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NORTH COUNTRY- MILTON DIVISION II SHOWDOWN?/DIVISION I PLAY-OFFS BEGIN

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Created on Friday, 28 October 2011 12:23

Written by Bill Murphy

By Bill Murphy

One big game after another graces the Vermont High School Football landscape this week. It will be the final week of play for twenty-two of the thirty-four schools playing football in the Green Mountain state as only twelve teams will advance to play in November. Play in Divisions II and III are regularly scheduled encounters which grace the Friday and Saturday slates. In Division I, it's the first round of the post season for the top eight, while the remaining six teams compete in Wild Card match-up games.

Hartford, Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans, Middlebury and South Burlington host quarterfinal round contests on Friday evening at 7 p.m. in Division I. In the other games within that loop, Essex is at Brattleboro and Mount Mansfield travels to Mount Anthony on Friday night, while Burlington is at Spaulding on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Hartford finally moved appropriately to the top of the pack in QPR this week just in time for the undefeated Hurricanes to enjoy play-off play. In week six, Hartford easily handled St. Johnsbury 58-0 and Coach Mike Stone is looking forward to the second season. "It will be fun," he noted, continuing "we are healthy, have had a great week of practice and are really looking forward to this. I know we are favored, but it is still all about taking care of the football. If we do that we should be all right."

BFA held the number one spot in QPR for a number of weeks, but finished as the number two seed and will host Rutland. The Bobwhites are 7-1 (only loss to Hartford) and Coach Geoff Murray is pleased with his teams season and seeding, but will take nothing for granted, although he recognizes his team is a favorite. "At this point, everybody is 0-0. Even though we did not play them this year, we have in recent years and we are fairly familiar with each other," Murray offered, adding "one thing we know is that they are very athletic as usual and they seem to be getting better each week."

Dennis Smith of Middlebury is familiar with his opening round opponent, Colchester, in many a way. First of all, both of these fine teams have moved to the DI ranks together from Division II where they had to be ware of each other regularly, and they just met in week seven this year. Colchester struck first in that one 8-0, but the Tigers took control down the stretch and won 25-8. "They will probably make more changes than we will, because we won the first game, but we will have to see what they do and then adjust if we need to," Smith ponders, adding, "but I really don't expect too many changes. We are quite healthy and ready to play."

In most post season play, the best match-ups are usually between the teams, who are seeded the closest and the Division I clash of the fourth and fifth seeds should be something really special. South Burlington has the home field advantage in this one against Champlain Valley Union, thanks to their wild and wooly 42-35 triumph over CVU in week seven. One wonders if these two fine offensive outfits will stage another shootout with a probable trip to Hartford for the semis on the line.

North Country is the lone unbeaten in Division II and they jump on the bus to take the hour plus trip to second place Milton, to  fight for the honor of being the only undefeated team in the regular season against Division II competition. The Yellow Jackets lost to Division I Colchester last week for their only loss this fall 18-12. Both coaches see that as a game that does not matter at this time. They both have their eyes set on a state title and realize this could be just the first of two meetings in the next three weeks. They both also want badly to win this week, but realize games the next two weeks are actually more important.

The Falcons are in the lead, and their Coach Bob Davis, who is in his thirty-third year on the NC sideline counting his playing days and his assistant coaching tenure, says "we certainly want to have a good showing this week and come out of it healthy. Obviously the big picture is what we are all looking at and this group we have is a special group and will be ready. They have a feel for one another and that has helped make them stand out." Jack Coach Chris Hughes has a similar feel. "No excuses, but last week does not matter now." We may have sputtered as a result of nine fumbles, but the kids still feel they should have won the game in the end. I know we both want to win this week, that is the ultimate goal and neither team wants to lose, but in the whole scheme of things, this is just one game and there are still a number of those to be played."

Fair Haven, Burr + Burton and Rice are still all alive for the final two play-off spots. At this time, Fair Haven is the only one of the three in full control of their destiny. If they win Saturday at Otter Valley at 1 p.m.,they are in. The same is not the case for the other two. Burr + Burton is in the lead for the final spot, but a win over Union-32 Friday night at 7 p.m. does not guarantee them anything. Defending champion Rice is presently fifth, but a win over Lyndon at home and some QPR madness could leave them in a tie with B+B with a coin flip necessary to decide the final Division II team. If any of the three lose, the winners would be most likely headed to the second season. Bellows Falls is the best of the rest in Division II and they play the last game of the weekend at Springfield, Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Entering the final weekend, there are still six Division III teams within striking distance of the post season. Windsor and Mill River and Woodstock are all 6-2 with QPR giving the advantage to the Jacks and the Minutemen for the top two seeds at the moment. Windsor beat Mill River 64-43 at Windsor in the opener back in September, which would serve as a tiebreaker if the two actually end up knotted. If all three win QPR will decide the breakdown. Presently, Mount Abraham is at 5-3 while both Oxbow and Winooski are 4-4. In the big showdown game in this loop, Woodstock will be at Windsor Saturday. Just like in Division II, this could be only the first of a possible two match-ups in the coming weeks between these two fine Division III teams.. Mill River has the easiest finishing schedule of the top three playing at Mount Saint Joseph at 1 p.m. Mount Abraham is at Poultney on Saturday, as is Winooski at Bellows Free Academy of Fairfax.

By the time you turn the clocks back, Sunday a.m. at 2, the QPR machine will be at rest for another ten months.