Tigers Are Tops in Marquis Match Up With Bratt
Mackey Leads MUHS To Top Seed 36-13
Tuesday October 24, 2006
By Mike Cameron
Football fans across the state were buzzing about this one long before the two teams took the field for a Friday night October 20th match-up at Natowich Field in Barttleboro. The two teams were highly regarded. Bratt suffered only one loss to Rutland High School and the Tigers were coming in at a perfect 7 and 0.
Last year the Colonels handed Middlebury a good old fashion country ‘whoopin’. This year the Tigers were ready for some redemption.
High winds and torrential rains hammered the Brattleboro area on Thursday and Friday, so much so that the game was cancelled and rescheduled for the following day, Saturday, October 21st.
What a Difference a Year Makes
With J.J. Mackey leading the charge on offense and a Tiger defense that refused to allow the big play in he secondary, Middlebury Union high School notched it’s 8th win in as many weeks with a 36 to 13 stunner at Natowich Field in Brattleboro.
The Tigers knew going in that playing the Colonels at home would be a difficult objective but like they have all year since the first scrimmage, they took it all in stride one play at a time.
The Tigers needed to do two things to win...contain Bratt’s quarterback Kyle Harrington and establish their own very potent running attack. What they did was even more impressive including a career night by J.J. Mackey who showed his offensive and defensive weapons all night long. The field goal has become much more common in high school football in recent years but even the most optimistic coach doesn't expect two 37-yarders and a 22-yarder in one game all of which had a key impact in the contest at the time they were kicked. They killed Bratts momentum.
Bratt did not go quietly however. With a bruising running game and good passer like Harrington they were confident that the Tigers were living on borrowed time and that the game was still theirs to win. That was an incorrect assumption but it took one half of football for them to come to that conclusion.
The Tigers got things going in the first quarter with a halfback option pass from Lance Robinson to Mackey off a double reverse on a 4th and short in the red zone. Mackey got behind the Bratt defender and hauled it in for the score after initiating the play at the quarterback spot.
The Colonels came right back behind Harrington and Velasquez. They moved the ball to the tiger 5-yard line and Harrington hit Andy Cavanaugh with a pitch in pay dirt to even things up. Harrington also threw a nice touch pass to Cavanaugh in the first half that went for a 50-yard Colonel score. But the Tigers aided by Mackey’s arm and talented foot took the lead into intermission 20-13 including a couple of field goals the were booted in a swirling wind in Brattleboro.
Second Half Stone Wall
In the second half the Tigers stopped the Colonels cold. Middlebury’s defensive unit never gave the Colonels a chance for any kind of field position and harassed Harrington on every play.
Meanwhile, Ben Almquist,and Sean Harrison provided the Tigers with key touchdowns while the Tiger defense intercepted Bratt three times and hard hitting forced a Bratt fumble in the contest.
Another key play in the contest happened in the third quarter with the Tigers leading 27-13 and Brattleboro not able to get anything going on either side of the ball.
With Harrison and Almquist churning out yardage and controlling the clock the Tigers moved to the Bratt 30. A missed 4th and short was aided by a Bratt personal foul penalty and put the ball at the Colonel 13 yard line. The Colonels held again but the Tigers moved the ball to a nice spot for a Mackey field goal from 13-yards out and it was right between the sticks. The Colonels were again penalized on the ensuing kick off. Mc Nally and Lawson ran Harrington ragged from their defensive sets and Bratt had to give the ball up again.
Now the Tigers would put it away aided by another Bratt personal foul penalty. They moved to the Baratt 5-yard line and Mackey ran a keeper for a touchdown making it 36 to 13 Tigers. Bratt was held to only 15-yards in the second half in as good a performance as the Tigers have ever displayed. Hartford is next on Friday night October 27th at home. The Tigers are the D-1 top seed.
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