The Milford Sports BLOG

MILFORD—When Garrett Walker off the stage after receiving his high school diploma from Foran High School, he had a couple of dreams.

“I wanted to either be a Major League Baseball player, or come back here to coach football and baseball,” Walker said.

On Thanksgiving morning, at The Vito DeVito Sports Complex, Walker and his Foran Lions (4-5) will play host to cross-town rival Jonathan Law (7-2) in their annual end-of-the-season showdown for The Mayor’s Trophy.

In other words, yes, one of Walker’s life-long dreams have come true.

“It’s something super special for me,” Walker said. “I grew up with Foran athletics, it was my major leagues growing up. I don’t think I spent much time away from either this field or that field over there or that gym up there. I was immersed in it, and I thought this was the greatest thing of all time. And I still think that. I’ve spent most of my 41 years on this planet, on this campus. So, it’s special to me.”

This year’s Thanksgiving Day game (10:30 a.m. kickoff) is no exception.

The Lions might not be going to the state playoffs like Law is, but these Foran players know a lot is at stake in this game.

A .500 record. Town bragging rights. And building some momentum for the offseason.

“These guys have played this game in their heads for the last five or six years, and you throw the records out the window,” Walker said. “It’s going to be a battle just like every other year prior. My boys are excited for it. We’re going to give Law the best we have to give ’em.”

The Lions have been hit by the injury bug this season, Walker said, but the team has forged ahead and keeps getting better.

“It’s kind of really thinned us out a little bit,” he said. “We have quality football players, but we have a lot of guys that we’re asking to play a couple more snaps than they really should be playing. The kids are doing the very best they can. It’s tough to overcome injuries when your roster is at the size of ours is, but we’ve played some good games last couple of weeks. We’ve had some good stretches against some very good teams. We just need to find consistency to play with best football.”

The Lions, who will be taking a two-game winning streak into the showdown, run a dual quarterback system featuring senior captain Gavin Lefebvre and junior Jason Hockenberry.

“Both bring some unique different abilities, but both can run every aspect of the offense adequately,” Walker said.

Other players the Lions look to offensively are: Kyle Viesselman, Alex Testani, and Oscar Valle, all senior captains; and senior Ray Jackson.

The line is led by senior captain Zach Lund along with seniors Jack Parise and Jack Sullivan, junior Colton Kaufman and sophomore Carter Blake.

Those Lions in the trenches do it on the defensive side of the ball, as well.

The linebacking corp includes: Viesselman, senior James Foley, and Landon Chan.

In the defensive backfield, Jack Marschner, Caden Moore, Valle, Testani and Braden Jenkins could play key roles.

Thursday’s game will be the final game for all those seniors, who want to make one final statement while wearing those Lion uniforms.

“This kind of culminates the season for you, and like I said, we’re fighting for a 500 record and chance to beat our crosstown rivals,” Walker said. “(Law is) obviously playoff-bound and we’re happy for them, but we would like to put a little hurting on ’em before they get there.”

(Editor’s Note: Cover photo courtesy of Foran Football’s Instagram Account)