One week after looking as if they would have to get in the state football tournament without winning the Henlopen Conference Southern Division, a little luck fell on the Milford Bucs.

As Milford was in an unexpected slugfest with Woodbridge on Oct. 31, the Laurel Bulldogs were beating the Delmar Wildcats – the team that beat Milford Oct. 24 to knock the Bucs out of the top spot in the South.

Milford ended up beating Woodbridge 28-19, and with Laurel’s 27-7 win over Delmar, pulled into a tie atop the Henlopen South with the Bulldogs. The Bucs own the tiebreaker because they beat Laurel 27-7 earlier this season.

“It’s a lot of excitement,” head coach Mike Tkach said. “The program hasn’t been in a situation like this for a long time.”

Milford hasn’t been to the state tournament since 1974, the longest drought of any Delaware high school football team.

Now all the Bucs have to do to secure an automatic bid is to beat the Lake Forest Spartans this Friday night in the annual Battle of the Bell game.

“We’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game,” junior running back Brandon LeGrand said. “We can’t come out slow. We’ve got to put points on them.”

The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Lake Forest High School.

The Bucs had a tough time putting points on the board against Woodbridge. LeGrand quickly scored the first touchdown of the game, off a 44-yard run less than 2 minutes into the first quarter, but the Bucs failed to score an offensive touchdown for the rest of the first half.

“The line opened it right up for me,” said LeGrand about the touchdown run. “They stayed with their blocks until I got past them.”

Complicating matters was a leg injury to junior quarterback Marques Jones with 5:13 remaining in the first quarter. The Bucs were unable to rally behind backup quarterback Quinn Abbott, a sophomore.

But luck struck the Bucs as senior linebacker Jason Kollock forced a Woodbridge fumble with 4:42 remaining. Sophomore Jerrell Allen scooped up the ball and returned it 66 yards for the touchdown, giving Milford a 14-0 lead.

Jones returned behind center for the second half, and with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter, found senior wide receiver Devon Sivels for a 27-yard touchdown. That gave the Bucs what seemed to be a commanding 21-0 lead.

But Woodbridge’s Jorge Young scored two rushing touchdowns in the first 8 minutes of the fourth quarter to make the score 21-13.

However, it was that blocked extra point after the second touchdown that turned out to fire up the Bucs, allowing Milford to put the game away. Senior Chris Drummond was the player who broke through Woodbridge’s line to block the kick.

“I knew I had to get that block, because it would’ve given them a chance to tie it up,” Drummond said.

From there, Allen returned the ensuing kickoff to the Woodbridge 44 yard line, and LeGrand scored a second time on a 44-yard run. That put the Bucs up 28-13.

“After the second touchdown, we picked it up a lot,” LeGrand said. “After we heard Laurel beat Delmar, we really turned up the heat.”

Woodbridge’s Young returned once more to score his third touchdown of the fourth quarter on a 16-yard catch to make the score 28-19.

“Give credit to Woodbridge,” Tkach said. “They never quit.

“But the kids answered back and got the job done.”

Milford recorded 258 total yards of offense, with LeGrand rushing six times for 100 yards, while Drummond had 49 yards rushing and senior RJ Robinson added 31.

“(LeGrand’s) having another good year,” Tkach said. “We are very fortunate though that we have a lot of backs. It’s a long season, so having RJ in there and mixing in Marques and Drummond keeps defenses guessing.”

Jones was 3-for-7 passing for 48 yards and a touchdown, and junior Ryan Mortimer was 4-for-4 kicking extra points.

Defensively, Drummond led the way with 13 tackles, one fumble recovery and the blocked extra point. Kollock followed with 12 tackles and the forced fumble.

Senior Alex Bell had nine tackles, and also forced one fumble. Mortimer and senior Josh Wright each had eight tackles apiece.

Junior Hunter Whalen had a pass deflection, and junior Zach Gonzalez had a fumble recovery.

Now the attention shifts toward Lake Forest, the Battle of the Bell and the state tournament.

“It’s going to be a lot of excitement,” Tkach said. “(Lake Forest) has won two games in a row, and will obviously take the spoiler role.

“Every team we are playing is trying to ruin our season. It’s extra incentive for them, and we have to rise to the challenge.”

Lake Forest is currently 3-5, and defeated Woodbridge 28-13 and Archmere 27-20 in the past two weeks.

Milford won last season’s Battle of the Bell game 41-0, and won the previous season by forfeit. The Bucs know that regular season records don’t really matter entering this game.

“It’s a big week,” Drummond said. “And when it’s a rivalry, everything changes.”