On Friday, September 8 at 8:00 p.m., the Milton High School Eagles met the Roswell Hornets here in the nest. The rivalry between these two schools is one of the oldest in the Metro Atlanta Area, according to the AJC. The past four years that the Eagles and the Hornets have faced each other, the Eagles have taken the win.
Friday night lights are a big deal at Roswell High School. Senior Co-Spirit Director of Student Council Analee Donaldson who attended the game says, “Friday night games have always given a lot of people a social outlet. Not everyone is watching the game, we all know that, but everyone is having fun with their friends and having a positive experience.”
Going into this game, the Hornets had an undefeated record of 3-0. Starting senior quarterback #4 KJ Smith recently broke a Roswell record of seven passing touchdowns in a single game against Centennial High School. This game ended with the Hornet’s putting 71 points on the board. Roswell was off to a great start to their season.
Milton had a similar record going into this game of 2-1. The Eagles traveled down to Miami, Florida where they faced Western High School and played a tough game. The Eagles came home with a close score but a tough loss.
Heading into Friday, there were many predictions of Roswell taking the win, but that did not guarantee anything.
Kickoff was at 8 p.m. due to the game being televised. Hundreds of people showed up to the game, the stands were full on each side. Not only were there hundreds of people there in person, but there were also many behind the screen watching. Donaldson explains it like this, “The show out was insane, way more people came to the game than I expected, and everyone was cheering for our Hornets. Everyone was present and, in the moment, something not very common at games where we have a 40+ point lead.”
The Hornets scored early in the game, but the Eagles soon followed. The first quarter ended in a tie between the teams, 7-7. The Hornets touchdown was a passing play by KJ Smith to senior receiver #1 Dylan Williams. The kick by senior #20 Brett Gonda was good.
The next two quarters were rough for the Hornets with no more scoring points to increase the score. Milton was able to get up by two more touchdowns in this time, bringing the score to 20-7.
In the final quarter of the game is where it began to get even tougher. Both sides of the ball were being played to their best ability, but unfortunately Milton continued to score. It was important for these players to focus on the game and continue to go as hard as they could no matter the score.
Senior safety #28 Nolan Slaughter says, “The main thing that I was thinking about was just doing my job and then helping my teammates making sure they did their job.” The Hornets were able to score another passing touchdown to Williams towards the end, but Milton scored two more.
The final score was 34-14 with the Milton Eagles taking home the win. This game left the Hornets with a 3-1 record. This was a tough loss for Roswell, but it is just the beginning of the 2023 season. Slaughter ends with, “I think it will impact us in a better way moving forward knowing that we can be beat makes us work even harder and will get us better.”
