Milsom’s big runs late preserve Leetonia’s win

Western Reserve had reduced the deficit to two points.

By RYAN JONES

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LEETONIA — Locked in tight battle with Western Reserve, the Leetonia High football team turned to the leader of its running game, fullback Jaime Milsom. Boy, did he deliver, leading the Bears to a 29-20 victory Friday night.

The Bears (5-2, 4-0 Inter Tri-County League Tier Two) began their final possession of the third quarter with the ball on their 29-yard line in need of an offensive spark.

The Blue Devils’ passing attack had seized momentum and put up 13 unanswered points in the quarter to pull within two points.

Milsom, a 5-foot-7, 175-pound senior, carried three times on the final drive, including a 42-yard TD scamper, that closed the scoring.

“It was great for us to get this win,” Milsom said. “Last year, we were in the same game with the same record and lost. The rest of the season kind of went downhill from there. This win has built up our confidence for McDonald next week.”

Milsom, who had 202 yards rushing on 15 carries, scored on the first play of second half when he went 64 yards untouched through the middle of Western Reserve’s defense.

Milsom said he changed positions on offense to start the second half.

“I moved from wingback to fullback because we thought we could get them with a counter play,” he said. “Donald Trummer blew up their linebacker and it opened up — I wasn’t touched.”

Coach Matt Altomare was pleased with how his team came out to start the first half.

“We talked about running the counter, because they were stopping some of our other running plays,” Altomare said. “We came out and executed it well and it gave us the momentum, but we weren’t able to hold it.”

The Blue Devils (3-4, 2-2) answered Milsom’s run with an 11-play, 86-yard drive that ended when Shane Ewing scrambled 24 yards for a touchdown to cut the margin to 22-14.

Later in the quarter, Ewing, who went 19-for-32 for 258 yards and two touchdowns, found Justin Lude on a corner route from 34 yards out to make the score 22-20 with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils’ attempt to tie the game with a two-point conversion run, but Matt Kalbfell was tackled in the backfield on an end around.

Altomare said he wanted his team to control the tempo on offense.

“We really wanted to come in and grind it out against them,” he said. “Even if was three yards a pop, we wanted to keep away from their offense and avoid turning it over. They kept us out of sync on offensive for some of the third quarter and hurt us with the pass.”

Western Reserve threatened in the fourth quarter, moving the ball to Leetonia’s 34-yard line before failing to convert on fourth down and 8.