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North Wins Senior Bowl 28-20

Local Tigers, Otters, Eagles Have Big Game

photo by Mike Cameron #14 J.J. Mackey seen here directing Tigers in D-1 Playoff was 4 for 4 in extra points in the North South Senior Bowl on Saturday 11-18-06. Robbie Harrison and Nick Desjadon had a big day as well. The North won 28-20 at Middlebury College.

Tuesday November 21, 2006

By Mike Cameron

    The 2006 High School Football Season came to an end in Middlebury on Saturday with an exciting all-star contest at Youngman Field on the campus of Middlebury College.

    It was the 6th year that the Vermont Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame has presented what is being called the Hall of Fame Classic, North-South All-Star Football Game featuring a collection of the best graduating seniors from all 4 Vermont High School varsity divisions in the sport.

    Coming into this year’s contest held Saturday, November 18th, the South held a 3-2 edge in wins.  That was about to change, thanks to some key contributions from some very talented Division 4 athletes.

    Locally, Middlebury Union High School stand-out seniors J.J. Mackey, Robbie Harrison and Nick Desjadon, fresh off an undefeated D-1 regular season along with Otter Valley’s Corey Robinson,Pat Crane, Nick Hornbeck, and Mt. Abe’s  Alex Huizenga,  played their role to the hilt in helping the North squad even the series and the South squad challenge to the final gun.  

    The series is now even at 3-games a piece and was played before a large and enthusiastic crowd.

    This one got underway with an explosion of offense.  Before the fans could warm their seats,

    With the North deferring on the coin flip they kicked off and the South.  On the second play of the game Rutland quarterback Sam Reynolds was hammered by Josh Hungerford of BFA Saint Albans who along with twin brother Derek helped set the defensive tone of the game for the North in the early going.
Reynolds shook off numerous defensive charges during the game showing all that he is a true leader and an outstanding college prospect.  

    The North took advantage of a poor punt and marched from midfield to the South 1 where South Burlington’s Keegan Mc Laughlin scored on a quarterback sneak and Mackey booted the point-after well into the end-zone.  The North would enjoy the lead very briefly.
Enter flashy Dean Tancreti from Windsor High School.  Tancreti took the ensuing kickoff 94-big ones for a score but the point-after was missed, 7-6 was the score , the North.  But not for long.

    On the next kickoff Jamie Kida of the Essex Hornets added his highlight contribution to the contest with an 82-yard broken field beauty of his own for a touchdown and J.J. did his thing to make it a 14-6 North advantage.  All of this scoring occurred within a span of 25-seconds elapsed on the game clock.  At this point the price of admission to this one  became one of the best bargains in sports to be found anywhere.
And Then The War Began   

    With both teams settling down and both coaching staffs finally getting a grip on stopping the big plays the game developed into a war of attrition with both teams being able to read, key and stop each others “big play” athletes.

    The South marched to paydirt late in the first half with Reynolds at the controls, moving the ball to the North’s 1-yard line where Brattleboro’s speedy and rugged David Velazquez ripped off tackle and scored.  Hartford’s Jacob Van Ryzwik picked up key first downs en-route and Reynolds hit Springfield’s Spencer Ingalls with a play action pass for the two pointer.  It was tied at 14.

    The second half provided fans with plenty of great  individual performances.

    U-32’s Todd Murphy showed why his Raiders have dominated their conference in the past 4-years, taking a hand off from North quarterback Josh Corrigan of BFA-St Albans and bursting through the middle for a 37-yard touchdown jaunt.  Mackey’ kick made it 21-14, North at the 8:20 mark of the 3rd quarter.

    The South squad was up to the challenge and countered under the direction of Otter Valley’s Corey Robinson who hit Alex Spanos of MSJ with a pin point pass with 4:09 left in the game Spanos made a nice catch and run for the TD.  A fake extra-point-pass attempt by Reynolds the holder on the play, failed because of a high snap and the score was 21-20 with 4:19 left in the game and the North up by 1.

    The South continued their comeback bid late into the 4th quarter but a bomb from McLaughlin to team mate Manny Muderhwa of the So. Burlington’s Rebel’s for 42-yards, sealed the deal for the North 28 to 20 after Mackey’s final extra point conversion, his 4th in a row.
“It was great playing with these guys. We had excellent practices and now we’ve evened the series at 3 games each,” he said while celebrating with family and friends after the game ending ceremonies
at Youngman Field.

    It is interesting to note that 88 Vermont senior football players, played in this game and that there are presently 90 players listed on the rosters of 35 college teams most of whom played in this game.  The most notable all star would be David Ball out of Spaulding High of Barre who is a senior all-american at UNH and recent broke the career college pass receiving record held by pro football hall of famer Jerry Rice.

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