Grizzlies hang on for win over Spartans

MILFORD – Anyone who left Milford High School early Friday night must have thought Goffstown was going to get a win over the home team.

The Grizzlies did, but the Spartans sure made it interesting.

Goffstown went up 24-3 with just over four minutes left in Friday’s game, but two Milford touchdowns in a span of two minutes made it a one-possession game.

The Spartans got the ball back on their own 23 with 41 seconds remaining, but Harrison Urda’s second-down pass was intercepted by Alex Duval to clinch a 24-17 win for the Grizzlies. The loss drops Milford to 2-4 in the division, meaning the Spartans will likely miss the Division III playoffs for the first time since moving up from Division IV in 2004.

“We struggled early,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “We made it interesting, we made it fun, nobody gave up and we gave a heck of an effort. It just took us too long to get things going.”

Milford drove inside Goffstown’s 20-yard line three times, but managed to get just three points.

Kyle Higgins led Milford (3-5 overall) with 141 yards rushing and touchdown runs of 54 and 21 yards in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Goffstown (5-1, 6-1) got 147 yards and two touchdowns rushing from quarterback Connor Benjamin.

“I thought we did OK up front and we thought we could get some seams for him,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “He hit a couple.”

Milford got on the board first, marching 61 yards in 15 plays before the drive stalled at Gofftown’s 6-yard line. The Spartans were forced to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Morgan Andrews for a 3-0 lead.

“We needed seven there,” Jones said. “God bless the kicker, she’s done a heck of a job.”

The Grizzlies answered with a scoring drive of its own, as Benjamin scored from 16 yards out, but the kick was blocked and Goffstown led just 6-3.

The Grizzlies got a chance to make up for it two plays later, when Chris Garrison made a one-handed interception of a pass by Bud Theriault and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown. Benjamin ran in the conversion for a 14-3 lead. Goffstown added a 26-yard field goal by Matt Garrison to go up 17-3 at halftime.

The Spartans had two more long drives that moved them inside the red zone, keeping the ball away from Goffstown, but one ended at the Grizzlies’ 8-yard line at the half, and Milford turned the ball over on downs at Goffstown’s 18 late in the third quarter.

“You play good teams and you’ve got to go (score) when you have the opportunities,” Jones said.

Benjamin seemed to put the game away for Goffstown with a 9-yard touchdown run with 4:29 left in the game, but Milford wasn’t done.

Tyler Cooney returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the Milford 46, and on the next play, Higgins went around the right end and outran the Grizzlies defense to make it 24-10 with 4:06 to play.

Urda’s onside kick took a big hop over the head of Garrison and Cooney recovered at the Goffstown 46.

Milford picked up a first down, but it looked like another drive was going to stall as the Spartans faced a fourth-and-13 at Goffstown’s 35. Urda threw incomplete for Mitchell Banuskevich, but Goffstown’s Derrek St. Onge was called for pass interference, giving the Spartans a first down at the 21. Higgins scored on the next play to make it 24-17 with 2:10 remaining.

“We do that,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “Every game we’ve won we try to make it interesting. Probably a sign of an immature team and we need to get better at closing it out. (Milford) is a proud program with proud kids and we’re not going to come to their field and have them roll over.”

Goffstown recovered another Milford onside kick, but was forced to punt, giving the Spartans a first down at their own 23 with 41.9 seconds left. Urda threw incomplete on first down and Duval’s interception on second down ended the Spartans’ threat.

“It was a great effort,” Jones said. “Higgins took it over at the end and (lineman) Jordan Gaudette had some amazing blocks. What a great effort.”