with Chris Thayer
Ramblings and Opinions by the former Coach.
The Southern View Week 6. Things are starting to take shape.
10-2-2008
This is going to be a very compelling week in the ranks of high school football. With Rutland traveling to new rival Hartford it’s newest competitive friend and BFA St Albans going into Essex for another D-I showdown there will be playoff implications all over the place on Friday night. Basically the Raiders and Hurricanes are playing for the top spot in D-I and the Hornets are playing for their playoff lives. In D-III the Montpelier Solons are in good shape at this point with a 3 and 1 league record as Windsor still has not recovered from last season’s loss in the finals to Poultney. Burr n Burton is the scariest team in the division and Springfield will not want to see them until the finals if they want to have a shot a wining the title. In D-II the Lyndon at U-32 game will be the game of the week there and Lyndon should have the upper hand on Friday night. Taking shape you say? Yep and with that said the top fours will be more consistence than ever from here on out.
D-I
South Burlington travels to MAU in what will be the Patriots end to what was supposed to be a break out season for them. Coach Callahan will have to get back to basics in 2009. RHS and Hartford speaks for its self as does the disappointing BFA Bobwhites and Essex this week. Middlebury and Brattleboro should be an interesting game to watch. Bratt still has a shot at the playoffs and needs help from others but they will need to help themselves first with a win over the Tigers who defeated another pre season favorite the Essex Hornets last week. St Jay and Burlington will be another tough one for the Seahorses and MSJ goes to D-II’s Colchester in what could be another win for the Mounties if they can play an actual four quarters of football.
D-II
Fair Haven could make a little more noise with a win on the road over Milton this week but they are still a long shot at a playoff birth. The Otters will host the Woodstock Wasps in a non league game. Lyndon and U-32 should be a good one in this division. Spaulding and MMU should have easy games this week and the division will not have a lot of movement from the top down.
D-III
What has happened to Windsor? Its been like a fall from grace this season and once they got their revenge on Poultney the mission was complete for them. Two ugly league losses in a row and now they will be fighting just to make the post season show. Speaking of Poultney they have Winooski this week and it will strengthen them going into the tough final three weeks of the season. How about the Montpelier Solons or I should say the resurgent Solons? A new coaching staff in place and look what happens sometimes, it’s the right mix at the top to shake things up a little. I just hope they don’t look too far ahead to that CVU game and their old staff that was let go in 2007. Bur n Burton is at Mt Abe and the steamroller from Manchester will keep rolling toward the playoffs. Remember you read it here first B n B is the best team in D-III and is our odds on favorite to win the title.
Ok so here we go with the real top fours of week six, not many surprises here but there could be some team flip flopping of team position in the coming weeks.
D-I
Hartford, Rutland, South Burlington, and BFA St. Albans
D-II
MMU, Spaulding, Lyndon, and U-32
D-III
Springfield, Burr n Burton, Montpelier, and Poultney -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Southern View Week 5 and we’re a little bored this week.
We have been working on the NEKSports.com web broadcasts with Rutland’s own Jack Healey and are very happy to be doing it with him. We are in the cutting edge of Sports broadcasting and are looking to the future with Eric and his crew. What he (Jack) left behind at his old job is leaving a lot to be desired for and they (management at the radio station) will have to make some big changes if they hope to keep the Rutland area sports faithful listening. The Saturday morning Sports show is just awful with two people that don’t have a clue about the history of Rutland region sports and the game play by play that is being produced is so bad most fans that we talk to cant even listen to it any longer. Sad to all see this going on with something that Jack worked his life to build. Can you say a format change to 24 hour satellite radio in 2009….
With the loss to Essex last week MT Anthony football will fall into the depths of D-I and for all intents and purposes be a forgotten thought from the pre season polls in Southern Vermont. The Pats had an early ten point lead that they could not hang onto. Wow I would have liked to see what would have happened if MSJ played four quarters of football against BFA last week. They did a great job in the second half and almost pulled off something big. Rutland did a great job against a much bigger Danbury CT team that pulled into Alumni field on Friday night and had with them a young man that amassed over 350 all purpose yards by him self. It was a great tune up for the Raiders as they go into the second half of the season. Two big time games this week and they will be season changing for a couple of teams. South Burlington heads north to see the BFA Bobwhites on Saturday night and this one is going to be a dandy. The winner gets a great position in the thick of things and the looser could be fighting for their playoff lives. On Friday night Windsor will travel south down Rt 5 to see a Springfield. Cosmos team that is on a serious roll. This here is perhaps a D-III preview to the title game. Windsor has a lot more to loose than Springfield hint hint.
D-I
St Jay hosts Rutland on Saturday and the toppers will need a monsoon storm to slow down the reloaded Big Red Machine. Essex is at Middlebury and the Hornets will finally have an easy game this week. MSJ will welcome the Brattleboro Colonels to St Peters field and the old days of the mudders home field advantage will not help the Mounties this week. Burlington hosts MAU and there will be more players on the benches than in the stands for this one. South Burlington at BFA nothing to say here except for wow… Hartford will travel like the Rutland Raiders out of state for a game to tune them up for their stretch run.
D-II
Fair Haven hosts Otter Valley this week and the now confident Otters will bring a wealth of experience to this one. Fair Haven got spanked by the Crimson Tide last week and there is trouble again in Slater land. How much longer will the powers to be have Don Hulbert as their head man? In Bellows Falls the Terriers will host Mike Law’s U-32 Raiders, the team that put up a 75 on Bob Lockerby’s kids last year. I don’t think the fans in the purple town will be to kind to the run it up gang this week. Spaulding is at MMU this weekend in another tune up for the post season and this could be a game of who wants the number one spot in the division.
D-III
Poultney is two and one in league play and that says a lot. They will be at Mill River this weekend in a rematch of last years divisional semifinal game, the only difference here from last year will be the lopsided score in Poultney’s favor. Burr n Burton is at Winooski this week and the Bull Dogs will be rolling along in this one. The better game of the weekend could be Montpelier at Mt Abe. The Solons are looking better each week and I think they will handle this game with ease. And finally Windsor at Springfield, nothing to say here but wow a playoff preview in week five.
Now onto our weekly top fours. Keep the faith were still shooting from the hip and hitting them all.
D-I
Hartford, Rutland, South Burlington, and BFA St. Albans.
D-II
Spaulding, Colchester, MMU, and Lyndon
D-III
Springfield, Burr n Burton, Windsor, and Oxbow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Southern View Week 4 and again we’re right on the money…..
I am not one of those reporters that likes to say I told you so but I can’t help myself this week. From the pre season polls I have been telling you all to be careful on how you look at Mt Anthony football this year. Every other coach and sports reporter ranked them in the two spot without playing a D-I opponent. Two and 0 looked pretty good with not playing a team that is in the division, and oh my God here comes Hartford to Bennington last week with a big spanking for the Patriots. Now they find them selves in desperation mode for the remainder of the season. This week they get Essex who is getting better and they have not seen Rutland or Brattleboro yet. MAU is in big trouble and will most likely miss the playoffs again this year. And what’s up with the folks at Montpelier the lights went out ruining homecoming and it sent the Solons on the road the next day to play the game? A transformer problem was the culprit, Rutland and Montpelier put up their lights about the same time thirty years ago, Rutland has replaced theirs twice in that time span and Montpelier has never done it. It’s called maintenance people…
D-I
Well as we said in our opening comments the game of the weekend in this division is MAU at Essex. With that long bus ride the Pats will have a hard time getting things on track this week. Rutland plays Danbury CT. in a home game this week and it should be a good test for Normans Raiders to see just where they really are at the mid point of the season. Middlebury travels to St Jay to see who is the best second to last place team in the division. MSJ will host BFA St Albans in what will be another lopsided affair for the struggling undermanned Mounties. And we’re still giving those kids credit for just showing up each week. Hartford will host Brattleboro in a very interesting game that Bratt really needs to win to have any chance at the post season, but the Canes are a well oiled machine at the moment and it could be a long night for Bill Millers kids.
D-II
A couple of surprises here last week as Lyndon beats Colchester at Colchester. We don’t think the score indicated who really the better team is but if theses two do get another opportunity at each other it will be something to see in the playoffs. Lyndon will see RICE this week in what could be a good game. Mill River travels to Springfield in what promises to be yet another spanking for the youthful Minutemen. In what could be a great game Colchester plays MMU at Essex on Saturday night? The Cougars are quietly making noise in the division and this game could be a test and tune for both clubs at the mid point of the season. Playoff implications are everywhere and this could bring a huge crowd to Essex on this night. The Bellows Falls at Otter Valley game could be a good one too. The Terriers are looking for answers and Dennis Perry’s kids need some confidence after falling to U-32 last week in overtime. I do like the Otters this week.
D-III
Dave Capman has been in this position many times where he needs a win in a bad way and somehow the Blue Devils find a way to get it done. Like last season when the kids pulled it all together to make a big time playoff run. Can it happen this year? This is the week where it has to if the Devils are going to have any chance at all to making the post season. Burr n Burton at Windsor, this is a great game in D-III and one that will have a big time playoff atmosphere attached to it. This is one of those games where you wish you could clone yourself to be in about three places at the same time, a must see game in Vermont football. Montpelier is at BFA Fairfax Saturday and the Solons should get back on track this week. Oxbow is off this week with an open date and we really like this team going into the second half of the year. They have confidence and now play what we consider a light run into the second half of the season. Windsor will be a tough game for them but that’s a team that can be beaten as Poultney proved a year ago.
Now its time for our weekly top fours. A little movement in the ranks but still the same old boys are hovering the top of the heaps. Burr n Burton makes their first appearance in the top fours and rightly so as new coach Jason Thomas finally has the Dogs going in the right direction.
D-I
Hartford, Rutland, South Burlington, and BFA
D-II
Spaulding, MMU, Lyndon, and Colchester
D-III
Springfield, Windsor, Mt. Abe, and Burr n Burton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 3 of Football and the Southern View
As we look in on the third week of high school football some teams in the ranks are finally getting home games and the fans will finally see their boys play in front of the home crowd. Hats off to the MSJ Mounties as the Convent Ave kids finally get coach Chip Forte his first ever win as a high school football coach. Nolan Rhodes and Leighton Thayer did hook up twice on spectacular pass plays of 95 and 55 yards each. The Mounties faithful now have some resurgence to add to the mix of football and St Peters Field should be full of excitement the Saturday afternoon. Poultney will finally play a home game after being on the road for the past two weeks and the Rutland Raiders will finally open the new Alumni field in a big way with Middlebury coming to town in Friday night. Rutland is riding in to Friday night at 2 and 0 in D-I play and this team is just getting things going.
D-I
Vermont’s D-I is a strange place at the moment. With folks a few sports reporters saying the Rutland Raiders are not for real and Mt Anthony having not played a D-I opponent at this point has this a little up side down to say the least. I cannot in good faith give MAU a ranking yet as they have played two very bad lower division teams and have not proved them selves yet this season. Friday night they will welcome the D-I defending champion Hartford Hurricanes to Spenilli field and I have a feeling the Patriots will be tested beyond belief. BFA got a win over Brattleboro last week and will play lowly Burlington this week so still no real solid test here for the Bobwhites either. South Burlington visits MSJ in a game where we will see what the Mounties will bring to the field after the schools first win in two years. Brattleboro is out of state this week and St Jay will host the now desperate Essex Hornets in a must win game for both schools. Week four will get real interesting for D-I and how teams are going to stack up at the mid point of the season.
D-II
Fair Haven gave a game away to the U-32 Raiders last week and rebounding at Bellows Falls is something they will need to do if they will have any shot at the post season. Otter Valley had another tough outing last week and it does not get much better for them on the road at the U-32 team that has haunted them over the past couple of seasons. Even though the Otters beat them last season this is a very different team in Brandon this year. Woodstock travels to Spaulding this week and Jim McLaughlin will be looking to get through a tough game with the reloaded Tide. Colchester and MMU seem to be in control of their own fate at this point and the Lakers have the toughest game of the week in D-II with Lyndon this Friday night.
D-III
Still the most competitive division in Vermont to this point. Poultney gets their first home game of the season and the home crowd will have to get behind the Devils early as RICE is looking to make more noise with their second win in 08. Windsor goes to Montpelier to face the Solons on homecoming night. Note to Montpelier’s AD, schedule homecoming against an opponent you have a shot at beating. This could be a tough game for the kids in the Cap city. Mt Abe goes to Springfield this week and this game could get out of hand early as the Cosmos should go to 3 and 0. Mill River is like we said last week in shambles and it won’t get much better for them this week either, as Oxbow is a team on the up rise. This division could start shaking out as early as next week and if teams like Poultney and Montpelier are going to have a shot at the post season now is the time to get their acts together. The three and four spots of the division is wide open at this point and its anyone guess as to who is going to come out of it all.
Now we go onto our weekly top fours. No real surprises here this week but some movement in the lower two spots. I still can’t figure out why or who ranked Fair Haven this year in the pre season poll.
D-I
Hartford, Rutland, South Burlington, and BFA
D-II
Colchester, Spaulding, Mount Mansfield, and Lyndon
D-III
Springfield, Windsor, Poultney, and Mt Abe.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Southern View 2008
Week One, And Away We Go...................
Well with week one in the books we are a little remised to say anything negative about high school football here in Vermont. Yes there were a few surprises and the Rutland Herald coach’s poll was in a word a “crap shoot” and that’s being very kind. How on Gods green earth you rank Hartford a defending champion out of the top two spots in D-I is just amazing to us here in sports land and if we see Fair Haven ranked in D-II again this year I am going to call the police because better teams are being robbed by people who just don’t get it that vote in the poll. Did U-32 get a ranking with the Slater’s because of the last two season’s Mike (run the score up on u) Law had with them? Were talking about a team that has been on a downward spiral through most of last season and then the Shrine game embarrassment should have put Law off the radar in Vermont football for good. In D-III the CVU ranking was another sham, perhaps a few coaches are just coming off their summer breaks a little late this season and thought it was still baseball season.
D-I
Ok let’s start with Vermont’s perennial division. Essex played a horrible game against a completely undermanned MSJ Mounties team that is looking for an identity. The Mounties played a great first half of ball but just didn’t have the horses to get through the third quarter of action. D-I is a numbers game and contrary to what the staff thinks down there, MSJ is in need of numbers and real time experience. Essex on the other hand has a lot of work to do with Rutland coming to town this Friday night, the hornets will not escape a team like Rutland with the numbers and experience they have over there. Speaking of Rutland they did get by South Burlington this week but the book is still out on the new look Raiders. After graduating 18 kids that played a lot of ball last year the Raiders are looking for a direction like many other teams in Vermont. There is a lot of Buzz about the MAU Patriots that beat on a D-II team this past weekend and we will hold comment on them for now. People up north of the football capital of Vermont were ooohing and awing about BFA St Albans chances this season, I am not so sure they are buzzing anymore after the Defending Champions Hartford Hurricanes gave them a rude welcome to White River last weekend. The Bobwhites will now have to deal with a Brattleboro team that has been re tooled at the coaching ranks and in our opinion will be in the top mix in late October.
D-II
Now its off to the second level of football in the state. The only team that deserved a ranking at all this past week won big and will dominate the season if things keep going north for the Crimson Tide. Spaulding and Colchester (not ranked last week in the herald, another sham) should have a date in early November and play for all the marbles if things keep going like they started for them both. U-32 lost to Milton so drop them out and Lyndon is the wild card here after handily defeating Bellows Falls last week end. MMU defeated a D-III opponent so were not sure what’s up with them yet but they could figure in late. RICE might be one of those teams you don’t want to play this season after a big week one win. They dug down deep late to earn that win and they could be a factor as well.
D-III
This will be perhaps the most competitive division in all of Vermont football this season. With Windsor wining big over a poorly coached Mill River team that will be searching for a win long into the season it looks like the jackets have re loaded the bus again. Springfield welcomed Poultney grad Jason Thomas to the southern coaching fold and now Jason knows he has much to learn as well about southern Vermont football. Poultney’s win up north last weekend shows the Capman kids are going to be reckoned with this year and should not be taken lightly. How CVU earned a ranking from the Herald is another big question from week one too. Coach Prenevost has been out of coaching for too many years and the staff he brought together is the defunct staff from Montpelier that went no where a year ago. With the Solons new staff in place things could get much better there for them and I believe they will make some noise as the season goes along.
Now we are onto the top Fourss for week one and we are looking forward to a great season of balanced football from a few northern teams that could very step up and make the south play better than it has in a while. You have to love parity and re alignment…..
D-I
Hartford, Essex, Rutland and Brattleboro
D-II
Colchester, Spaulding, Lyndon and Milton
D-III
Springfield, Windsor, Poultney and Oxbow
|
