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Tigers Sink Seahorses at Burlington 35-13

photo by Mike Cameron Tiger quarterback Sam Jones is in full stride against Burlington High on October 12th, 2007 at Buck Hard Field in Burlington. Sam led the Tigers to a 35 to 13 win.

photo by Mike Cameron Tiger Sophomore Ryan Foley cuts off a black during Middlebury’s 35-13 win at Burlington on Friday night, October 12th, 2007. The Tigers are in the post-season with 2 games left on the schedule.

photo by Mike Cameron Tiger Jonathan Wright #55 fights off a block to go after BHS ball carrier Justin Ploesser #82 while Tigers #77 senior Travis Karpak moves in - Tigers won at Burlington 35-13.

Tuesday October 16, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    Coach Pete Brakeley’s high flying Middlebury Union high School Tigers were in Burlington on Friday night  October 12th for a tee-up with the Burlington High Sea Horses at the sparkling new Buck Hard Field off North Avenue.

    Middlebury had earned an impressive 6-0 record coming into this one and the Horses were 2-4 overall with many of the Queen City sports scribes saying that the men in blue were a much better team than their record indicated.

    The buzz around the teams who have played the Tigers is that “Middlebury is not big and not deep but what they do have is lethal.

    So far this year, the Tigers have hit harder and played smarter than any of their opponents snap to whistle play after play, game after game.

    Burlington has made a move back up to Division 1 where they belong  with respect to school size and boy count and the move has not been without its growing pains for the Sea Horse football program.

    Sea Horse mentor Jim Marrier would realized his worst nightmare in the first quarter of this one.

    The Tigers took to the synthetic playing surface like it was their own.

    Middlebury had BHS reeling with only about one-third of the first quarter gone.  At the two minute mark of the first frame Sam Jones set sail on a 59-yard TD run on the option.  This was followed shortly thereafter by a Ben Almquist 69-yard TD Blitz and a nice defensive gem turned in by Nate Lawson as he one-hopped a BHS fumble and ran in in for the Tigers third TD of the night.  This all happened before the hot dogs and buns were even unwrapped at the BHS snack stand.  It was 20-zip Tigers with only five and a half minutes elapsed in the contest but there would be more, a lot more.

    The Seahorses remained colder than the force 4, north wind blowing in off Lake Champlain.

    Almquist added to his resume with a 31-yard field goal and a 9-yard TD jaunt to make it 29 to nothing with almost the entire second quarter remaining to be played.

    Burlington’s Homecoming Crowd finally got something to cheer about when BHS senior quarterback A.J. Dusablon saw his fleet footed wideout Ryan Michael racing down the sidelines.  Dusablon hit Michael with a 54-yard laser before Michael was shoved out of bounds at the Tiger 2-yard line.

    It was here that the Tigers showed all that would care to see what they are made of.

    BHS was stopped cold by a Tiger goal line stand that could have been called the signature series of the football game.  Those playing on the field in that defensive series for the Tigers made a statement by turning back Burlington and taking over on downs.

    The second half was more of the same as the Tigers had an opportunity to play plenty of people and keep the troops healthy and rested.  

    Burlington got on the board with a  length of the field drive in the third quarter featuring some hard running and a 12-yard TD from Travis Hunt.

    Jim Gilbert and Connor Ryan also turned a beautiful defensive gem for Burlington with Gilbert blocking a Tiger punt and Connor fielding the loose ball and running 28-yards for the touchdown.  It was not enough.

    The  Tigers already had the Horses in tow and would win big 35 to 13 on the road.  They will be back in Chittenden County next week for a 1p.m. afternoon game on Saturday October 20th against So. Burlington.

    The Homecoming win against Brattleboro gave the Tigers even more team confidence.  In our write up of the Tiger Homecoming game played on October 5th 2007 we mentioned that Hall of Fame inductee Anne Baldwin was an athlete when she was in high school. Anne pointed out that she wasn’t a high school athlete. She was recognized for her dedicated community service to the Middlebury area.

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