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Now with three weeks remaining in the Division I regular season, the eight play-off participants are all but set, except for final positioning, however, the same cannot be said for Divisions II and III respectively, where a larger percentage of teams are still alive and an extra week is left in the regular campaign.

Most fans and coaches alike expect that Hartford, Middlebury, Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans, South Burlington, Champlain Valley Union, Colchester, St. Johnsbury and Rutland will be the eight play-off teams in Division I, but questions remain about the first round match-ups and who is able to land homefield advantage for the first two weeks. 

In Division II,  Milton and North Country are still unbeaten at 5-0 and should be in, while Fair Haven at 4-1 has the next best chance. Burr + Burton, Lyndon and Rice all at 3-2 are hoping to win out and assure themselves a spot. Bellows Falls and Otter Valley are 2-3 and would absolutely have to win out and hold their breath for help.

Finally in Division III, Windsor and Mill River have the inside track to the post season at 4-1, with Bellows Free Academy of Fairfax and Woodstock at 3-2 and in control of their destiny if they win the rest of their games. Winooski by beating Montpelier Thursday night this week 40-21 put those two teams in a fifth place tie and along with  Mount Abraham and Oxbow, who are 2-3, are still breathing, but must win out and do some of that breath holding. Eight teams qualify for play-off action in the large Division I field, while only four are left playing after the regular season in the other two divisions. 

The most closely watched game in Division I this weekend will be the Friday night encounter in St. Albans with Middlebury traveling to face the Bobwhites. Tiger coach Dennis Smith has seen his team bolt to a 5-0 start, but he also knows they will have their hands full with BFA. "They are very well coached and they don't try to fool you. They do what they do and they do it very well. They come right after you. You won't see the ball in the air often in this one. We both like to run the ball," is how Smith looks at this weeks' clash of top teams. "You can't make mistakes against this team if you want your chances to be good," Smith predicts about this week's game. "Recordwise we are right where we thought we would be at this stage, but we also thought we would have been more healthy. We have had anywhere between two and six players missing each game so far, so we have really played well," Smith credited his Tigers for their production in the first five games. The Tiger coach went on to say that "we would really like to have two home games in the play-offs, but there is alot of football still to be played. Our next three games are all against tough opponents, so we have to keep playing well," he concluded.

Other Division I games this week include the other unbeaten I team Hartford hosting St. Johnsbury Friday night at 7 p.m. the same time as Rutland is at Colchester, Burlington is at Brattleboro and CVU is at Mount Anthony. Two Division I games kick-off on Saturday at 1 p.m. with South Burlington at Mount Mansfield and Essex at Spaulding.

The headline game in Division II has Fair Haven traveling to Milton on Friday night at 7 p.m.. "We have played very well, but I would have to say that I'm surprised we are still undefeated. We had three real tough games early and our kids paid the price to come out on top in all of them. I clearly attribute our position at this time to the strong participation we had in our off-season training program. This group worked harder than anyone ever has and that has put us where we are," Yellow Jacket coach Chris Hughes said of his teams extra committment. "In our early games, it came to a point where they showed that they really believed in themselves. When we were challenged in one game a player said to me, and not in a cocky way, but in a confident way, we are going to be alright. The fact that they came into week one in such great shape gave us a chance to work on some things we sometimes aren't able to get to. This is a good group. This is a very special group," Hughes added. Concerning home field advantage, Hughes feels it is really important for his team to acquire two games because "our community supports football well. It is a special thing for both the players and the fans for us to have a home game. The more we have the more we have a chance to hear the fans drive us on," he mentioned.

There are two other Friday night encounters in Division II. Lyndon will be at Burr + Burton in yet another big game with one team about to suffer what could be a fatal (for the post season) third loss and Union-32 is at Springfield in a contest that has both the Raiders and the Cosmos looking for their first win. Both games will have a 7 p.m. start. On Saturday in 1 p.m. games, North Country will try to stay perfect at Bellows Falls, and Rice will be at Otter Valley.

Division III's Mark Palmieri of Oxbow is the type of coach every team in every Division should have. Eventhough the mentor of the Olympians was coming off a heartbreaking loss to Mount Abraham last weekend, he has the big picture in perspective. "Division III is a great division," he enthusiastically told The Northeast Sports Network. Palmieri went on "I am excited about playing every week and seeing how everyone else does. Just about anyone can beat anyone else in this Division each week and it's a lot of fun. We needed to win last week, but MT. Abe played great and they beat us. I wasn't happy, but I was really excited for their players and their coach. I'm trying every day to figure out how we can get better. I know one thing. We don't travel very well and I don't know why. We have three out of the next four at home, but we need to figure out how to travel well for the other one." Oxbow hosts first place Windsor Saturday at 1 p.m. and Palmieri is looking for some type of edge. "They are a really good team. I am excited about trying to find a way to stop (Matt) Rafus. He is an unbelieveably great back. We have a darn good one on our side too in Sam Kelly. We are hoping to give them a run. Our backs are against the wall and now all we can do is play them one week at a time."

Rounding out this week's Division III slate are a Friday night tilt and two more Saturday games. Mill River is at Woodstock Friday night and this really must be one of those contests that excites Palmieri. At this moment, both teams are in a position to land homefield advantage for the post season, but whomever loses will be taking a big step backward. In Saturday match-ups BFA is at Poultney and Mount Abraham is at Mount Saint Joseph. It appears every Friday contest in every Division this week begins at 7 p.m. and every Saturday game will be at 1 p.m.