Milan Bulldogs rout Humboldt Vikings

HUMBOLDT – Last week, the Milan High School first-string defense got a big stop on 4-and-1 late in the game to pick up the win.

Friday night, the majority of those players didn't see any action in the entire second half as the Bulldogs routed Gibson County rival Humboldt High, 41-6.

After Milan took the opening kickoff 65 yards in 2:26 to take an early 6-0 lead, the Bulldog defense forced a turnover on downs followed by a pick-six on Humboldt's first two possessions to take an early 20-0 lead after the first quarter.

Milan senior quarterback Marshall Harrison, who finished the night 4-7 with three touchdowns, said he not only credits his defense for the win over the Vikings but also for the Week 0 win.

"That win over Lexington last week really motivated us a lot," Harrison said. "Our defense has done great the last two games.

"Our defense really played great tonight."

The Bulldogs head coach Jeff Morris said before Friday night's game some of the keys to victory were to get quality blocks up from and to eliminate turnovers.

After the win, Morris said he was proud of how his team executed the game plan put in front of them this week in practice.

"Offensively, we did what we wanted to do," Morris said. "We physically handled them on defense [and] we didn't let their speed have a chance to hurt us.

"It was a good outing [and I was] glad to see other kids get in the game and compete with them too like they did."

The matchup between Humboldt and Milan is the longest consecutive rivalry in West Tennessee, spanning over 70 years with the teams meeting at least once every season.

"There's seldom one-sided games in this [rivalry]," Morris said. "We kind of controlled it from start to finish."

Humboldt head coach Junior Reid, in his second season coaching the Vikings, said he gives credit to Milan but also said he knew having a young squad and running a new double-wing style offense his team would have some growing pains.

The Vikings lost 16 players from last year's squad that went 9-4 and made it to the Class 1A Quarterfinals.

"We're still working with a young group. We've got a lot of players on the front line and in the backfield that are playing different positions that haven't been playing there very long," Reid said. "When you're a small school and you lose 16 seniors in one year it makes it hard on you.

"We've just got to get better. That's part of it. You can't keep them forever so you've got to use what you have."

Josh Lemons, 425-9636