MIDDLEBURY — The Vermont Principals’ Association confirmed on Monday that the Middlebury Union High School football team earned the No. 4 seed for the Division II playoffs, and the Tigers will visit No. 1 Colchester on Friday night at 7 p.m.
The Tigers went 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the league in their first season in D-II after dropping down from D-I for the first time in decades. Colchester compiled a 9-0 season, 7-0 in D-II, a record that included a 28-6, season-opening home win over the Tigers.
But that game was not only the Tigers’ opener, but one of only two games in which MUHS opponents scored more than 14 points. The other came on Oct. 16, when MUHS defeated Burr & Burton, 42-28, after the Tigers took a 42-7 lead early in the second half.
In the other D-II semifinal, No. 2 Mount Mansfield (7-2, 6-1 D-II) will host No. 3 Champlain Valley (8-1, 6-1) at Burlington High School, also on Friday night. MMU does not have a home football field. The Cougars earned the higher seed with more quality points from their D-II wins despite having one fewer non-league victory than the Redhawks.
The Tigers defeated MMU at South Burlington on Sept. 19, 13-7, and lost at CVU, 7-0, on Sept. 26.
The D-II final will be played at Essex High School on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m.