Milford looks to keep ground game rolling against Tyngsborough

Opponents of the Milford High School football team better start learning the names of the Spartans' top three running backs.

And if other teams haven't already, shame on them; they've had more than a year.

Kyle Higgins, Connor Bourne and Joe Albina may not have received much of the spotlight a year ago, but all three saw plenty of playing time behind last year's top backs, Max Goudreau and John Forte. In fact, the trio saw enough action that Milford coach Keith Jones knew he was going to be in good shape replacing his top two runners.

“(Goudreau and Forte) were both hurt, but never hurt at the same time,” Jones said. “We always had one and those other kids had to play. Albina started at fullback his whole sophomore year. Bourne got a ton of carries late in the year and Higgins was the other back when either was hurt. They had plenty of experience, but none are flashy.”

The Spartans (2-0 overall) won’t often break a big run or two like they did a year ago. Take the game Higgins played in Milford’s 24-7 win over Pembroke last week as an example: the back had almost 130 yards rushing, but he did so on 23 carries.

Higgins also scored twice on two of his longest runs of the day, an 8-yard run and a 12-yard jaunt, both of which came in the first half.

“They’ve been outstanding,” Jones said of his backs. “They’ve all been battering rams. What they lack in speed, they certainly make up for in heart and mental toughness. They do what we want, they’re straight-ahead runners.”

Milford will need a lot of that toughness when it goes out of Division III this week to take on Tyngsborough, Mass. Last season, the Tigers broke the game open in the second half on the way to a 40-21 win. The teams will play Friday at Tyngsborough at 7 p.m.

The Spartans will face a spread offense for the second of what could be seven straight weeks, but the Tigers are one of the more physical teams Milford could face.

“There are different ways to run the spread,” Jones said. “Locally, we’re used to seeing Portsmouth and Souhegan swinging it. (The Tigers) are big up front and they’re physical. It will be tough to stop.”

Tyngsborough (1-0) opened its season last week with a 22-20 win over David Prouty (Spencer, Mass.) High, as Chuckie Keenan 176 yards on 30 carries and the game-winning touchdown.

For the Spartans to come out on top, Jones knows his team is going to have to continue playing solid defense – Milford allowed just 74 yards against Pembroke – and will have to do a better job of closing out games.

In the season opener, Londonderry drove the length of the field with a chance to tie or take the lead, and Pembroke’s lone touchdown came on a long drive late in the third quarter. Last week, Milford had to make several substitutions late in the game.

“We have to be able to play the whole fourth quarter,” Jones said. “We play five teams here that we’re going to have to play four quarters. We were mixing and matching with a lot of people out of place.”