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Tiger Football 2 For 2 Take Otters Then Hurricanes

photo by Mike Cameron Fans rush to congratulate Tiger’s defense as Middlebury holds off Hartford in overtime 28-21. Middlebury will now host Rutland on Friday night September 14th 2007 at Doc Collins Field.

photo by Mike Cameron O.V.’s Big Ian McElroy #74 lunges in to block a punt by the Tigers Sean Harrison #3 in Saturdays 9-1-07 D1-D2 game at Otter Valley. Harrison got the punt away and the Tigers went on to win 21-0. As Lance Robinson fueled Middlebury with 3-TD’s and 3 P.A.T.’s kicked. The Tiger D was very sharp in this one as well. O.V. showed plenty of promise for their home town crowd.

Tuesday September 11, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    The 2007 Schoolboy Football Season got off to a roaring start on Friday night August 31st with a number of marquis match-ups across the state.

    Hartford and Rutland both looked impressive in their opening wins with the  Hartford Hurricanes flooding BFA of Saint Albans 33-8 and Rutland catching a strong South Burlington team 19-14 in a come-from-behind effort.  In other D-1 action Mt. Anthony edged Fair Haven 29-20 in a non-league encounter.

    This year the Vermont Principals Association has some of the big rivalry games scheduled early on such as Burlington Rice played on Friday night and won by the Sea Horses 40-24 and Essex doing a job of MSJ 48-7 the same night.  The point of all this is to notice that big game will be played early this year and the teams that are not ready will quickly fall behind with a possible chance to make up ground later in the year.  The Tigers first game was against the Otter Valley Otters in Brandon. The follow up week they hosted arch rival Hartford.  Both games had some great moments for each of the four teams.

Tigers take Otters 21-0 on September 1st

    Lance Robinson ran away with everything but the goal posts in this one as Middlebury worked hard for their first W of the year against a scrappy OVUHS club in Brandon.  The first ever meeting between the two teams was a learning experience for both.  

    The Otters were solid on defense and showed the hometown fans that the offense is starting to gel as well.   Middlebury was very sharp for their first outing and turned some big OV misques resulting in poor field position into TDs early. “This is one of the premiere programs in the state and we emphasized that to our kids comming in.  We have some work to do but I thought that we gained some maturity in this one,” Otter coach Dennis Perry mused after the game.

    “They made some adjustments and we were able to adapt.  The poor field position early was a factor for them and we were able to take advantage of that to get the lead early.  They were tough,” Tiger mentor Peter Brakeley commented after the game.

    Lance Robinson accounted for all of the games points.  He had runs of 7 and 3 yards in the first quarter also adding the point after on both scores .  Robinson added a 73 yard run in the fourth quarter and another point after kick to seal the deal for MUHS.  Robinson ended the game with 206 yards rushing.

    Erik Becker turned a gutty performance for the Otters with 63 yards on 17 lugs and Otter quarterback Ed Carter was 10 for19 through the air for 94 yards.  The following week 9-7-07 OV defeated Burr and Burton 20-17 in OT for their first win of the year.
Hartford Middlebury a Thriller

    It was the kind of game that makes coaches old, but the fans loved every second of it.

    On Friday night 9-7-07 Middlebury and Hartford lived up to the pre-game hype and provided a capacity crowd at Doc Collins Field with a spectacular high school football game.

    This one had it all.  It was pressure packed from start to finish and Tiger quarterback Sam Jones played like the veteran he is; cool and composed.

    This one started like the 4th of July on a night that saw record high temperatures across the state.  The fireworks was provided by the players from both teams.

    After Hartford took the opening kick off into Tiger territory, Middlebury’s defense adjusted and forced a Cane field goal that Sean Fernandes nailed from 22-yards out.

    On the ensuing kickoff Lance Robinson took off like a rocket down the sidelines and went 97-yards for a TD.  He also kicked the point after.

    The Tiger Defense led by Eric Fifield, Tyler McNally and Chad Foley held the Canes in check with big third down stops.

    Jones then raced 85-yards for a TD.

    The point after was good by Robinson and the Tigers were up 14-3 but not for long.

    Hartford roared back in the second quarter with Fernandes diving in from the 1 and a Newton to Stone pass for 2-points gave the Canes new life as they pulled to within 3 at intermission.

    The Hartford Defense led by a talented linebacker corps forced Middlebury to give up the ball and the offense posted a go-ahead score at the two minute mark of the third quarter when Farnandes again powered over from the one.  His extra point made it 18-14 Canes.

    Moments later he added a 24-yard field goal making it 21-14 Hartford and it looked like the Tigers were toast.

    Middlebury kept their cool.  Jones methodically marched them down the field and took advantage of some Hartford penalties before issuing the ball to Robinson who beat the Hartford corner for a TD and then hit the p.a.t. to tie the score as the fans went bonkers and continued to stand and roar for the rest of the night.

    Now tied at 21-21, Hartford quarterback Eric Newton stayed calm and marched his team down the field.  Hartford’s Peter Lynch carried three Tigers on his back on one tough run and the Canes looked like they might end it in regulation.  It was not to be.  The Tigers dug- in and forced a field goal attempt from the 30 and then swarmed the ball and blocked the kick.  Regulation time expired.
Game tied 21-21.

Overtime to Win  

    Hartford won the toss for the first overtime posession and deferred.
The Tigers went 1st and goal from the 10 and Jones threw a 10-yard sprint-out pass to Chad Foley who made a nice grab and run in traffic to the right pylon for the TD. The kick was good by Robinson, 28-21 Tigers.

    Hartford has their shot and they score on a Newton to Stone pass that is called back by a holding call.  The Tigers Sean Harrison stuffs the next pass over the middle and the game is over.  Tigers win 28-21.  After the game Sean Harrison summs it up, “That was something else.” he said.

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