Milledgeville rolls after halftime to defeat rival Polo on Homecoming

After a first half of offensive struggles Friday night, Milledgeville’s Kolton Wilk and Connor Nye were eager to change the narrative in their annual trophy game with Polo.

The Missiles looked like a completely different team over the final 24 minutes, scoring the first six times they possessed the ball after halftime in a 54-38 win over their rivals on Homecoming at Floyd Daub Field.

“We got yelled at pretty good in the locker room, and we told ourselves that it’s Homecoming, we can’t lose this game, can’t beat ourselves,” Nye said. “We came out and pushed through.”

Milledgeville (3-1) had 100 total yards at halftime, and trailed 16-6 after Polo (2-2) scored on two long plays in the first half. Cayden Webster connected with Avery Grenoble on a 63-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter on the first play of the Marcos’ second possession, then Brock Soltow sprinted 73 yards on a direct snap with 2:44 left in the half.

Wilk provided the Missiles’ lone score before the break, scoring from 4 yards out with 9:12 left in the second quarter after Kacen Johnson set up a short field with a 34-yard punt return to the Polo 16-yard line. The Missiles held a field-position advantage all first half, but failed to fully take advantage of it.

That changed in the second half. After Micah Toms-Smith intercepted a Webster pass on Polo’s third play, Wilk ran in from 29 yards, then added the PAT run to cut the deficit to 16-14 just 2:02 into the third quarter. The Milledgeville defense forced a three-and-out, and after converting a fourth down, Nye connected with Wilk on a middle screen for a 29-yard touchdown to give the Missiles their first lead. Nye’s conversion run made it 22-16 with 5:56 left in the third.

“As soon as we got that quick score in the second half, we had so much momentum, and we just kept it rolling,” Wilk said. “My coaches have a lot of confidence in me. I didn’t have a great first half, I wasn’t running hard and I was trying to bounce it [outside] too many times. The second half, I came out and turned the jets on, tried to close this game out.”

Polo answered right back, as Soltow returned the kickoff 23 yards to near midfield, then ran for 23 yards on second down and into the end zone from 30 yards two plays later to tie the game 22-22 with 3:41 left in the third.

“I think that’s what a rivalry game is supposed to be, back and forth, a fight to the end,” Soltow said. “Our team never gives up; we’re that team that will keep coming, we will not give up. We like to put up a battle with every team.”

But Milledgeville wasn’t done. After Wilk picked up an errant option pitch and reversed field for a 14-yard gain on the second play of the next series, Nye connected with Kacen Johnson on a 34-yard scoring strike down the right sideline, then hit Johnson with the PAT pass for a 30-22 lead.

Another three-and-out by Polo turned into a two-score lead for the Missiles, as Nye hit Konnor Johnson on a 32-yard TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, then hit Kacen Johnson with another PAT conversion pass for a 38-22 lead just eight seconds into the final period.

That second scoring strike came right after Soltow left the field with a serious cramping issue in his right leg, and the Missiles went right after his replacement on defense.

“After Soltow got hurt – that was a bad cramp – we looked at the field and we knew who to go after, and we got the job done,” Nye said.

Soltow came right back on the Marcos’ next offensive series, and kept taking the direct snap throughout the second half. He had 15-yard run on third down, then Grenoble had a 9-yard run on another third down, before Soltow threw a TD pass to Ryelan Lindaas with 8:08 to go. The ball was tipped by both Lindaas and the Milledgeville defender, and Lindaas ended up pulling it in as he tumbled to the ground in the end zone.

Soltow’s PAT run made it 38-30, but the back-and-forth continued.

On the Missiles’ first play following the kickoff, Nye faked a handoff and kept the ball for a 58-yard touchdown run, then hit Kacen Johnson for the conversion and a 46-20 lead.

Soltow capped a six-play drive with a 13-yard TD run and the conversion run to get back within 46-38 with 5:08 to play.

But Milledgeville sealed the deal on its next series, driving 53 yards in seven plays and taking 2:17 off the clock before scoring the dagger. After recovering a fumbled snap on third-and-4 from the Polo 29 to ave the possession, Nye found Wilk for another 29-yard screen pass on fourth down that Wilk took into the end zone, restoring the 16-point lead with 2:50 remaining.

“We wanted it, we just really wanted it,” Wilk said. “We had this game last year Week 1 and we lost it late, then we didn’t get a rematch in the playoffs. We knew this game was on our schedule for Homecoming, and we wanted it a lot. We did what we had to do to get this win.”

In desperation mode, the Marcos threw three incomplete passes before Bryce McKenna intercepted a fourth-down pass to finish it. The Missiles ran the ball twice for no gain, then took a knee to run out the clock.

Wilk finished with 102 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, and also had six catches for 85 yards and the two screen-pass TDs. Nye was 12-for-20 passing for 194 yards and four scores; he was 5 for 5 for 130 yards and all four TDs – to three different receivers – after halftime. He also ran for 93 yards and a TD on 16 carries, while Kacen Johnson (3 catches, 66 yards) and Konnor Johnson (2-43) both had touchdown receptions.

Soltow finished with 185 yards and three touchdowns on 15 rushes, and he also was 2 for 4 for 29 yards and a TD through the air. Grenoble finished with 14 rushes for 44 yards to go with his 63-yard touchdown catch; that was the only pass Webster completed in 12 attempts.

“It just felt like we were missing that one block every time. We started to figure it out later, but it was too late. We were just one step behind with everything,” Soltow said. “This loss is going to hurt, but we’ll get over it and be fine. We’ll learn from it and move on to the next game.”