Week 6 of the Vermont high school sports season saw some teams fall back from the competition, while others picked up much needed wins to keep playoff hopes alive. Here are just some of the biggest stories from last week.
Hartford picked up a monster W at Middlebury to improve to 6-0. The Hurricanes D kept the running game at bay for the most part while their biggest playmaker, Brayden Trombley, was responsible for 4 of the teams' 5 TDs on the night. Hartford will look to wrap up an undefeated regular season with games vs. Mount Anthony and Rutland.
In the first 2 weeks of the season, Essex was looking like a contender in D1. Now, they're looking for help on both sides of the ball after an 0-3 run in which they have allowed 41, 28 and on Friday night, 50 points against St. Johnsbury. Bunnell was unstoppable on offense (over 200 yards rushing in the first half alone) and while the Hornets were able to garner some offense, it wasn't enough to keep pace with the Hilltoppers.
193-14: That's the point differential for Champlain Valley in their last 5 games (all Ws) after their Week 1 loss to Burr and Burton back in September. The Redhawks continued their trend with a 33-0 win over Rutland on Saturday. Even with some key players either graduating or transferring to prep schools, Ollie Cheer and CVU have continued to prove that last year's title run wasn't a fluke. With road tests vs. D2 Colchester and Middlebury left, the run to another D1 championship game may be on the horizon.
While D2 leaders Fair Haven had a "bye" this week (their game vs. Peru (NY) was cancelled due to the weather), the rest of the division looked to keep up with the Slaters. On Friday, Bellows Falls were unable to pull of a win at home vs. D1 Brattleboro, North Country was dominant over U-32 to improve to 4-2, and Colchester were able to shut out Milton to get within striking distance of a top 4 seed. U-32/Fair Haven next Friday night will be one to keep an eye on and could potentially be a playoff preview if things stay where they are.
In Division 3, Otter Valley picked up a huge win at D2 Rice; Mill River's win over Oxbow inched them closer to Springfield for the #4 spot in the D3 rankings; While Windsor is undefeated, Woodstock is shown on top of the standings, but the two do face off in Week 8, likely for the top seed.
As we jump ahead to Week 7, there will be a bunch of games that will have an effect on playoff positioning in all 3 divisions. Here's a quick rundown of what's coming up this week (with streaming info where available).
- Thursday: CVU @ Colchester (7PM on LCATV channel 5)
- Friday: Spaulding @ Milton (6:30PM on LCATV channel 4)
- Friday: BFA-St. Albans @ St. Johnsbury (7PM on NSN)
- Friday: Burr and Burton @ Essex (7PM; streaming TBD)
- Friday: Mount Anthony @ Hartford (7PM on NFHS)
- Friday: Middlebury @ Seawolves (7PM on NFHS)
- Friday: Rutland @ Brattleboro (7PM on NFHS)
- Friday: U-32 @ Fair Haven (7PM; streaming TBD)
- Saturday: Bellows Falls @ Lyndon (1PM on NSN)
- Saturday: Rice @ Mount Abraham (1PM on NFHS)
- Saturday: North Country @ Mount Mansfield (1PM; NSN?)
- Saturday: Mill River @ Windsor (1PM)
- Saturday: Missisquoi @ Otter Valley (1PM)
- Saturday: Woodstock @ Oxbow (1PM)
- Saturday: Springfield @ Fairfax/Lamoille (2PM)
