King Philip put Milford first in dirty fashion

Milford – The King Philip football program loses good players to graduation every year, and the Warriors lose their fair share to injuries.

But what remains constant, no matter who plays, is a hard-hitting defense, a punishing, running offense and the ability to make opponents pay for any mistakes.

On Friday night, King Philip used those tried and true tactics to beat the host Milford Scarlet Hawks 19-7 to improve to 6-0 on the season and 3-0 against the Hockomock Kelly-Rex.

Milford fell 5-1 and 2-1.

“It felt like KP football tonight,” King Philip coach Brian Lee said.

Still, it ended pretty well for King Philip in the end. Milford led 7-6 when KP held the Milford 45 with 5:26 left in the third quarter. The Warriors went on a 10-play drive that led to William Astorino’s 2-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter with a 12-7 lead.

After quarterback Evan Cornelius (234 yards passing), Milford drove into KP territory, but KP defensive end David Constantine made a big pick and returned the ball 55 yards to the Milford 13-yard line.

Three plays later, KP quarterback Thomas McCleish threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Kelly while diving to the right. Kelly hit the extra point and two first half field goals to make it 19-7.

McLeish threw for 138 yards on 8-of-16 passing. Running back Kyle Abbott ran for 72 yards.

KP has been hit by injuries this year as Rudy Gately has not played since the start of the season. But the Warriors played it.

“That’s just KP football right there,” Kelly said. “It’s a strong team. We’ve never been a team about one player. Week 1, our running back (Gately) goes down, great player. (Kyle) Abbott, to his credit, has hit the big time. Every game he was big. Our line, our class of students has increased significantly.

Kelly made field goals of 25 and 42 yards in the first half, but Cornelius led Milford late in the first half when Isaiah Pantalon hit a 32-yard score. Pantalone had nine catches for 156 yards.

“It’s a credit to the kids, really, the kind of kids we have, that it’s their turn, and they step up,” Lee said. “Whatever you need to do to play your best. You’re mad at somebody. You want to play for your friend. You want to play for grandpa, the program. I’m not going to marry you. Find someone who’s going to make you play better than last week. I think they did. They definitely played better than we did last week.”