Milan clinches share of GRC Championship with 28-7 win over Polo

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

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Milan 28-7

Milan's defense was a big spark in the first half as the Wildcats knocked off the Polo Panthers to clinch at least a share of the GRC Championship Friday night in Polo.  Milan's GRC title is their 3rd since they joined the conference in 2016.  They won outright in 2018 and shared the title with Princeton and South Harrison in 2020.

Milan's special teams came up with the first big play when they blocked a Polo punt after a bad snap.  They took over at the Polo 34 with 10:13 left in the 1st quarter.  After Hunter Reed converted on a QB keeper at the Polo 25 with just under 9 minutes left, Reed connected with Keaton Weter on a 24-yard touchdown pass.  Keaton made a sliding catch in the back of the end zone.  The ball came out, but the refs said that he held on long enough for the touchdown, much to the chagrin of the Polo sideline.  The PAT was no good, so Milan led 6-0 with 8:29 left in the first quarter.

After Milan recovered a fumble at the Polo 48, Carlos Cotto took the ball and ran to the left.  He then found a hole and cut back to the right.  Once he was in the open field, he outran the Panther defenders for a 48-yard touchdown.  Ahmet Niasse converted two points to put Milan up 14-0 with 6:36 left in the first quarter.

Milan would recover another fumble with 7:26 left in the half.  A few plays later, Carlos Cotto broke a few tackles.  He then ran down the right sidelines as Coach Cole was yelling "That's why he is awesome."  After the broken tackles, Cotto once again outran the defenders with a 69-yard touchdown run.  A Jared Gonzalez PAT made it 21-0 with 5:57 left in the half.

There was no scoring again until late in the 4th quarter.  Polo drove deep into Wildcat territory to start the 4th quarter, but turned it over on downs with 9:36 left.  Then unlike their other scoring drives, Milan proceeded to go on a long drive eating up 5:40 off the clock.  Cheppe Ayala punched it in from 1 yard with 3:56 left to put the Wildcats up 28-0 after a Gonzalez PAT.

Polo finally got on the board on their next drive.  Ayden Baker returned the kickoff to the Milan 25.  Maverick Gentry then connected with Gage Gilbert from 5 yards with 1:13 left.  The PAT made it 28-7 Milan.  Milan ran the clock out to finish with a 28-7 win.

Coach Mark Cole talked to me about the game and winning the GRC title.

Here are my photos from the game: