Milford faces challenge against Tyngsboro

Keith Jones doesn’t want the Milford High School football team to rely on one guy to shoulder the load.

That hasn’t stopped John Forte from doing just that while the rest of the Spartans continue to work on getting better.

Forte was one again the workhorse in Milford’s 40-22 win over Pembroke last Friday, carrying the ball 25 times for 176 yards. More importantly, Forte got the ball on nine consecutive plays late in the fourth quarter while the Spartans were trying to run out the clock. It worked.

“Right now Johnny is carrying us on his shoulders,” Jones said. “It’s great that he’s banging people and gaining yardage that way, but he’s also breaking tackles.”

A year ago, Milford has Josh Ibarra carrying a lot of the load on offense. That was the first time that Jones remembers relying on one player to do so much, and while it’s been a nice fall-back to have Forte come up big, it’s not ideal.

“We did some good things, but we still did some bad things,” Jones said. “We’re moving and doing things, but we’re not doing it at even 50 percent of our potential. It will be nice to see what we can be when we play together as a group.”

The Spartans were also able to take advantage of Pembroke’s secondary at times, as quarterback Bud Theriault threw for 117 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown strike to Max Goudreau.

“We threw the ball a little bit, and took advantage of some things,” Jones said. “We connected on some passes. The nice thing about that, we didn’t have to be grinding it out all the time. (Theriault) found some open guys.”

This week, Milford ventures out against an unknown opponent, when Tyngsboro (Mass.) comes to town Friday for a 7 p.m. start.

The Tigers are coming off a 30-0 win over North Middlesex, and are led by running back Chuckie Keenan, who had 177 yards rushing and two touchdowns last week, and quarterback Ben Durand, who passed for 177 yards and a touchdowns, and rushed for one more.

“This will be a huge test,” Jones said. “They’re good. They’ve got a nice, fast tailback and they’ve got a kid who can throw it anywhere he wants. They’re used to playing a high caliber of football.”