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Tigers On To Semis... St. J. Falls 38-12

photo by Mike Cameron

photo by Mike Cameron

Tuesday October 27, 2015

By Mike Cameron

They battled in the Vermont Principals Association Division 1 State Championship Game last November.  The Tigers came away with a win and another piece of hardware for their impressive trophy collection.  Both teams have solid high school football traditions here in Vermont.  They know how to win close ballgames and they both try to keep the turnovers to a minimum.

    This quarter final would feature a Saint Johnsbury team with a very deceptive 4-4 record (7^th seed) against the Tigers who were 8-0 coming in (2^nd seed), according to the VPA's Quality Point Rating System, the mechanism used to determine who plays high school football in the post-season in Vermont.

    Saint J. was visiting Doc Collins Field after throttling Lyndon Institute with 10-unanswered touchdowns the preceding weekend.  In their season finale, the Tigers defeated Champlain Valley Union's Red Hawks after giving up an early score and allowing CVU another that tied the game in the third quarter.  Middlebury then went on a four touchdown tear to close out their latest challenger.

    The post-season is “win or you're gone,” football.  There is really no delicate way of explaining it.  If you beat a higher seeded team and it has happened in football, basketball, baseball, field hockey ecct,for the looser, the season is over.  For lower seeded winner, they then assume the position of the vanquished opponent in the tournament.  That would be the plan for Head Coach Rich Alercio and his Hilltoppers.

    For Coach Denny Smith and his staff it would be to play as mistake free and penalty football as possible and force turnovers from Saint J.  Both teams had plenty of recent”book”on one and other's systems.   A gigantic crowd had gathered for this one.  Standing room was a good seat.   Any room at all near the game was OK.

    They went at it with intensity.  The Hilltoppers used their superior size advantage early by switching defenses early at the line of scrimmage and did a good job on the Tiger option.  Middlebury adjusted on the fly like they have all year. “They were giving us some different defensive looks and we had to make some adjustments,” Coach Smith commented after the game. They stopped the Tigers deep in the Red Zone early in the first quarter on a 4^th down stop and took over on downs at the Tiger 14.

    The Tiger Defense then made some big stops of their own.  Jerry Niemo's big hit on Hilltopper scat back Ethan Roberts almost jarred the ball loose and forced a St. J. punt from their 20.  Jack Hounchell worked the reverse smoothly with Gordon and ran to the Saint J. 21 from mid-field.  Gordon worked the The Tigers to the 2 and slashed in for a TD on the next play.  He kicked the point and it was 7-Zip at the 2:26 mark of the first quarter.  Gordon made a big open field tackle on the Tiger kick-off or Brandon Mach was gone.  River Payne also made a big tackle on Shane Alercio who is a work horse for St. J.  The first quarter ended with the Tigers in front 7-0.

    The big hits continued in the second quarter and once again the Tigers could not break a big gainer.

Saint J. quarterback Jake Cady went to a swing pass scheme after the Tigers showed them some new looks on defense. Cady launched a 41-yard bomb to Roberts who ran away from everyone and scored.

The point after was wide right.  The Tigers had a 7-6 advantage at 10:04 of the second quarter.

    The Tigers answered the score on a sustained drive from midfield.  Gordon was clicking with his backs and he slashed through the Topper secondary at the 4:40 mark of the first half and scored, then kicked the point.  The Tigers were up 14-6.  More Tiger lightning would strike with only 1:19 left to go before intermission. Jerry Niemo caught a Gordon screen pass in traffic and lugged four Saint J. tacklers 20 yards to the 3. Parker Gross scored on a blast up the middle and the Tigers were on top 21-6 on Gordons extra point as the fans headed to the concession booth for hot dogs and burgers.

    In the third quarter the Tigers got the ball first and went right to work with relentless, penalty free, mistake free, football.  They would find that Saint J. would not fold.  Gordon continued to make great plays at the controls for Middlebury.  Trey Kaufmann who was keyed on in the first half had several nice jaunts and some excellent blocks.  Same holds true for Cortland Fischer and Ali Abdul-Sader a two way performer who made some of his best runs and tackles of the year in this one.

    The Tigers wanted to grab some clock and control the tempo.  At 5:44 in the third quarter they drove to the St. J.  Brauchamp, Laberge, Messinger and Wright leading the offensive line blocking against the big St. Defense.  The holes began to get bigger and were sealed off.  Fischer torpedoed in at 5:44 from the 3 and the boot by Gordon was perfect.  The Tigers were now up 28-6 but the Hilltoppers still were not done.

    In the 4^th quarter with the Tigers up 28-6, the battle royal continued and both team even kicked it up a notch with tackles you could hear out on Court Street.  With 11:00 left in the game Gordon threw his best pass of the year right down the middle to Sawyer Ryan.  The 16-yard score was a closer for Middlebury.  Gordon's PAT made it 35-6.  Saint J. went right to work and Cady uncorked another bomb to Shane Alerico who is only a sophomore and the coaches son.  Alerico took the ball over his left shoulder and ran away from everyone for a 56-yard TD.  The extra point was stopped.

   Gordon added a nice 23-yard field goal at the 6Minute mark of the 4^th quarter after another power run to the 13 by Niemo.  The final score was 38-12.  After the game we asked about reaction to the win.

Coach Smith was pleased with his teams performance and said that “it gives us something to build on for the next game,” It will be against Hartford for a ticket to the State Championship.  Jerry Niemo summed up the Tigers impressive win against Saint Johnsbury.  “They showed us some different looks on defense early and they played hard.  We made the adjustments and got things going.  We take it one game at a time,” he explained.

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