On Thursday, September 10, Millburn’s football team fell to Dover, 14-12, in a back-and-forth game that came down to the final minutes.
With 4:11 left in the opening quarter, the Dover Tigers put together a short touchdown drive and converted the extra point to take the lead 7-0. The Millers’ offense fared little better taking the ball down the other side of the field—Captain Owen Skinner was quickly sacked and lost possession—and the Millers came out of the first 12 minutes of the game still searching for a foothold.
Nico Hilas changed that. Early in the second quarter, he took over as Millburn’s primary ball-carrier and dominated one run after another. A fumble briefly stalled the drive, but with 3:30 left before the end of the half, Hilas clocked a short touchdown run through the Dover line. The extra point was missed, and the scoreboard read 6-7, but for the first time all night, the Millers had fuel.
Right at the start of the second half, Hilas moved the Millers forward by juking two defenders on a long run that had the Miller side of the stands on its feet… only for a flag to wipe it off the board. Dover responded in kind: barely two minutes later, they scored to push the lead to 6-14. The Millers struggled to recover, sputtering through the rest of the quarter; a fumble, an injury, and a turnover on downs left our home team desperate to respond.
And within the first 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, they got it. Millers No. 7, Brandon Rey, caught a short pass and turned it into a touchdown run, cutting the deficit down to 12-14. The Tigers remained on the back foot after a penalty, while Hilas maintained the pressure with a strong catch-and-run, followed by Rey carrying the ball close to Dover’s end zone. For 10 long minutes, it looked like the Millers would actually make a comeback.
This wish did not come to fruition, however. With 1:26 left on the clock, Millburn fumbled the ball, and Dover recovered it. The clock ran out on a 12-14 loss.
For a team that trailed by seven points at the end of the first quarter and by eight at the end of the third, closing the gap to two by the end of the game is no small feat. From the kickoff to the final minutes, the Millers did not stop pushing. That Millburn spirit doesn’t show up on the scoreboard, but it does show up everywhere else—the sidelines celebrating every terrific play, the crowd cheering on their feet, and a comeback that came down to a single fumble rather than a blowout. Millburn didn’t win Thursday night. But the fourth quarter was a preview of the rest of the season—and let’s just say the Tigers won’t want a rematch. That’s the hope hiding in this heartbreak.
