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Bulldog football bites Tiger eleven

MIDDLEBURY – A Division II Burr & Burton football team and a quarterback firing on all cylinders pinned a 36-7 loss on host Middlebury Union High School on Friday, hurting the Tigers’ D-I playoff positioning.
The Tigers are now 3-3 with two regular season games to go, at 6-0 Burlington this Friday and at 3-3 Champlain Valley on Oct. 21.
Coach Dennis Smith tipped his hat to 5-1 Burr & Burton and QB Jay McCoy, who completed 19 of 28 attempts for 288 yards and four touchdowns and ran 23 times for another 128 yards and a fifth TD. In all the Bulldogs amassed 467 yards of offense.
Smith also hinted this fall could be the Bulldogs last in D-II for a while.
“We ran into a damn good Division II football team, and they came ready to play football. And they executed very well,” he said. “They could be D-I. They played us just as well as Hartford played us.”
As for the Tigers, Smith said it might be a night best forgotten, although they showed signs of life in the second half after falling behind by 22-0 at the break, scoring once and mounting two long drives.
 “I just said to them we all have bad days, and we’ve just got to take this thing and just get it out of our heads. There might not be a film session of this game on Sunday night,” Smith said. “It’s a tough one to swallow, so do you really want to take a look at it again, or do you just want to start fresh?”
McCoy tossed three touchdown passes in the first half. Two came in the first quarter, 21 yards to Logan Morgan and 9 yards to John Morgantini. Cameron Hedberg also kicked a field goal in the first quarter, which ended at 15-0 as Hedberg also missed two extra points.
The Tigers slowed the Bulldogs in the second period, but after a blocked punt McCoy tossed a 2-yard TD pass to Morgantini in the final minute. The Bulldog defense held the Tigers to 67 yards in the half.
The Tigers scored on their first drive of the second half, a 70-yard march capped by a 9-yard run by Tyler Hotte (18 carries for 82 yards, plus a 17-yard reception). QB Cody Pomainville (six for 12, 129 yards) completed a 35-yard pass to Zach Dunn on that drive.
The Tigers got the ball back and Pomainville tossed a 36-yard bomb down the left sideline to Jackson Donahue, who lost his balance as he made a sensational over-the-shoulder catch and then lost the ball when hit. Bulldog Joey McCoy recovered the fumble and returned it to the B&B 36.  The Bulldogs then moved to the clinching TD, a 4-yard Jay McCoy run.
McCoy, who faced little pressure in the pocket, threw a 75-yard TD pass to Jake Nicholson in the late going.
For MUHS Paul Deering added nine carries for 38 yards and Lance Sheldrick caught two passes for 41 yards. The Tigers picked up 178 yards in the second half.
Smith said he was happy to see the Tigers fight back after the break, and that they are better than they showed on Friday.
“I think we can play with anybody if we play well like we did against St. Johnsbury,” he said.

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