Cape football drops heartbreaker to Milford in OT
As Cape head football coach Bill Collick walked across the field at Milford after losing 28-27 in overtime, one would think he would be a little disappointed or even a little discouraged about his team’s performance. Nothing could be further from the truth, because as Casey Stengel once said, “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”
“This was the first game that we played 48 minutes as a team,” Collick said. “It’s tough coming off the field with the loss, but I felt good about that.”
Cape freshman quarterback Sam Jones went 6-for-10 for 90 yards and a touchdown.
“Our quarterback continues to improve,” said Collick. “He’s a freshman, and he’s getting better. When your quarterback improves, the team gets better.”
Zach Dale caught Jones’ only touchdown pass.
“Zach did well on that pass,” Collick said. “He scored a touchdown, which was great. He scored eight as a junior, and he’s doing well this season.”
Dale also punted four times with a 41.5-yard average, with the longest being 55 yards.
Senior running back Kolbi Wright ran for 95 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.
“Kolbi played well on both sides of the ball,” said Collick.
Ben Ashby ran for 46 yards on nine carries. He scored a touchdown, but it was called back on a block in the back penalty.
“I felt that even though we lost, we came together, played as a team and never gave up,” Ashby said.
The Vikings finished the game with 152 total yards on the ground on 38 carries. They had 13 first downs in the contest.
“We’re not in the business to lose,” said Collick. “But I’m proud with the way they played. Cruz Harmon continues to improve at the center position. Jonah Robertson had a good outing, and Jake Osborne, Tanner Virden, Aarin Burton all played hard.”
After 48 minutes of smash-mouth football, the game was tied at 21. Each team was to get the ball on the 10-yard line with four plays to score. If it was still tied after that, then the game would end.
Milford won the toss in overtime and elected to go second. Cape scored first on a fourth and goal from the 1-yard line, when Wright busted through the Bucs defense. But a Vikings miscue on the PAT gave the Bucs hope for their four downs. A Cape penalty gave the Bucs a second first and goal, and David Bowman would not be denied and scored from the 3-yard line. Junior placekicker Jonathan Gaglione put the PAT through the uprights to give the Bucs a 28-27 victory.
Cape will play Sussex Central, Dover and Sussex Tech in the next three weeks.
“Those games aren’t a box of chocolates,” said Collick. “But coming off a plus side of team play in this game helps us.”
