Milford may be best in CMass
With a win over Gardner last week, Milford became the first Central Mass. team to secure a Super Bowl bid for 2006. The Scarlet Hawks will repeat as the Division 1A representative after falling to South Hadley, 18-0, last year in its first trip to the postseason since 1996.
No. 3 Milford (7-1, 6-0) faces visiting No. 2 Leominster tonight and also has games remaining against St. Peter-Marian and Shrewsbury, but anyone who thinks the Scarlet Hawks will rest their starters and coast into the postseason is mistaken. The Milford locker room has just one picture on its bulletin board — the front page of the Telegram & Gazette’s football preview featuring Leominster running back Jonathan Hernandez.
It’s safe to say the Scarlet Hawks will be ready for tonight’s game.
With Leominster (6-2, 3-0 Div. 1) rolling off six straight wins and coming off an emotional victory over Brockton — a team the Blue Devils hadn’t defeated in 18 years — tonight’s game has turned into something more than bragging rights.
“They’re the best team in Division 1, and we’re the best team in Division 1A, so by default if we beat them we’re the best team in Central Mass.,” senior co-captain lineman Dan Hulyk said. “That’s what we want, and that’s the goal.”
Milford sees reasons to go all-out in its next three games. Leominster for pride, St. Peter-Marian because it’s still a league game — the Scarlet Hawks want to make certain they are the best team in Division 1A — and Shrewsbury because it’s Thanksgiving.
“We all want to finish 10-1 more than anything else, so there’s going to be extra focus going into this week, especially against Leominster,” senior co-captain quarterback Bryant Johnson said.
Milford returned a staggering 16 starters from last year’s Super Bowl team that finished 7-5. Included in that group is Johnson, the reigning Division 1A MVP who threw for 1,568 yards and 11 touchdowns last year. Also back is Division 1A all-star running back Brian Flumere, who ran for 1,105 yards and 19 touchdowns last year.
Junior Tom Kane has emerged as Johnson’s top receiver with 25 catches for 428 yards and is just as dangerous in the backfield as a complement to Flumere. Senior Matt McDonough (22 catches, 360 yards) has also been a big target for Johnson, who has passed for 1,171 yards already this season, second in Central Mass.
The Scarlet Hawks opened with a win over Bellingham, but fell to Franklin, 21-14, in Week 2. That loss quickly brought Milford back to reality.
“I think it was a wake-up call,” Johnson said. “After that loss we all came together and said there was no way we were going to lose another game. We’re going to do whatever it takes to get back to a Super Bowl.”
Milford righted itself and, like Leominster, won its next six games.
Last season, the Scarlet Hawks needed certain teams to lose for it to get to the Super Bowl, but this year Milford did it its own way.
“Last year we were waiting for teams to knock each other off and see what happens, but this year it’s been nice to control our own destiny,” Flumere said. “This team is probably one of the tightest teams I’ll ever be involved with. We’ve been together for a really long time, and this means so much to everybody.”
What makes Milford so dangerous is the number of weapons it possesses. If an opposing team is somehow able to keep Flumere in check, then Johnson and his receivers take over.
“Flumere is a great back, and Kane is a hard back to defend when he’s in the backfield,” Milford coach John Dagnese said. “He certainly is a quality receiver, and McDonough is a quality receiver. (Leominster will) match up because they have some great kids in the secondary like Hernandez and Alex Rivera.”
Perhaps the biggest matchup problem will be devising a way to stop Hernandez, who leads Central Mass. with 1,470 yards rushing.
“Hernandez is a terrific football player, he makes something happen every time,” Dagnese said. “He’s almost a kid that’s impossible to get a hit on. He seems to have the best vision out of any running back, maybe, that I’ve seen in 30 years.”
Any thoughts of Milford’s taking it easy the rest of the way can be put to rest.
“We’re still very focused; we’re not trying to get overconfident by any means,” Flumere said. “We’re still going to play just as hard. We were talking about how it doesn’t matter if we’re in (the Super Bowl) or not, we still have to play hard every day. (Tonight’s game) determines who the best team in Central Mass. is, so every game is important.”
The Division 3A bowl picture will come a little bit more into focus tonight as Assabet takes on visiting Bay Path. The Aztecs (7-1, 6-0) need to win to knock the Minutemen (5-3, 5-1) out of the bowl picture.
Bay Path was handled by South last week, 23-0. If Assabet gets past Bay Path and South gets past Nashoba Tech tonight, it sets up a big game Nov. 11 at Foley Stadium between the Colonels and Aztecs, with the winner going bowling.
We’re still getting lots of feedback on Algonquin math teacher Sean McGrath’s football poll that we unveiled last week — mostly good, but some bad. One thing to note is that the poll is more like the BCS standings in college football than it is a preference poll. The results don’t reflect that a team like Algonquin is the fifth-best team in Central Mass., but instead point out possible results.
McGrath explains in an e-mail, “The rankings that are generated are supposed to be an indication of who the best teams are right now. It has been shown statistically (in college and pro football studies) that the method does OK in predicting the future.”
McGrath said he is also doing a similar set of rankings for pro football and with his method has correctly picked the winner about 64 percent of the time this season. In comparison, the updated Las Vegas line has correctly picked the winner of games about 67 percent of the time.
For those wondering, this week’s poll has Milford at the top with a rating of 56.54 while Leominster is right behind with a 53.17 rating, followed by Marlboro (51.06), St. John’s (47.48) and Algonquin (44.98).
Taking tonight’s Leominster-Milford game after factoring in Milford’s home-field advantage of three points, McGrath said his system predicts the Scarlet Hawks win by six points.
For those who missed it, the Ashburnham-Westminster School Committee unanimously approved the installation of a new playing surface for Art Hurd Field at Oakmont Regional earlier this week. Oakmont athletic director Dave LaRoche is hoping to break ground shortly after Thanksgiving to get the new turf field ready for the 2007 season.
Incidentally, LaRoche is going for his 150th career victory tonight as the Spartans host Maynard in what should be a great matchup. Oakmont (7-1, 6-1 Division 3) is coming off a tough loss to Clinton in triple overtime last week while the Tigers (6-1, 5-1) haven’t lost since an opening week setback against Ayer.
A quick note of correction on former Northbridge star Andy Krevis. Krevis indeed did attend Eastern Michigan after a year of prep school, but has since transferred to UMass-Amherst and is currently redshirting for the Minutemen. The Minuteman also have former Grafton High lineman Michael Boyle, Southbridge’s David Burris, St. John’s Eric Dickson, Fitchburg’s Ryan Logan and David Prouty’s Anthony Monette listed on their active roster.
Jim Wilson can be reached at 508-793-9466 and jimwilson@telegram.com