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After disposing the Mill River Minutemen’s lack luster controlled offense last weekend Dave Capman’s Poultney Blue Devils are the last high school football team from this area in the playoffs with the opportunity to earn a title. Even though Windsor looks like the best team on paper never count out the Devils at any level. They have a tough road to tow with the two and a half hour ride to Brattleboro this Friday night. Windsor gets a little forty-five minuet ride to the game. I don’t know who thought this was a good idea but they weren’t looking at the whole picture that’s for sure. There are plenty of places this game could have been played that were much better neutral sites. We were at the last game played at Bratt and that field was torn up real bad.
As far as this game goes the Devils have their work cut out but anything can happen in a playoff game of this magnitude. Give the up to Windsor, but never count out Dave Capman’s kids and all that championship experience from the Adirondak football league days that Capman brings to the table.
How about the D-I game that is going to be played at Burlington. The highest remaining seed in number two Hartford and they are going to have to travel three hours to play a game that is suppose to be their home game. MSJ wanted the D-I game and it would have been an equal drive for both South Burlington and Hartford. How bad does the VPA want a D-I title up north? Real bad to see this travesty take place it’s definitely a sham. Hartford will take advantage of a big ground game and wins its first title in D-I with Mike Stone.
The all north Division II playoff teams have a lot to be proud of this season. MT. Mansfield could very well be on their way to a title this year in D-II football. Spaulding took out the U-32 raiders like we knew they would and now MMU should win the D-II title this weekend over the Tide.
That is a huge question that needs an explanation. VSN.com has learned that the Tigers have a few key injuries that will adversely affect the playoff game with South Burlington this weekend. That and the fact of how hard it is to beat the same team twice in one season will be weighing heavily on the minds of the team as well. After last years crushing blow from the Raiders in the title game I do not think Midd comes out of the first round. The local radio station sports team from WFAD in Middlebury has coined this season a season of redemption for the Tigers and I am not sure what they have to redeem themselves for? They had the best record in the state for the last there seasons and why would you have to redeem your selves from that. I don’t think redemption was the best spin you could have put on these kids and so if they don’t get it done are they complete failures? That’s what WFAD set them up for with all that redemption talk. Good job WFAD this one is on your heads.
Rutland travels to Hartford this week in round one. This is going to be the best game of the weekend and I believe Norman has Stoney’s number and has had it since 1995.The Raiders last loss came at the hands of a triple overtime game with Hartford in week four. This is the classic match up. The winner of this game is a heavy favorite going into the title game next weekend at St Peters field in Rutland. The Raiders have a habit of stringing state titles together by 2 and this is the second if they get it done again. Rutland’s line will win the battle on Friday night.
Poultney at Mill River. If anyone can win twice against the same team in one season its definitely Poultney. Capman is the Taz Master of getting it done in these situations. The Minutemen are very inexperienced in the coaching department at this level. The devils will have a date in the Vermont finals for the first time in many years.
Windsor who I have been saying all season long belongs in D-II will handily defeat CVU this week. Remember this my friends, this is mere a step in the evolution for CVU football. It will not be long before they are in D-I and they will be very good someday too. Its all about the numbers and coaching as MSJ is finding out now in going the other way out.
Spaulding and U-32 is another great game for this week. Spaulding will be playing with a lot of emotion following the loss to the Raiders on the day that their classmate was killed in a car crash a few weeks ago. If the Tide is on like I think they are going to be, the Raiders are going to be in a whole heap of trouble.
And lastly the MT Mansfield Marauders are another team that will be in D-I some day in the future. Colchester just cant get over the hump. A second home game in a row for MMU and their on their way to the D-II title game this year.
Finally the title match ups for next week IMHO of course. And oh by the way does anyone miss Woodstock? They are taking a year from the playoffs and a title for the first time in six years.
Division One
Rutland and South Burlington
Division Two
Spaulding and MMU
Division Three
Poultney and Windsor
Ask any high school football fan what the best game of the season is and the answer will always be, “its against our rival, it’s the only game that really matters”. That rival could be Poultney-Fair Haven, MSJ-Rutland, Burlington-South Burlington, or Lyndon-St. Johnsbury or any other two high schools in the country. Through the years millions of memories and stories have come out of the best rivalry games in the state and this year will surly not disappoint. It doesn’t matter weather its Division One, Two, Three, or Twenty-Three or if it’s the Loretto home vs Maple Tree Place your rivalry game is the most important thing in your life in high school athletics. To run onto that field of play in front of the biggest crowd of the season is perhaps the most wonderful thing you can do in high school.
If you have had the pleasure of playing in one of these games then consider yourself one of the luckiest people around. If you have had the pleasure to have been a cheerleader or a band member that marched at halftime then you are one of the luckiest people as well. It does not matter what part you played in the game it’s a common bond that threads you together for years to come as part of the fabric that makes this country and this state the greatest place on earth. Its one thing that can never be taken away from you at any level. If we had any advice to the kids participating in this years version of their rivalry games, it would be to savor the moment and remember win or loose how if felt to be part of something very special.
On to the divisions, in D-I the best game of the week is in Essex where South Burlington will be visiting the Hornets. Can this be the year Bill Mayville gets a little pump and gets back to the playoffs? Just win Bill and your in that all you have to do. Of course the prize the Hornets get for getting in will be is Middlebury in round one, but at least you can add a playoff appearance to your résumé. What happened to South Burlington, such high hopes for the Rebels as a new D-I entry only to be beaten by a D-II team, talk about your basic stumbling into a new division. Another good game to see would be MAU hosting the Brattleboro Colonels. This is just for bragging rights but non-the less a great to see and end the year. Rutland at MSJ, not much to say here I know lots of stuff will be said here and printed as the local paper will be trying to sell papers on the weekend of the big game but it is a complete mis match on paper and on the field it could much worst. I have to say it’s a little tough to watch the Mounties go through this as they do have a proud rich tradition, and I am sure the Mounties faithful will do their best to right the situation fairly soon after the season has been fully evaluated.
The D-II games are all settled in the north this week. U-32, Mt Mansfield has the makings of being a pretty good game if the Marauders come to play this year. It will be a festive game for them in Jericho as it will be the first game ever on High School property. The folks up there will see just how bad they need to be playing all their home games there when 3000 fans showing up. Football will be King of the school in short order and that’s what the Soccer faithful are worried about. Look for Fair Haven to get in the playoffs late, as Colchester who has been in a tailspin will loose at North Country.
In D-III the only game that really has any implications at all would be Mill River at Bur & Burton. I think the Minutemen would rather be at Poultney in playoff week one rather than Windsor. CVU at Mt Abe could be another good game as well but going to the playoffs for either one is not in the cards. Springfield sneaks into the playoffs this week with a win over Woodstock and a CVU loss at MT Abe.
On to the top fours and this is how they go into the playoffs for 2007
Division ONE;
Middlebury, Hartford, Rutland, and Essex
Division TWO;
U-32, Spaulding, Mt Mansfield, and Fair Haven
Division THREE;
Windsor, Poultney, Mill River, and Springfield.
See ya next week.
The fog is starting to lift and the playoff picture is beginning to take a shapely pose with just two weeks left in the regular season. In D-I Middlebury has the top spot just about wrapped up for the second year in a row. The only question there is can they maintain the perfect season through the playoffs or will someone step up to play the spoiler like Rutland last year in the finals. In D-II Spaulding looks like a team that cannot be beat. As a matter of fact the only team that could beat them in the division is themselves. D-III has another one of those late season undefeated teams in Windsor, a team that really should be in D-II. We don’t see anyone really challenging the Jackets as we go into the second season of high school football, there just that good.
If you take a look at the index points per division the time has come for each division to play within itself. That’s the only way you can make it fair across the board each season. I know the argument will be for the rivalry games to be played no matter what division the teams play in. I am all for that and that’s what the last regular season game of the year should be reserved for. MSJ and Rutland has always been the last game of the regular season and that type of game should never be taken away. St Jay and Lyndon, Poultney Fair Haven these are what these towns are all about they just love their football.
D-I has an interesting weekend coming and with the Raiders having two losses and they can ill afford another loss. Brattleboro (who hosts Rutland this week) has a lot to play for going into the final two weeks. They do have an outside opportunity to get in to the dance but they are going to need some help. Rutland basically wins and their in. Essex is one of those teams that could with some help but I don’t see it happening this year. How much longer with the Essex football faithful put up with Bill Mayville’s inability to have a playoff team that might compete. They are too many good athletes up there to not be competitive. South Burlington will be entertaining Middlebury this weekend and Midd will be looking to make their way to the final week undefeated. The Rebels are in a down ward spin at the moment so the Tigers should be fine.
D-II has a great game on tap this week as Spaulding will be home against the Raiders of U-32. The Raiders did beat new D-I football entry for 2007 South Burlington last weekend in a game that in our humble opinion did not represent D-I at all. Keep in mind that the Rebels laid an egg at the end of last season too. Taking nothing away from this game, it will be a shoot out but go with the home team on this one. Colchester will be hosting the improving Fair Haven Slaters this week end in a game that is pivotal for the Lakers in maintaining their standing in the division. The toughest finishing team in the division is by far the Raiders with MMU as the final game of the year next week.
D-III ok how do you get excited about the Yellow Jackets rolling through the division? Don’t look for BFA Fairfax to give them much of a game. Poultney has perhaps the biggest test this week with Bur n Burton this Saturday after noon at home. Mill River has a non league game, that won’t make a difference in the division. There was an incident that got swept under the rug at the school involving a couple of players from the football team. But when you keep it in house you can do that. This goes on in every school in the country and our area is not unique in that respect. As always it all starts with the unqualified AD down there.
OK its time to get to our weekly top fours. The same teams keep hanging around and this should say close to the line the rest of the way into November.
Division One;
Middlebury, Hartford, Rutland, and South Burlington
Division Two;
Spaulding, U-32, MT. Mansfield, and Colchester
Division Three;
Windsor, Poultney, Mill River, and CVU
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The Poultney Blue Devils took another giant step forward to the playoffs and earned a big road win at Winooski last week. With two league games left in the 2007 season the Devils are in their own driver’s seat. With the first big test of the two games with Springfield a team that has gone the other way in the last few games, the Capman kids have a great shot at a playoff spot if they play complete games. That win over Mill River is two weeks ago is now looming very large at the moment and it will be going a long way to who fits where in the playoffs. For Poultney it does not matter, number three or four would be just perfect going into November.
What a come back we witnessed at Rutland’s Alumni field last week. The Raiders came all the way back from a 20 point lopsided affair to force overtime with the Hartford Hurricanes. The end result of those three overtime sessions were not great for Rutland but it did show the heart this team has. The Raiders who cannot afford another loss will be on the road for the rest of the season. This week they will visit the MAU Patriots a team that has underachieved this season under first year coach John Callahan. Rutland will bounce back under a blanket of urgency.
The most interesting game of the week in D-I is Bratt at Essex. You can bet the Raiders will be rooting for the Hornets. A Essex win combined with a Rutland win will give the Raiders the upper hand for a playoff spot.
I was hoping that we were going to see just how good U-32 is this week with the new D-I entry South Burlington playing the Raiders this Friday night. I am not so sure the Rebels are a good test as a real D-I foe. SB should handle them but the Raiders have nothing to lose and they could throw kosh to the wind.
OV has dug themselves a big hole in loosing to winless Woodstock, and to add insult to injury they have had to suspend their starting Quarterback for disciplinary reasons. With MT. Mansfield visiting the Otters this Saturday afternoon the end could be near for the playoff hopes of this very proud team.
MSJ lost another game this season and have only scored two touchdowns all season long. This has never happened to the proudest football tradition in the state of Vermont. The kids of Colchester and their fans showed little respect to the kids in green that play on perhaps the most decorated football sanctuary of the state. The ghosts of St Peters field have to be a little perplexed to watch their beloved Mounties go through the toughest season in the history of the school. Between the mounting injuries and low numbers there’s not much the undermanned Mounties can do. I give the kids tons of credit for just playing the game each week at this point.
Ok on to the top fours and they are getting harder as the weeks go by, our crystal ball is getting fogy with each passing week.
Division One;
Middlebury, Hartford, South Burlington, and Brattleboro
Division Two;
Spaulding, Colchester, U-32, and MMU
Division Three
Windsor, Springfield, Poultney, and Mill River
How do you put a 75 point barrage on another team and feel good about it? Apparently Mike Law of U-32 in East Montpelier has no problem with it saying that he was using underclassmen in the later stages of the game to stop it from getting out of hand. Mr. Law’s idea of out of hand and ours is shall we say worlds apart. Well Mr. Law as a former football coach here in the state of Vermont in D-I they are plenty of ways to keep the score down. Just run the ball up the middle on every play and it will go a long way to stopping the embarrassing scoring and keeping it under control. Running sweeps and off tackle dives is a little much for the level you play at. You can sugarcoat that score from last week all you want but remember this, what goes around comes around my friend and some day Bellows Falls and everyone you run it up against will get you back. The Terriers are a strong proud program and it will come back to bite you somewhere. Perhaps you need to take your little team to D-I where some of your faithful fans think you belonged last year. Dealing with the Essex, Brattleboro, Rutland, and Middlebury’s of the world week in and week out is just what you need to get a serious reality check of just how good you think you are. That I would pay to see, but for now perhaps a reprimand is in order from the state VPA.
D-I has mammoth games this week with Hartford traveling to the defending state football champions Rutland. The Raiders appear to have their house in order and Hartford will have to play big to get a win at Alumni field. Rutland is getting a few boys back this week from injuries and Hartford is coming off a big loss to an out of state opponent. This game is huge and Rutland is tough to beat at home. Robbie Dorian is key here this week look for him to step up big time again.
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Brattleboro is on the road at Middlebury and can the purple boys handle the undefeated Tigers. Bratts Senior tailback Colby Kerylow has the ability to take over a game like he did last week vs MSJ and if this young man gets going the Tigers will have their hands full. MAU will get another douse of reality of how far behind their program is this week as they visit the South Burlington Rebels. I wonder if MAU is happy with their coaching selection now?
Otter Valley travels to Woodstock this weekend. The Wasps mentor Jim McLaughlin has to be beside himself with not having a win this season. It will not get much better this week either even at home. U-32 is at Lyndon and that could be a decent game if the Vikes come to play a full game. If they don’t then Law could run up another score. Fair Haven plays Milton this Friday night and if they don’t have a post game meltdown with loosing to OV last week they should get back in the win column.
Poultney is at Winooski who has won a few games this season and the Devils are coming off a huge win over Mill River. The Spartans don’t have enough horses to deal with coach Capman’s kids. Mill River should win this week at BFA Fairfax but then again it is Mill River we are talking about here and you just don’t know what your going to get from them down there.
Heres the weekly top fours for all to enjoy. I hope the Crystal ball doesn’t fail us now. And why anyone would have Mill River ahead of Poultney in any pole after last week is completely beyond me…..
Division One;
Middlebury, Hartford, Brattleboro, and Rutland
Division Two;
Spaulding, Colchester, MMU, and OV
Division Three;
Windsor, CVU, Poultney, and Mill River
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D-II and D-III HAVE ALL THE GOOD GAMES THIS WEEK
9-27-2007
As D-I takes a week off from exciting football action this week we look to the lower tier divisions to keep us smiling about how great it is to have just three divisions now. With Mill River visiting Poultney this weekend it will be the teacher vs the student in what could be a great game. Dave Capman has been the Poultney High Football skipper for well over 25 years and has won more games than the average coach here in Vermont. Ken Webb is one of the many Poultney disciples of Capman and now has his own gig in Mill River land a place that still another Poultney disciple (yours truly) had a big role in starting the game of football as an organized sport there back in 1991 for the Mill River Football Club as their head man.
This is a ho hum week for us here in prediction crystal ball land and like we said the best two games of the weekend are in D-II and D-III. I guess you could throw in the Middlebury at Essex game but Brakely has had the Hornets number for too many years. And I suppose Spaulding and MMU could be a good game to see but we are going in another direction this weekend, take the Tide at home trust me on this one. Now for our weekly picks.
Division One
Middlebury, Hartford, Brattleboro, and South Burlington
Division Two
Mt Mansfield, Spaulding, U-32, and Colchester
Division Three;
Windsor, CVU, Mill River, and Springfield _____________________________________
FOR MIDDLEBURY IT’S AS GOOD AS IT EVER WAS
9-19-2007
The Middlebury Tiger football team is a small group of athletes that knows all to well just how to get er done at home. And did they ever last week with a huge win over the Rutland Raiders. We said in last week’s blog we said that someone was going to break out of the mold and the Tigers did that in big time fashion. The Raiders found out just how dangerous it is to play at the newly refurbished Doc Collins Field against a team that felt it didn’t finish the job last season. What a beautiful job the Middlebury boosters did with that facility up there, hats off to perhaps the best football house in the state and its only fitting for a team that plays at such a high level. Rutland takes to the long road trip in an out of state game on Friday while Midd plays St Jay at home.
OK on to the polls for the week. Changes are abound and GOD willing we will be right on again. Keep the faith people the season is still young. PS can you believe the sox are blowing a 14 game lead t the evil empire?
Division One
Middlebury, Brattleboro, Hartford, and Rutland
Division Two
Colchester, Mt. Mansfield, Otter Valley, and U-32
Division Three
Windsor, Springfield, Poultney, and CVU
See ya next week.
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WILL WEEK THREE GIVE US ANY MORE ANSWERS?
9-12-2007
That’s a very good question and perhaps we will get more from D-I but thats about it for this week.
OK we have rambled on enough about week three where the best games are in D-I exclusively this week. Its time for us to get into the top fours for the week. We have been very close right out of the box with picks to this point and we’re hoping the crystal ball won’t fail us this week either. It looking like a Southern affair in D-I as no one up north has impressed us yet. D-II is all about the North and D-III is a Southern flair for the most part. So here it goes, enjoy and maybe we will see you in Middlebury Friday night.
Division One;
Rutland, Middlebury, Brattleboro, and Hartford
Division Two;
Colchester, U-32, MT Mansfield, and Spaulding
Division Three;
Windsor, Springfield, CVU, and Poultney
9-5-2007
Holy Cow Batman is anyone going to step it up this week?
The top fours are a little different this week but next week could see some wholesale changes at the top of each division, here it goes…..
Division One
Rutland, Hartford, Brattleboro, and South Burlington
Division Two
Colchester, MT Mansfield, U-32, and OV
Division Three
Windsor, Poultney, Springfield, and CVU
We will be at three games this week, perhaps we will see you at one.
See you next week…
SEE COMPLETE STORY IN ARCHIVES;
Now for the top fours and I am glad I only do top fours, anything beyond that would be to tough at this point of the season. Look for these top fours to change a lot over the coming weeks. Isn't parity fun? Welcome to week one everybody.
Division One.
*Rutland, South Burlington, Brattleboro, and Middlebury
Division Two
Colechester, *U-32,*Woodstock, and OV
Division Three
Windsor, Springfield, Poultney, and CVU
*Denotes 2006 Champion
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