Undefeated Redhawks end regular-season at Seawolves

With one regular season game remaining, Champlain Valley is in the driver’s seat as the only undefeated team in Division 1 football.

The Redhawks travel to South Burlington High to face the No. 5 ranked Burlington/South Burlington Seawolves (6-1) at 7 p.m., this Friday, Oct. 18, to finish the regular season and see if they can keep their record unmarred.

Here’s how CVU’s antepenultimate and penultimate games went, setting up this Friday’s finale.

Champlain Valley 41, Middlebury 7
CVU kept its win streak alive on Oct. 5, in a game that began at 10:30 a.m. for a rare morning start. The time of the game was changed to accommodate a memorial service remembering a longtime Middlebury coach and teacher, who died unexpectedly.

The day of the contest was born in a steady rain, but by the time the sun had reached the toddler stage, it was blue skies and friendly white clouds.

However, the field was still wet at game time, which may have contributed to the Redhawks’ slow start. It took the team a bit longer than has been usual this year to get the offense rolling.

Initially, it looked like there wasn’t going to be anything to slow down the Redhawks when Dylan Frere took the opening kickoff to the Middlebury 30-yard line, but the team stalled out for several downs. Then, Nolan Walpole warmed things up offensively with some punishing rushes to get the ball closer to the goal line.

Finally, on a busted play, CVU sophomore quarterback Orion Yates rolled out of the pocket and found senior Jacob Armstrong open. After making the catch, Armstrong avoided a tackler for a 28-yard touchdown.

It was almost four minutes into the game, a longer time than had been customary for CVU to start lighting up the scoreboard.

Things seemed to stay in low gear with Yates missing more passes than he has been wont to do. He could be heard calling for a dry ball at one point, possibly a sign the wet field was contributing to his misfires.

After the game, coach Rahn Fleming pointed to some divots in the field, naming which of his players had slipped at each torn-up chunk of grass, evidence of playing on a slippery field.

As the game progressed and things dried up relatively quickly, CVU’s offense got fired up.

“Our defense saved our bacon until our offense remembered who we are,” said Fleming after the game.

Just after the beginning of the second quarter, the unthinkable happened — Middlebury quarterback hit Tucker Morter for a 66-yard touchdown catch. The Tigers’ tying score was the first time this season a team had pulled that close to the Redhawks.

However, that was it for scoring by the Tigers as CVU rolled on to put up 34 unanswered points for the final 41-7 tally.

The turning point may have been about four minutes into the second quarter. With their backs against their own goal line, the Tigers opted for some ill-conceived trickery. Trying multiple handoffs at a precarious position on the field ended up yielding a fumble in the Middlebury endzone.

Junior Dylan Terricciano fell on the ball to put CVU up 14-7. Seeming inspired, CVU was back to its scoring ways and from that point, pretty much rolling on to the win.

Senior receiver Billy Bates had a 17-yard touchdown catch to keep his one TD-per-game average intact. He conceded that the Redhawks offense may have been suffering from a case of nerves.

“There was a little nerves. We knew who we were playing. Middlebury — there’s some history,” Bates said. “We’re confident in our team, confident in our offense, so our defense played very well. That helped us a lot, especially in the first half.”

CVU’s defense forced five turnovers and scored on four of them.

Senior receiver Jacob Armstrong had another strong game with three TD receptions for a second straight game.

Although he didn’t score in this game, Walpole had another strong game, mixing up runs around the ends for sizeable gains with rushes up the middle where he often carried a handful of players before being brought down. The way he carries opposing players trying to tackle him, Walpole might consider charging bus fare.

Sophomore quarterback Orion Yates also admitted that the team, but him specifically, had been nervous to start. Still, he finished with four touchdown passes.

“From the second quarter on, we did what we needed to do, but had to get the jitters out first,” Yates said.

He was missing more throws than usual with a number of balls sailing high, but he declined to blame the wet field, saying, “It’s on me.”

Yates did give credit to Middlebury’s rush that was getting to him fast in the early going, making it harder to make his throws.

Being the only undefeated team left means that CVU has a target on its back, Fleming said. “That means we have to get better every game. Our mission hasn’t changed. The boys will tell you this. We want to win the last game.”

Winning the last game will mean winning the state title.

Champlain Valley 41, Burr & Burton 3
Just five days later at home, Champlain Valley played another game at an unusual time. Because of Yom Kippur this game was scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday. This game was the one the Redhawks had been waiting for since last season.

Fleming said they have a whiteboard in the weight room with two lists of how many days are left until two pivotal moments this year. One was an accounting of how many days until the beginning of camp when practices began.

“We had a second list. It was this many days until Burr & Burton, because it’s been on our minds all year long,” he said.

The Bulldogs have been on the Redhawks’ minds because CVU only lost two games last year. The first and the last games of the season. Both of those losses came against Burr & Burton.

George Taylor said he felt he was playing with more motivation for this game.

“I came out here with a little more fire under me, so I was ready,” he said. Taylor was ready enough to nab three touchdown passes. The senior said it was the most he’s ever had, and it happened in a game where he really wanted it to happen, against the team that knocked the Redhawks out of the playoffs in the semifinals of the playoffs last year.

Taylor finished with a total of six catches for 111 yards.

The game was an even slower start than the previous weekend’s game with Middlebury. The Bulldogs kicked a field goal with 2:40 left in the first quarter to go up 3-0. The Redhawks were behind in a game for the first time this season.

Once again it was Walpole who seemed to jump-start the CVU offense, but in this game he didn’t just rush the ball to the vicinity of the goal. Twice he carried the ball into “the promised land,” as his coach is fond of referring to the endzone.

A minute and a half into the second quarter, Walpole waltzed across the goal line untouched to finally put his team ahead 7-3. With 2:05 left in the first half, he scored another rushing touchdown for a 14-3 lead.

Taylor scored one of his TDs to give his Redhawks a 21-3 advantage just seconds before halftime.

After Taylor nabbed two more scoring passes in the third quarter, senior Daniel Tuiqere rushed across the goal line from 12 yards out to put CVU up 41-3 with seven minutes left in the game.

Yates finished with 175 yards passing for three touchdowns. Walpole had 16 runs for 100 yards.

Although CVU handled Burr & Burton much better than it did in both chances last year, Fleming said his Redhawks faced a much different, much younger team than the team they faced last year and that won the state title.

Last year’s Bulldogs were helmed at quarterback by Jack McCoy, who was named the Division I athlete of the year by the Free Press.

McCoy is the last of Middlebury coach Tom McCoy’s three sons, all of whom played quarterback for the Bulldogs.