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Tigers Are 1 And 1 After Two Games

photo by Mike Cameron O.V.’s Zakk Williams #4 looks down field for a target as Tigers #63 Troy Audet moves in. O.V.’s #22 Parker Howland swings wide as the safety valve on the play.

photo by Mike Cameron Hartford’s Brad Bergeron scores a touchdown against Tigers in Hurricanes 41-0 win on September 5th, 2008.

Tuesday September 9, 2008

By Mike Cameron

   The 2008 Middlebury Union High School Varsity Football Season arrived on a warm Friday evening at Doc Collins Field in Middlebury on August 30th, 2008. Otter Valley Union High School was in town to take  on the Tigers

   The Tiger faithful were out in force and a late season cycle of Addison Counties infamous mosquitoes proved to be equal opportunity abusers to everyone involved.

       In the early part of the game it was the Otters who were bugging the Tigers offensive unit with excellent penetration at the line of scrimmage, excellent early season tackling and determination.  O.V. head coach Dennis Perry brought his Otters to play while the Tigers were showing some jitters in the early going.  Both clubs had trouble getting a grip on the ball early and the first quarter ended in a 0-0 deadlock with O.V. holding their own against a team that hasn't lost a regular season game at home in a long, long, time.

   Head Coach Dennis Smith wasn't happy with the way things were going and he began to methodically make adjustments in placement, managing the blocking scheme on offense and keeping people at home in their areas of coverage on defense.   On the other side O.V. coaches were urging their Otters to continue to play aggressive on both sides of the ball.  

   The Tigers began to gel in the second quarter gaining momentum with senior fullback Sean Harrison's power runs.  Harrison who looked to be in the best shape of his high school career since he started as a sophomore broke a scoreless deadlock in the second quarter with a 50-yard jaunt off tackle to pay-dirt. The point after was missed.

   O.V. returned the ensuing kick-off to there own 40 and moved into field goal range off the arm of Zakk Williams. Pierce Thurston then booted a 31-yard field goal that had plenty of legs even after it went through the uprights and the Otters were only 3-points down at the half.

   In the second half the Tigers began to close down the O.V.  run game with much crisper tackling forcing the pass and giving nothing deep and that caused O.V. to miss numerous 3rd down opportunities.  Tiger quarterback Dane Liljestrand showed marked improvement running the Tigers triple option attack in the second half as he engineered a couple of long drives and scored on a keeper  to close out O.V. in the final quarter.  This added to two more TD tallies by Harrison of 1 and 3 yards closed the deal for Middlebury 26-10. O.V. scored late in the contest on a tipped pass that deflected into the hands of the O.V. receiver and the Otters converted the point-after.  The Tigers celebrated but knew that the next team they would face was a Division 1 powerhouse and the defending Vermont State D1 Champions.
Hartford Lives up to Billing

   Friday night lights in Hartford Vermont on September 5th 2008 saw the Tigers arrive with some walking wounded but ready to play their old nemesis.
Tigers deferred to the second half and kicked off on a balmy night “on the hill”.

   After a decent kick-off return the Canes went to their scatback Mick Wong at mid-field and the fleet-footed Wong raced through the Tigers for a touchdown from just inside midfield.  The kick was good, making ing it 7-0 and Hartford was in high gear.

   Wong would end the night with over 130-yards on the ground including some highlight reel scampers that had the hometown crowd roaring.  

   The Canes led by a score of 14-zip at the half.  Middlebury's talented junior halfback Ryan Foley prevented a run-away in the first half with some eye-popping punts of 56 and 50 yards keeping Hartford in relatively poor field position.  Tiger defenders Jim Danyow and Troy Audet made some big stops for the Tigers to keep it close early.  The big blow to Middlebury in this one was the loss of senior fullback and triple threat Sean Harrison.  Harrison suffered two ankle injuries to the same lower leg and sat out the second half.  Quarterback Dane Liljestrad also missed most of this one.  He was replaced by Foley at QB.  

   The Tigers took the second half kickoff but could not pick up key first downs and the Hurricanes were on a roll.

   Led by Brandon Bergeron their fleet footed halfback who compliments Wong in the backfield, Hartford just wore the Tigers down with a punishing ground game and a very quick defensive unit loaded with veteran players.

   Bergeron tacked on two more TD runs in the second half.  Sophomore Jackson Young ended the scoring for Hartford with a 13-yard slant to the end zone to seal a 41 to 0 win for the Hurricanes.
Middlebury will now travel to play powerful Rutland High School a team that has already defeated So. Burlington and Essex in their first two games of the season.

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