MILFORD – A lifelong Milford resident, Gavin Urda means business when he dons the Blue-and-White.

That Milford High uniform, be it for football, hoops or lacrosse, means a ton to this sophomore, who takes pride in what that town represents.

“The people here are great,” said the suddenly sizzling Urda, who hit a pair of buzzer-beating game-winners for the Spartans last week – one to knock off rival Souhegan and the other in overtime against powerful Kearsarge. “It’s not too small, and I’ve been able to build an amazing group of friends.”

But unfortunately, even at this young age, Urda learned just how “amazing” the community could be when teammate Zach King’s mom passed away just over a year ago.

Seeing how the community rallied around the family first-hand, you can understand how Urda’s allegiance to his hometown has grown so fierce.

“Zach is a pretty good friend and I know it must be tough to go through what he did. I know I just tried to be there for him,” said Urda. “But there were just so many people who cared. It was like the whole community, looking to help each other through stuff.”

In the athletic domain, Urda is coming hard, and it didn’t start in basketball.

On the football field, he waited his turn behind King at quarterback, but played running back, receiver and in the defensive secondary, as well as extensive work on special teams.

By midseason, he was considered an impact guy, and he will ultimately take over behind center in the fall.

“It was pretty fun to play a lot of different positions. I had never played anything but quarterback my whole life,” said Urda, whose dad, Rick, played football and lacrosse at Ithaca and helps coach the Spartan football team. “I think that is going to help me in the next couple of years at quarterback.”

This winter Urda stepped right into the top hoop rotation.

“The two sophomores (Urda and Jake Greska) are already a big part of this,” said Milford coach Dan Murray, whose club hit this week at 4-1 in Division II play.

And Urda thinks Milford could be special this winter.

“I think we can be very good,” he said, an honor roll student who is battling in such tough courses as honors American studies and chemistry. “We were a little lucky to get out with a win (against Kearsarge), and I know we can play better. We think we can win a championship.”

If Urda and company continue on this pace, you never know, and that will lead into this spring.

A year ago, Urda was off to a solid start on the lacrosse field, only to see that season ended by a fractured leg.

“I had a pretty good season going,” he said.