Campos’ game-winning field goal lifts Tigers past Hillers
By Jeremy Tepper
MVI Sports
The story of McKeesport’s unlikely hero on Friday started in Matt Miller’s home room. In search of a kicker for this season, Miller convinced Milton Campos to give it a try.
A sophomore on the soccer team, Campos had never played football before, but Miller knew he had a big leg. The early practice results were bad, but week by week, Campos got better.
That improvement paid off for the Tigers Friday as Campos drilled a 22-yard field goal with seven minutes left to give McKeesport the lead over Trinity as the Tigers (2-1, 1-1) scraped past the Hillers (1-2, 1-2) in a 10-7 win.
“What a job by our kicker. He hit seven extra points last week and now he hits a clutch field goal,” Miller said. “It’s tough when you’re playing soccer all week and then you come out here and you’re kicking in front of all these fans, and the game is on the line. What a gutsy kick.”
As the score indicates, it was a sloppy, defensive struggle. McKeesport turned the ball over five times, all on fumbles. Trinity fumbled once and threw an interception. Both defenses were stout, while the offenses sputtered and slogged.
McKeesport scored all of its points in the second half, striking early when a Trinity defender tipped a deep pass that fell right into Devontae Hampton’s hands for a 46-yard touchdown.
McKeesport grinded it out from there on out, not scoring outside of the field goal, but effectively playing keep away from Trinity. The Tigers dominated the time of possession with short runs by quarterback Terrance Glenn, who ended up with 83 yards on 22 carries.
“They can grind it out. That’s what they do,” said Trinity coach Jon Miller. “They did enough to keep the ball. It’s hard to win football games when you only have the ball on offense three times in the second half.”
The Hillers began the game with the football and immediately took the lead, putting together a swift, effective three-minute drive that was finished off with a 13-yard touchdown run by Micah Finley.
Jon Miller said he thought his team was able to shock McKeesport with that drive, and Matt Miller agreed that it served as a wake-up call of sorts.
“I think we weren’t really ready to play. I think we were really flat,” said Matt Miller. “I was getting on them from the beginning that we weren’t really ready to go, and I can’t believe it because we only have seven games.”
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