By Andy Walter

MILFORD — Shawn Saxon didn’t win his first high school football game.

But what impressed Milford High coach Shaun Strickland was how the 14-year-old freshman quarterback handled the 30-13 loss to Sussex Tech that day.

Saxon went up to each senior afterward and apologized for throwing a late-game interception.

“When he did that,” said Strickland, “it just stood out that he was going to be the guy for the future.”

And he has been.

Now a senior himself, Saxon has pulled off the fairly remarkable feat of being a four-year varsity starter at QB.

When Milford opens the season on Sept. 3 by hosting Cambridge South Dorchester, Md., it should be his 25th straight start.

Saxon has clearly grown a lot since that first game, in 2018, when he was probably about 6-foot-1, 160 pounds. He now stands 6-foot-4, 185 pounds.

But Saxon would like to think he’s grown a lot as a player, too. An honors student, he said game action just seems to slow down the more you play.

That leaves him in a pretty good place as a senior.

“It’s a lot more being able to react instead of thinking,” said Saxon. “A good way of putting it is, in your head, if you say ‘two times two’ ... you can react and say it’s four. But if you say like ‘68 times 12,’ or whatever, you’re like, ‘I don’t know?’ You’d take out a piece of paper and work it out.

“It’s a lot easier to react than it is to solve problems on the field.”

“The one thing we liked about him is he was always a smart kid,” said Strickland. “He understood the offense, he understood defenses. He has a great arm strength.

“His confidence has been tremendous. It was fun to watch him as a freshman. ... Now he’s just hitting on all cylinders.”

The Buccaneers own a record of 11-14 during Saxon’s varsity career. But they’ve also found themselves in uncertain waters during that span.

Milford went from the Henlopen South in 2018 to the Henlopen North in 2019 — where it was one of the smallest schools among the conference’s biggest ones.

Then, last fall, the Bucs split their Henlopen games between North and South opponents to solve some scheduling issues during the pandemic. They also had a pair of games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

Finally, this season, Milford is in Class 2A as part of the state’s football realignment. The Bucs are in District 2 along with Delmar, Lake Forest, Sussex Tech, Caravel and Red Lion Christian.

Milford is also facing North County, Md., defending DIAA Division I state champion Sussex Central and Mount Pleasant.

“I feel like we’re very evenly matched,” said Saxon. “Not to say we couldn’t hang in Division I. But there were a lot of teams we went out there and they just had far more depth and size than us.

“I don’t think there’s a team on our schedule we can’t beat, truthfully.”

A two-time honorable mention All-Henlopen selection, Saxon is looking forward to his senior season. Over the summer he’s been working with receivers Ryan Mejia and A.J. Kravitz, a basketball player who decided to play football this season.

“We’ve put in a lot of effort and worked on timing,” said Saxon. “We have a lot better timing now. For the most part, they catch everything, so it’s really being on time and on target.

“It’s very exciting. I think we have a very special group of players. I think we can go pretty far.”

Saxon isn’t sure what his plans are for college yet. Also a good baseball player for the Bucs, his combination of academic and athletic ability have left him with some options.

Saxon, who is taking a couple engineering classes this school year, said he’s serious about getting a good degree in college.

“There’s going to be a time when it’s more than football,” he said. “I need to figure out what I really want to do. I’ve always been good in math and interested in that type of stuff. I have a lot of interests and I’m just trying to find what’s right for me.”

After attending camps at both Delaware and Villanova, Saxon said he’s thought about trying to play football in college. He knows he would miss the game if this season was the end of his career.

“At the end of the day, I could go to school for school and that would be enough of a challenge almost,” he said. “We’ll see. I always wanted to (play in college).”

Being a four-year starter means Saxon has played in a lot of games and taken his share of hits — especially during his sophomore season. He knows the one big thing about his playing streak is that he’s been fortunate to stay healthy.

He said it’s been a while since he thought about how this began, when he was just a young kid.

“I was really nervous actually,” said Saxon. “It was going really fast. I thought I’d let the team down. It was a crazy experience.

“It feels a lot more slowed down. I understand a lot more of what’s going on.”

“It’s always fun to watch that growth and watch them get better,” said Strickland. “It’s fun to sit back and say, ‘We knew then. ...’ And here he. Everything we thought, he’s been that guy since snap one.”