Articles

As each week of play in Vermont High School Football goes by, it becomes even clearer that there are plenty of good teams in each division of play. This is not good news for the few teams which are not blessed with a great deal of talent this fall. They find each week that there is another real tough foe on the schedule. It is also tough news for the Brattleboros, Essex', Lyndons, Bellows Falls' Otter Valley's and Poultney's of the world who all have enough talent to have much better records in most other years.

Cutting to the chase, there are big important battles in every Division this week. As mentioned a week ago, there are eight quite defined teams to advance to the post season in Division I and they have two more weeks to jockey for play-off position. In this fourteen team division, it was quite clear from the start, that there might be some inequities due to the fact each team would only face a tad more than half of their division opponents, but the powers that be hoped that the designed eight team play-off would allow match-ups that find the strongest teams advancing to the traditional semi-final round. In the end, the seedings are determined by the Vermont QPR Index. Presently there is a worrywith that though because Hartford, who has earned everybodies support as the number one team in the division, could very well not finish first in the QPR formula ratings and that is alarming to some. Hartford will not lose anything (such as homefield) due to the glitch, so in the long run the formula hopefully works out.

Overall, eleven of this weeks seventeen games are on Friday night. In fact one game, North Country at Springfield was moved to Saturday in hopes of creating a better balance of officials. The Cosmos traditionally play Friday night games and the guess here is that game was the one selected to move because of the distance of the trip. As usual, all Friday games are at 7 p.m. and Saturday kick-offs are set for 1 p.m.

Division I's only undefeated team Hartford, who is number one in our book (number 2 QPR), hosts winless Burlington Friday. QPR's number one Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans 5-1  (in a four way tie for second in the straight standings) travels to 2-4 Essex on the same night. An Essex upset win could propel them into the QPR race for the eight spot in the post season. There are two Division 1 contests Friday night which could separate some men from some boys and should be can't miss views for the neutral Vermont grid fan. Those games are 5-1 Champlain Valley Union at 5-1 South Burlington and 4-2 Colchester and 5-1 Middlebury. All the 5-1 teams are tied for second in the staight standings, but line-up behind BFA and Hartford in this order in the QPR: CVU, Middlebury and South Burlington. Colchester stands sixth by either procedure. In the remaining three Division 1 match-ups, 1-5 Mount Anthony is at 3-3 Rutland and 0-6 Spaulding is at 2-4 Brattleboro Friday night with 0-6 Mount Mansfield at 3-3 St. Johnsbury on Saturday. Rutland presently is ahead of St. Johnsbury in the QPR standings. Brattleboro, like Essex, could challenge for the final seed with victories the next two weeks and a Raider or Hilltopper loss.

Union-32 scored a 48-6 win over Springfield (0-6) last week and could be another team looking at a better record in a less powerful Division II year. Raider coach Brian Divelbliss was very happy with how his team came together last week. "I have been proud of this group all year. They are hard working kids and we went into every game expecting to win. Finally everything came together. Earlier when things were not going well, there was no fingerpointing or complaining. They just practiced hard each week to get ready. We have gained experience and maturity during the year. We face another tough team in Milton this week, we will watch film and prepare hard," were Divelbliss' directions for his players. The 1-5 Raiders travel to the number one QPR Yellow Jackets on Friday night. Milton (6-0) is tied for first in the straight standings with North Country (6-0). The two meet in two weeks on Friday night at Milton in the finale. This week, NC (number 2 QPR) travels to Springfield on Saturday.

The showcase game in Division II this week is Rice at Fair Haven Friday night. Both teams stand at 4-2 and in a three way tie in the straight standings along with Burr + Burton, who hosts 2-4 Otter Valley Friday night. The all important QPR has the Bulldogs third followed by by the Slaters and Rice in that order. There are three weeks remaining to play in Divisions II and III, but the loser of the Friday encounter in Fair Haven could be in trouble of extending their season. On Saturday, Lyndon (3-3) will be playing to keep their play-off hopes alive when they host Bellows Falls (2-4).

Division III is most likely the states tighest and most exciting division with the hope for almost any team winning every week. Mount Saint Joseph is still having problems winning at all, but rival coaches think they will be getting better each year. The 0-6 Mounties need to be at their best this week when they meet Windsor on the road Saturday. Windsor leads Division III in QPR and is tied with Mill River and Woodstock for first place in the straight standings at 4-2.. Proving how close the division is, three distinct and separate ties are even dislayed in the QPR rankings starting with Mill River and Woodstock for second. Mill River is at 2-4 Poultney this week on Saturday and Woodstock travels to 3-3 Montpelier Friday night. There are five 3-3 teams tied for third place in the straight standings in Division III, meaning there are eight teams in the loop within a game of first place after six weeks. Your best gymnast might have trouble equalling that balance. In the all important QPR, Bellows Free Academy of Fairfax, Mount Abraham and Oxbow are tied for fourth and Winooski and Montpelier are tied for seventh. UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!.

The remaining two Division III encounters on the field this week are Oxbow at Winooski and Woodstock at Montpelier which both have play-off ramnifications on Friday night.

Although Windsor leads the division, their head coach Jim Taft takes deep breaths regularly. "We have a good bunch of players, but we are not real deep. Basically we have thirteen guys and we have to stay healthy. Since the third week it's been a struggle," Taft went on, adding "we work hard and try to get better every week. Defense will end up being the key in the end. We need to get better at that part of the game. If we don't play good defense, we won't end up where we want to go." We wonder how many other coaches are echoing Taft's words at the moment?