MILFORD — No. 3 Milton knew what No. 6 North Attleboro was going to do on offense Saturday night.
The team knew Frankie Strachan was going to run the ball a lot between the tackles and it knew Dylan Brousseau would try to find open receivers in the play action game.
The Wildcats ended up being right, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
Powered by four rushing touchdowns from Strachan and two passing touchdowns from Brousseau, Big Red defeated the Wildcats, 43-29, in the Division III state semifinals at Milford High School.
Big Red will play King Philip in the state championship at Gillette Stadium during the first week of December.
Milton opened the game with a great kick return from Corey Rofino, putting the ball on North Attleboro’s 43-yard line, but the Wildcats let the opportunity slip away, fumbling on the first play of their drive.
Big Red quickly took advantage. Following a penalty from Milton and chunk yardage runs from Strachan, the senior bulled his way into the end zone with a four-yard run, making it 7-0 with 7:20 to go in the first quarter.
Strachan and Brousseau sliced away at Milton’s defense with their legs during all four quarters on Saturday.
“They did what they do,” Milton coach Steve Dembowski said. “They did a good job of it, but we killed ourselves. We fumbled on the first play of the game. We went over the passes they threw for touchdowns every day for three days. We just made a lot of bad mistakes. We missed some tackles … we had two turnovers and that gave them the two extra possessions they needed. That’s football.”
Milton had a promising start to its next drive with a 27-yard reception from Ronan Sammon, but eventually stalled, turning the ball over on downs. Big Red struck again on their next drive.
Strachan had carries of three, five and eight yards to kick-start the drive before Brousseau connected with Milo House for a touchdown pass down the sideline, making it 14-0 with 11:13 to go in the second quarter.
With the game hanging in the balance, Milton responded. Patrick Mason pulled in a deep pass to give the Wildcats good field position before Patrick Collins dropped back to pass and scrambled for a six-yard touchdown to make it 14-8 early in the second period.
Despite the touchdown, North Attleboro continued to chip away when it had the ball with runs up the middle from Strachan.
Following five-straight carries from the senior on the team’s next drive, Brousseau dropped back to pass and connected with Nathaniel Robin on a shallow out route. The sophomore cut up field and fumbled before the goal line but fell on the ball for a touchdown, making it 22-8 with 4:17 to go in the first half.
In need of a score, Milton cut away at Big Red’s defense on its last drive of the half.
Receptions of 17 and 22 yards, respectively, from Peter Skutnik and Sean McCarthy moved the ball down field fast for the Wildcats. North Attleboro’s defense turned up, putting the Wildcats in a fourth down and one situation on Big Red’s six-yard line. But Milton found a way to score. Collins connected with Michael McGee in the middle of the field for a crucial touchdown before the break, making it 22-15.
North Attleboro continued to respond in the second half.
Rousseau broke free for a 36-yard run to open the second half for Big Red. One play later, Strachan rumbled in for a 14-yard touchdown, his second score of the game, to make it 29-15.
Big Red made a big call following the score, going for an onside kick, smashing the kick into the front row of Milton’s kick return unit, and recovered.
One play later, Rousseau broke off another big run, this time for 33 yards. Strachan capped the drive with another touchdown, this time on the goal line, to put Big Red ahead by 21 with 8:19 to go in the third quarter.
Milton’s next drive ended with a sack and a punt, giving the ball back to North Attleboro.
Strachan continued to roll on the team’s next drive, taking the team’s last five carries of the drive before capping it with a six-yard touchdown run, making it 43-15 and putting the game far out of reach.
Milton showed some life on its next drive with Collins moving the ball downfield through the air. The senior capped a positive drive with a nine-yard scoring run, making it 43-22 with 9:35 to go, but was not able to find the end zone again.
Milton has one more game on its schedule against Braintree on Thanksgiving. Dembowksi expects the team to be mentally prepared and work to end the season on a high note.
“When you don’t make plays, you lose and we didn’t make plays on the critical downs,” Dembowski said. “Credit to North Attleboro. They’re a good physical team. Sometimes it looked like caveman football out there and they have the 245-pound back. … They did a good job.”
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