Dodgers Finish Season in Style

For the first 24 minutes of the 77th annual Thanksgiving Day game between Millburn and Madison, it was really difficult to tell that the Millers were 4-5 and that the Dodgers were 7-3. But after the first half identity crisis, things returned to normal, as the Dodgers reeled off 24 unanswered points in the second half to run away with a 24-7 win at Millburn High School.

The Millers took a 7-0 lead into the third quarter and forced what should have been a three and out on the Dodgers’ first possession of the second half. But a muffed punt by A.J. O’Leary was recovered by Madison at the Miller 18-yard-line and the Dodgers never looked back.

“We didn’t really change anything. We just had to get off the ball and start playing football,” said Madison head coach Chris Kubik. “We kind of went half speed in the first half and we just got off to a slow start.”

“It was a tough loss, especially when you’re going in 7-0,” said Millburn head coach Carmen Guarino. “We found a way to self destruct in the second half.”

Millburn was able to hold the Dodgers to a 27-yard field goal by Ed McAndrew on the ensuing drive, but had given all the momentum to Madison, which never gave it back. The Millers gained just one first down for the remainder of the game and accumulated a net of just two offensive yards after the fumble.

“The whole momentum of the game changed from that point. We just fell apart at the seams,” Guarino said.

Meanwhile, Madison, which had seen its running game held in check, turned to its junior quarterback/wide receiver tandem of Matt McHale and Aaron Fant, who were able to connect at will against Millburn’s defense.

“He always finds a way to get open,” McHale said of Fant.

“This meant a lot because you want to send your seniors out with a win,” Fant said. “You never want to send them out with a loss.”

The duo hooked up for 102 yards and a touchdown score, coming late in the fourth quarter to ice the game. Fant’s TD catch came from nine yards out, where the junior wide-out made two Millers miss before taking it in.

McHale threw another score to Colin McLinden earlier in the fourth, on a 40-yard strike right down the middle of the field to put Madison up by 10. McHale scored his first touchdown of the game in the closing seconds of the third quarter on a two-yard qb keeper up the gut.

“I’m happy with the way I played,” McHale said. “ We all just wanted to go out with a win.”

“His throwing hurt, I wish we could’ve put more pressure off the edge on him there, but we had so many people in coverage trying to defend everything that we just couldn’t do both,” Guarino said.

The one glaring difference in this contest was the play of the junior quarterbacks. McHale scored three times and completed 14-of-21 passes for 187 yards. On the other side of the ball, Millburn’s Ryan Bednarski went 3-of-9 for 44 yards and an interception. Bednarski was also sacked four times. Neither team was able to get anything going on the ground.

“We were going to try to be balanced offensively,” Kubik said. “My offensive coordinator does a great job. He’s patient, he waits for something to be open.”

Millburn scored the first points of the game, breaking into the end zone on a one-yard run by O’Leary in the second quarter. The score was set up by a blocked punt by senior defensive lineman, Ryan Blum, giving the ball to Millburn at the Dodger four-yard-line.

“I think the kids showed how much this meant to them, because they came out in the first half, and I thought Madison might have been a little flat, coming off of a tough playoff loss with only three days to prepare for us,” Guarino said. “Being up 7-0 against a pretty good football team, that showed you that we were ready to play.”

Penalties played a relevant factor in the game multiple times. In the first half, Millburn picked up two first downs off of Dodger penalties. However in the second half, two encroachments by Millburn turned a difficult down and distance to a manageable one. On the field goal in the third quarter, the kick went from 32 yards to 27. Also in the third, with Millburn up 7-3, the Miller defense was looking to get off of the field, with Madison facing a fourth and 11. But an encroachment, made it fourth and six, so instead of punting, the Dodgers opted to fake it and connected on an 18 yard pass for a first down. The Dodgers eventually scored on the drive.

After losing a tough game in the state sectional semifinals last week, Madison earned a small measure of consolation, winning its second straight Turkey Day game against Millburn, and ending with an 8-3 record. The Millers, who had a chance to finish with a 5-5 record, ended the year with a 4-6 mark.