Sports

Tiger and Eagle football teams aim for playoffs with weekend wins

ADDISON COUNTY — Middlebury and the Mount Abraham-Vergennes cooperative high school football teams posted important regular season victories this past weekend, but Otter Valley came up short on the road.

TIGERS

The Tigers took care of business on Friday night, defeating host Burlington/South Burlington, 16-8. MUHS controlled most of the action.

MUHS improved to 4-3 and remained in fifth place in D-I heading into their Friday night game at second-place Burr & Burton (6-1). A playoff berth for MUHS is assured, with the question now being seeding.

Middlebury took a 9-0 halftime lead and padded it to 16-0 before the SeaWolves scored their lone touchdown in the game’s final minute, a 13-yard pass from Nick Kelly to Andrew Bouffard. But the Tigers recovered the onside kick to extinguish the 1-6 Seawolves’ faint chances for an upset.

The Tigers scored on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Jacob Kemp to tight end Penn Riney, a Jackson Gillett field goal, and a 9-yard run by fullback Cam Stone.

Cole Schnoor led the MUHS rushing attack with 15 carries for 106 yards, Gavin McNulty contributed 12 carries for 77 yards, and Kemp ran nine times for 43 yards.

Sam Parris ran 14 times for 105 yards for the SeaWolves, and Kelly threw for 155 yards.

EAGLES

On Saturday in Bristol, MAV spotted visiting D-III’s third-place team Mill River 21 first-half points, but roared back for a 31-28 victory.

Wide receiver Ian Funke scored nearly all 31 of the Eagle points, returning one of his two interceptions for a score, catching three TD passes from quarterback Zeke Dubois, and kicking a 33-yard field goal.

EAGLE IAN FUNKE lunges the ball over the goal line to score the first of his four touchdowns vs. Mill River in Bristol on Saturday. Funke’s dad can be seen in the background rising above the other fans, hands in the air, as he cheers on his son. Mount Ab-Vergennes won the game, 31-28.
Photo by Buzz Kuhns

Those points were unanswered after the Minutemen took their 21-0 lead. MRU (5-2) then scored a late touchdown on QB Anthony Cavalieri’s fourth scoring pass of the game to Mason Boudreau.

Dubois completed 23 of 40 passes, with Tyler White (five catches for 56 yards) his second favorite target on the afternoon.

The Eagles improved to 3-4 and moved into the playoff picture in seventh place in D-III. They can clinch a D-III playoff berth by defeating eighth-place Oxbow, also 3-4, at home on this Saturday afternoon. MAV now has a good shot at the postseason regardless of the outcome of that game.

MAV Coach Jeff Stein called this past Saturday’s result a “big win for the season and the program.”

OTTERS

On Saturday, host Fairfax-Lamoille held onto second place in D-II by besting OV, 24-6. The Bullets scored three first-half rushing touchdowns to answer the Otters’ score on their opening drive, and then added a second-half field goal. Fairfax-Lamoille (5-1) also picked off five passes to stymie the Otters.

OV dropped to 3-4, but held onto sixth place in D-III over the Eagles by virtue of their head-to-head victory. The Otters host winless Missisquoi this Saturday, with a victory clinching a playoff berth and a postseason slot likely regardless.

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