BRANDON — The top-seeded Otter Valley Union High School football team thumped visiting No. 4 Mill River on Saturday, 61-27, in a Division III semifinal and will meet No. 2 U-32 in the D-III final this coming Saturday at Rutland High School. Game time will be 2 p.m.
The Otters improved to 10-0 by defeating the 7-3 Minutemen. They will look to complete their perfect season against U-32 (8-1), a team the Otters defeated in East Montpelier earlier this fall, 55-14. The Raiders, who feature an attack led by fullback Colby Brochu, defeated No. 3 Woodstock on Friday in the other D-III semifinal.
The Otters will be seeking the program’s second-ever football title: OV defeated U-32 for the D-IV title in 2005, 23-20.
On this past Saturday, OV quarterback Carson Leary rushed 12 times for 320 yards and five touchdowns and threw a 38-yard TD pass to Will Ross as the Otters steadily pulled away from Mill River. Leary scored from 66, 63, 59, 46 and 2 yards out.
Brent Nickerson added 170 yards on the ground and added scoring runs of 59, 15 and 1 yards.
Mill River quarterback Mike Morgan kept his team close for a while by tossing four touchdown passes, two to Zach Allen, one for 5 yards and for 35 yards in which Allen took a lateral from another receiver, and two long scores to Brian Eaton of 76 and 56 yards.
During the game, Leary topped 2,000 rushing yards for the fall, adding to his 2014 program record. He also enters next week with 920 passing yards after finishing Saturday five-for-10 for 97 yards.