Roswell Continues Winning Streak Against Milton

By Mike Blum

MILTON, GA -- If someone arrived at the Roswell vs. Milton game at halftime and checked out the score, they would have sworn that the scoreboard was not working.

The score at the half of Friday’s high school football game was 0-0, which came as a major surprise, at least as far as the Hornets were concerned. Roswell, the state’s top-ranked team, was averaging 34 points a game against a strong schedule, but did not get on the scoreboard until almost eight minutes into the third quarter.

The Hornets finally got into the end zone later in the period and came away with a 17-0 victory over the rival Eagles, who put up a game fight defensively but did not have an offense that could challenge the outstanding Roswell defense.

The Hornets held an opponent without a touchdown for the third straight game, shutting out the Eagles in the final non-region game for both teams. Roswell (5-0) held the Eagles to minus-37 yards rushing and three first downs, one of them on a defensive penalty against the Hornets. The two first downs came on passes of 41 and 22 yards, with Milton held to minus-11 yards total offense other than those two plays.

Despite their inability to muster any offense against the Hornets, Milton was on the verge of taking the lead early in the third quarter after Joe Charleston blocked a Roswell punt and returned it 24 yards to the Hornets’ 1.

But Roswell tripped the ball away from Milton quarterback Jordan Yates on an attempted sneak on the next play, and the Hornets’ offense finally put together a drive. Roswell went 90 yards, 58 by Sheldon Evans on the ground and 30 on a catch-and- run by Kentrell Barber.

The drive stalled at the Milton 9, and Turner Barckhoff put the Hornets on the scoreboard with a 26-yard field goal after missing two earlier attempts. Roswell made it 10-0 three minutes later after taking over at the Milton 34 following a short punt. Evans gained 26 yards on the first play and scored on a 5-yard run.

The Hornets put the game away on a 3-yard scoring run by Evans midway through the final period after Roswell’s Mitch Stone put a hard hit on Yates and forced a second fumble.

Roswell quarterback Malik Willis, who did not have his best night throwing the football, broke loose for 49 yards to the Milton 5 after consecutive 15-yard penalties against the Hornets, and ran for 17 yards to the Milton following another 15-yard assessment.

Evans scored on the next play. Evans rushed for 102 of his 140 yards in the second half and Willis added 80 yards in the final two periods after having negative yards rushing in the first half. Willis completed 16 of 25 passes for 177 yards, but most of his attempts were short throws, two of which Barber turned into 58 yards with some nifty moves.

Roswell coach John Ford accepted the responsibility for much of the Hornets’ offensive struggles on the night, but his team did not need much production from the offensive unit.

The Hornets graduated three of their top defenders from last year’s state runners-up, but the team is playing better defensively this year, yielding just 16 points in five games.

“I think we have the best defensive coaches and players in the state,” Ford said. “You can’t replace guys like (Tre) Lamar, (Tyrone) Hopper and (Marcelino) Ball, but the eight that came back are pretty good.”

Linemen Justin Ellis, Koby Cumberlander, Max Boyd and Lamon Titus, linebackers Sam DiRoberto, Stone and Cade Gonzales and the standout secondary headed up by Xavier McKinney, LeAnthony Williams and Justus Harris have proved to be a defensive unit that is extremely stingy against the run and very dangerous to try to throw against. McKinney and Williams both added to their interception totals against the Eagles.

The Milton defense played well in the defeat, but the Eagles fell to 2-3 as their offense struggled for a second straight game. Cameron Adams who rushed for 483 yards and six touchdowns the first three games of the season, was completely stuffed, as the Eagles could not block the aggressive Roswell defenders.

Adams made a juggling reception for the 41-yard catch that gave the Eagles their only first down of the first half, one play after dropping a pass after getting well behind the Roswell secondary.

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Image via Roswell High School Football's Facebook page