WATERTOWN — The Dan Prahl era is off to a resounding start.
Senior quarterback Tyler Zeal threw two touchdowns passes and ran for a score and junior running back Charlie Fitzke had two rushing touchdowns as Milton routed Watertown 45-7 in Prahl’s head football coaching debut with the Red Hawks on Friday.
Milton took a 7-0 lead on Fitzke’s 10-yard TD run with seven minutes left in the first quarter. The Red Hawks went to blitz the Goslings with 31 unanswered points in the second quarter to lead 38-0 at the break.
Zeal gained 30 yards on the ground on Milton’s second scoring drive, capped off by his 3-yard scoring toss to senior running back Reise Jones.
The Red Hawks excelled on defense and special teams as well.
Junior defensive back Jake Cummins returned an interception 42 yards to the Watertown 15. Zeal finished the short drive when he plunged in from 1 yard out to make it 21-0.
Milton kicker Lucas Weinert was 6-for-6 on extra points and drilled a 33-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. He also partially blocked a punt to set up Milton’s fourth score.
The Red Hawks took over following the block at midfield and scored in just three plays. Zeal completed a 21-yard pass, Fitzke turned the corner on the visiting sideline for 27 yards and then cruised inside the left pylon for a 2-yard rushing score to push the lead to 28-0 with 2:54 left in the first half.
Eighteen seconds later, junior defensive back Carter Thompson returned an interception 22 yards for a pick six.
Milton played with a running clock in the second half and closed out a strong offensive night when Zeal rolled to his right and found senior receiver Vinny Churchwell in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown.
Watertown avoided the shutout when junior quarterback Davis Cashin threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Connor Kletsch with 20 seconds left in regulation.
Prahl praised his players afterwards.
“I was happy with our energy, with our juice,” Prahl said. “We’re big on bringing juice, having passion in what we do. Seeing guys compete, holding each other accountable, building each other up. Man, this was fun tonight. We’ve got a lot of little things we’ve got to clean up, as expected for Week 1.”
The staff earned a shout-out as well.
“Coaches (Jake) McCarty, (Lance) Knudsen, (Matt) McCullough, (Dan) Niedfeldt, (Taylor) Snell, those guys do a great job,” Prahl said. “We’re blessed. We’ve got great coaches here. These kids are blessed to have a staff that works hard. We’ve got a good going here in Milton.
“Guys are wanting to hang out and have that camaraderie. I get mad when guys have more juice than I do, but you’ve got to love a juiced man. I love it. It’s contagious. That’s what we’re trying to build here. We don’t have to be there. We get to be there. Football is a privilege. I love this group of young men. They are hard workers and very coachable.”
MILTON 45, WATERTOWN 7
Milton 7 31 7 0 — 45
Watertown 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
M — Fitzke 10 run (Weinert kick) 7:00
Second Quarter
M — Jones 3 pass from Zeal (Weinert kick) 11:14
M — Zeal 1 run (Weinert kick) 8:46
M — Fitzke 2 run (Weinert kick) 2:54
M — Thompson 22 interception return (Weinert kick) 2:36
M — Weinert 33 FG 0:00
Third Quarter
M — Churchwell 2 pass from Zeal (Weinert kick) 4:10
Fourth Quarter
W — Kletsch 31 pass from Cashin (Stai kick) 0:20
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