Milford Mill football still holds late teammate Ty Brown close

When Milford Mill running back Troy Scott scored the winning touchdown Friday night at Dundalk, he said he felt the presence of his late teammate, Tyree Brown II, right there with him.&quot;I knew he was out there on the field with me. When I scored, I just felt him. He was right there hugging me, so it was really emotional,&quot; Scott said after his 7-yard run gave the Millers a 27-22 upset win over the Owls, who were state finalists last season.Scott isn't the only Miller who believes Brown, who died in December at age 16 after being hit by a car, is still a part of this year's team.At their first home game, Millers captains Shawntay Thomas, Marcel Allen, Nicholas White and Darrien LaBoo carried Brown's No. 7 jersey with them onto the field for the coin toss. Brown's name appears on Milford Mill's 2016 roster with a star beside it, for captain.Junior lineman White, receiver Thomas Downes and Scott played their final recreational-football game with Brown on a Pikesville Wildcats team that won a championship before the boys moved on to high school football.White likes that the jersey of Brown, who would have been a junior, now accompanies them to the pregame captains' meeting. &quot;It brings back memories of him playing and it just brings the extra energy that we need and that extra motivation. We're playing for him. This whole season, we dedicated to Ty.&quot;Milford Mill coach Reggie White, Nicholas's father, said the idea for having Brown's jersey at the meeting came from offensive line coach Greg Hargis.&quot;He thought it would be awesome if we took his jersey out to represent Ty, that he's never going to be forgotten,&quot; Reggie White said. &quot;We'll do that for every home game. No one is going to wear No. 7 until the fall of 2018. Ty would have graduated in summer 2018, so no one's going to wear No. 7 for the next two years. He'll be with us, and everybody has TB, for Ty Brown, on their helmet.&quot;Brown would have been a big part of this Millers team, which is 2-0 and aiming to get back to the playoffs after missing them last season.He wore No. 7 because he idolized Franklin's Steven Smothers, a three-time All-Metro receiver, returner and cornerback, now a freshman at West Virginia.Less than a week after Brown died, Smothers scored a touchdown in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl that ESPN's &quot;SportsCenter&quot; aired as one of its top 10 plays of the night. He dedicated the touchdown to Brown.Reggie White expected Brown to be a little like Smothers this fall.&quot;Ty would have been another explosive guy in the kick return game as well as receiver,&quot; White said. &quot;He was a free safety, too, so he played both sides off the ball and he would have made us much deeper than we already are.&quot;If we had had him, I would have been real excited about what was going on, but he's doing just as much for us now with him looking down on us as if he was here. The guys look to him as an inspiration, and they dedicated the season to him. It's kind of made them refocus a little bit. Most of them probably never had that experience, losing someone close to them. He was a brother, and it's hard losing one of your brothers.&quot;

Milford Mill football still holds late teammate Ty Brown close

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