Milton beats Langston Hughes, hoists Georgia 5A state championship trophy

In a game that saw over 850 yards of offense in the first half, Milton (Ga.) shut down Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes after halftime and won the Georgia 5A state championship 56-35. It was the Eagles’ second straight title and 25th consecutive win.

Milton quarterback and Miami signee Luke Nickel finished 21-of-22 passing for 413 yards and four touchdowns. West Georgia signee TJ Lester led the team in receiving with 201 yards and three trips to the end zone.

Despite not receiving the opening kickoff, momentum crashed toward Milton in the first two minutes of the game. On its opening drive, Langston Hughes fumbled on a fake punt deep inside its own territory, leading to a Milton touchdown run by Lester.

All in the first quarter — Nickel launched a 70-yard touchdown pass for Milton; Langston Hughes ran it in from 70 yards out to make it 14-7; and Milton scored from midfield on a Nickel and Ethan Barbour connection through the air.

The madness did not slow in the second quarter. Just six seconds in, Hughes again made it a 7-point deficit with a 62-yard passing touchdown. A Milton fumble on the next drive led to Langston Hughes knotting the game at 21.

Milton and Hughes continued to trade blows through the second quarter until Nickel hit Georgia top-100 wide receiver signee CJ Wiley for a 23-yard touchdown with 3 seconds left in the half — giving the Eagles a 42-35 lead at the break.

The two squads combined for 864 yards in the first half, but the second half was an entirely different picture.

After accumulating 397 yards through the first two quarters, Langston Hughes was held to 54 yards in the second half by the Milton defense.

Milton scored once in both the third and fourth quarters.

The Eagles finished the season a perfect 15-0 while Langston Hughes fell to 13-2.

Milton, Langston Hughes were two of the most talented teams in America

Milton entered the game ranked No. 1 in the state of Georgia and No. 4 in the country, according to the On3 Massey Ratings.

The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

The Eagles had standout wins over Buford, American Heritage (Fla.), Blessed Trinity Catholic and Roswell in the regular season. To make it to the state championship game, Milton downed Woodstock, Dutchtown, Houston County and Lee County.

Signees among the senior class include WR CJ Wiley (Georgia), OT Brayden Jacobs (Clemson), QB Luke Nickel (Miami), TE Ethan Barbour (Georgia), TE Ryan Ghea (Auburn), CB Dylan Lewis (Tennessee), CB Tyler Redmond (Tennessee), DL Caleb Bell (Arkansas) and DL Caleb Ellis (Georgia Southern).

Langston Hughes was the No. 6 team in the Peach State and the No. 39 program in America coming into the final showdown of the season. The lone loss for the Panthers entering tonight was a 21-14 nailbiter against Douglas County on Sept. 6. Since then, Langston Hughes had been perfect.