and makes plays. He just makes my life a lot easier."

Luke Haley made it 21-0 in the final minute of the first half, taking a jet sweep 18 yards for a TD. Because Miller pitched the ball forward to Haley it went down as a pass.

A.J. Cicerone made it 28-0 with an 18-yard TD run in the third quarter, capping a drive set up by Harrison Hinckle's interception.

Milton left-footed kicker/punter Aidan Rowley concluded the scoring with a 24-yard field goal. It was his first attempt of the season, but he's 23-for-23 on PATs.

"He's been a godsend to us because that was a position of need with (Jack) Finnegan graduating," Dembowski said. "A lot of our success has been due to the field position our special teams have generated and he's been a big part of that."

Ehui led Milton in rushing with 71 yards on 15 carries. Miller (10-41) and Luke Hartford (7-28) also contributed and Sammon took his lone carry for a 30-yard gain on an inside handoff.

Weymouth visits Braintree next Friday while Milton hosts Needham (4-0) in a showdown for first place in the Herget.

"I'm really happy" about the 4-0 start, Dembowski said, "but you see things we have to work on. Hopefully we have the maturity in our group to realize that 4-0 means nothing at this point. They don't give out 4-0 trophies. We have to continue to get better at this point in the season so we're more balanced as we get into more of the league (schedule) and then hopefully toward the playoffs."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Milton football tops Weymouth in battle of unbeatens