MILFORD — A pair of Sussex Tech High juniors helped the Ravens open the season with a 30-13 romp over Milford Friday night in football at Briggs Stadium.
Andrell Fulton ran for two touchdowns …
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MILFORD — A pair of Sussex Tech High juniors helped the Ravens open the season with a 30-13 romp over Milford Friday night in football at Briggs Stadium.
Andrell Fulton ran for two touchdowns and Jordan Harper picked off a pair of passes, returning one interception 39 yards for a touchdown, as Sussex Tech avenged last year’s 3-0 season-opening loss to the Buccaneers.
“We remembered the battle we had with them last year, to lose by a field goal really deflated us as we went through those first couple of games,” Tech coach Mark Quillin said. “So, they thought about that all year long and really wanted to come out here and play well.”
After jumping ahead early, 14-0, thanks to Fulton’s 31-yard touchdown run and a 45-yard Michael Norsworthy punt return touchdown in the opening quarter, the game was delayed 30 minutes due to lightning.
Milford then opened the second quarter, immediately following the delay, with an offensive drive capped by an eight-yard touchdown run from Rodney Robinson. The successful extra point try cut Tech’s lead in half, 14-7.
“It was a huge concern of mine when they called that lightning,” said Quillin. “We got that punt return touchdown, we were really trying to get things moving and we had to go cool down and come back out.
“They got the ball and immediately scored, and I thought, ‘That’s a tough thing to recover from.’ But once we got to halftime we settled ourselves down.”
The Ravens took momentum back early in the third quarter when Fulton’s second touchdown run — a 60-yarder — extended the Tech lead to 20-7.
“We had a one touchdown lead, so I knew I needed to do something for my team to get the lead a little higher so we could feel a little bit more comfortable,” sai Fulton.
After that, Tech leaned on its defense and special teams to finish out the win. Caleb Locklear kicked a 20-yard field goal with 6:01 to play in the third quarter.
A few minutes later, Harper picked off a Milford pass attempt, turning it into a 39-yard interception return touchdown to cap Tech’s scoring at the 9:34 mark of the fourth quarter.
“I just saw it in the air and tried to make a play,” Harper said of the deflected pass. “I just made the play. I had the easy part.”
Harper picked off another pass on the ensuing Milford drive.
“Coming out of the break we were a little bit flat, we just had to get our rhythm back,” he said.
Junior Jalen Snead picked off Tech’s third interception of the night at the 4:53 mark.
“Defensively, we really did a good job,” Quillin said. “The turnovers were huge for us and we talk about it every week, the importance of those turnovers to turn the momentum of the football game.”
Milford’s Dion Warner ran for a 72-yard touchdown as time expired.