By Jared Keene
NEFJ Staff
MILFORD – Osiris Lopez knows he didn’t have his best game by any means.
But, the Leominster junior captain certainly made big plays when he needed to the most.
Lopez threw two touchdowns, converted the go-ahead two-point conversion himself, and came up with the game-sealing interception over the final 5:41 to help the Blue Devils come away with a wild 36-35 victory to spoil former Mid-Wach A rival Milford’s home opener in front of a raucous crowd on Friday night.
“This is crazy,” Lopez, who currently holds four Division 1 offers (BC, Syracuse, UMass, UCONN), said. “Our mentality was just never give up. We were moving the ball most of the game but I made some mistakes. But I picked myself up too because I knew I was better than that and I knew I could complete passes to my guys.
“I love playing away games because opposing fans hate on me and I love it. That’s what motivates me and keeps my confidence up.”
With Leominster down 28-20, Lopez connected with Juan Miranda on a double move down the left for a 37-yard score. Xavier Cora’s two-point run made it 28-28 with 5:41 on the clock.
The Scarlet Hawks responded with a 5-yard touchdown by Jason Stokes, with Joey McGee’s point after giving the hosts a 35-28 lead with 2:21 remaining.
On the Blue Devils ensuing drive, Lopez hit Ryan Ricker for 46 yards and two plays later, he found Miranda again, this time from 8 yards out. Leominster went for two and Lopez rolled right before reversing field and scrambling into the left corner of the end zone for a 36-35 lead with 49 seconds left.
Milford had one final possession to try and get in field goal range, but on the third play, Jack Buckley’s pass was tipped seemingly right into the waiting hands of Lopez to clinch it.
Leominster, which made its first trip to West Fountain Street since 2008, is the first non-Hockomock League team to beat the Scarlet Hawks at home since Marlborough did it in 2016.
“I’m just super proud of our program,” elated Blue Devils coach Devin Gates said. “We know what type of program Milford has and they’ve been an elite program for the last five or six years. We knew we had our work cut out for us. But we preached to the guys all week long to never quit and the guys did just that even when it looked kind of bleak.
“They gave the effort, they executed at a high level when it meant the most, and this was just a complete program win tonight.”
Most of the scoring came in the second half, as the Scarlet Hawks led 9-6 at the half on Daniel Carvalho’s 2-yard score (missed PAT) and McGee’s 38-yard field goal sandwiched around a Cora 5-yard score (bad snap on PAT).
Lopez was just 1-for-11 for 48 yards and an interception in the first half. But he came alive in the second half, finishing 8-for-24 for 282 yards and three touchdowns and the aforementioned pick.
“Credit to Milford for making it really hard on him,” Gates said. “They had a good plan to try and keep him in the pocket. But we were able to bounce it out a little bit and that makes us two-dimensional. That’s when Osiris can really do some special things. The kid just makes plays. He makes plays when everything’s on the line. He’s done it since his freshman year and he did it again tonight.”
