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As Vermont enters week five of the regular season of Green Mountain state football, twenty teams are in control of their own destiny. These top of division teams will automatically be a part of post season play, if they win the rest of the games in which they play. In addition, there are seven more teams within striking distance, that stand a decent chance, if they also win out.

Following last weeks' games only five teams are still undefeated. three of those teams compete in Division I, while the other two call Division II home. No one remains with a perfect mark in Division III. Hartford, Middlebury, Champlain Valley Union, Milton and North Country are the unblemished teams. None of these teams are scheduled head to head this week. Taking that point a few steps further, there will be no match-ups between undefeated teams until the final week of the season. Middlebury and CVU meet in Hinesburg in week eight (Division I's final regular week) and North Country travels to Milton in week nine. Obviously that means that neither Middlebury or CVU have to face Hartford.

There are six games, spread throughout the divisions, which highlight this weeks' schedule. Two of these games are in each division. Two of these showdowns are on Friday night. Division II has Lyndon at North Country. The Falcons (4-0) host Lyndon's (3-1) surprising Vikings. Dan Nolan said in the pre season his team would be in the pack, but most observers just smiled and politely said show me. The Vikings made some noise right out of the gate. The longer the opening week contest with Milton went on, the more everyone wondered what the Vikings had. When the final numbers were in: Milton 46 Lyndon 39, Nolan had many wondering if his words were not just Maroon and White bias. Tonight is the next big test.

Bob Davis North Country's coach does not see Lyndon as any new tough opponent on his schedule. "Our kids know this is not an easy game. Lyndon is only going to get better as they go along, because they are an up and coming team due to their youth. As they gain experience they will be tougher. There are a number of similarities between our two teams, including that we both run the option. They are our biggest rivals. Sometimes people forget that due to the Lyndon-St. J game. Coach (Dan) Nolan use to coach with me here, so there were many things which go into this rivalry. Players from all three schools compete at camp together, so they know each other well,' Davis offers.

Davis points out that this is "The Barrel Bowl" and it means bragging rights for a year to each school. In seasons when all three schools meet (realignment makes such seasons few and far between) an old fashioned Maple Syrup bucket symbolizes the larger competition known as the Kingdom Cup.

The other Friday night Prime Time get together is in Division III and has Montpelier meeting Windsor at Hartford.  Windsor still has not lost a game inside their division (in the new set-up out of division losses count) and at 3-1 is one of three teams in their classification with that mark. Montpelier is also 3-1 and still a question mark as a contender in most persons minds. A Solon win or a competitive battle with the Yellow Jackets would remove all doubts.

Saturday has a number of big games beginning with the other Division II top notch tilt, Burr + Burton at Fair Haven, a pair of 3-1 teams. They both know whomever falls in this get together will have a hard time gaining any home field advantage for the play-offs. The two leading Division I tests this weekend find Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans (3-1) at Champlain Valley Union (4-0/3 p.m. kick-off) and Rutland (2-2 at Essex (1-3). This is the fifth straight week the Bobwhites have faced a top tier competitor and CVU hopes to stand the test of having their unbeaten status challenged. The records are not as sparkling in the 7 p.m. game at Essex, but these two teams are almost always in the thick of things and chances are that whomever loses this traditional encounter probably will not survive to enjoy post season play.

The other top of the line marquee game in Division III has Winooski at Mill River Saturday afternoon. The Minutemen have the better record at 3-1 to the Spartans 2-2, but most people have this one  as a bona fide toss-up. In other III games on the slate this week, Poultney (1-3) is at Woodstock (2-2) on Friday night and on Saturday Oxbow ((2-2) is at Mount Abraham (1-3) and Mount Saint Joseph (0-4) travels to Bellows Free Academy of Fairfax (2-2). Game times are 7 p.m. for Friday games and 1 p.m. for Saturday games in all divisions unless otherwise noted.

Woodstock's Jim McLaughlin has the reputation of not just being a successsful coach, but one whose team gets better every week throughout the season. The Wasps tallied a big win over Winooski last week and have won two in a row. "We have a really young group this year," McLaughlin points out and that may be the reason for this year's slow start and it is a group which makes their coach eager to coach every day. "Not only are they young, they are a REALLY good group. We have only one senior starter and this group is very attentive. They listen really well," the veteran coach points out. Woodstock is one of seven teams in Division III with at least a break even record and the coach knows if they keep winning the post season will beckon. Looking at this week's game the Wasp leader says "we know that Poultney is a pretty good team. They have an excellent interior running game that will be tough to stop," he adds. In one of his teams early season losses the Wasps showed their youngness "we put the ball on the ground eight times and that kind of play does not lead to a win," McLaughlin looks back.

In Division II, Milton and North Country continue to run at the top at 4-0 As the Falcons face the Lyndon challenge this week, Milton has winless Springfield coming to town Friday night. In the only other pure Division II game on the schedule, Bellows Falls (1-3) is at Union-32 (0-4) Friday night. In cross Division slated encounters, Division II Otter Valley (2-2) is at Division I leader Middlebury (4-0) on Friday evening with Rice (2-2) hosting Division I Burlington (0-4) in a big time rivalry game on Saturday. In the other games on the Vermont schedule this weekend, Friday night sees Mount Mansfield (0-4) at Colchester 2-2) and Hartford (4-0) at Mount Anthony (1-3), while on Saturday Brattleboro (1-3) is at St. Johnsbury (2-2) and Spaulding (0-4) is at South Burlington (3-1/7 p.m.) on Saturday.

St. Johnsbury's Sean Murphy saw his team drop a tough one down the stretch last week against unbeaten CVU, but is excited that his team is playing well. "We should have won that game," Murphy reflected looking back at the CVU loss, continuing "but we can still dictate what we do. Our goal is to become the first St. Jay Division I play-off team in a long time and a win Saturday against Brattleboro will keep us on track. We should win if we play well," Murphy predicted of the Saturday home game against the Colonels and worries if his team cannot get the job done what it might mean. "We don't want to be in a position to have to beat Hartford to get in," he reflects.

Although the weather may be showery at times this weekend, it should in no way  put a damper on Vermont high school football, which is enjoying a banner campaign. Let another week of games begin.