[1]OTTER VALLEY RUNNING back Ryan Owen slips past Middlebury Union High School linebacker Sean Harrison in the first half of last Friday’s season opener in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
By ANDY KIRKALDY
MIDDLEBURY — The host Middlebury Union High School football team took advantage of good second-half field position on Friday to score three straight touchdowns and earn a tough, 26-10 win over visiting Otter Valley in the season opener for both teams.
With the Division I Tigers still clinging to their 6-3 halftime lead midway through the third period, a failed fourth-down conversion, a 35-yard punt return by MUHS senior Sean Harrison and an interception by senior Dane Liljestrand set up MUHS scoring drives of 24, 40 and 47 yards that gave the Tigers a 26-3 lead.
OV sophomore quarterback Zack Williams (24 for 37 for 179 net yards) then completed 14 of 19 fourth-quarter passes for 114 yards and a score to classmate Rick Naylor, but Tiger senior Dylan Newton recovered an onside kick with 2:40 left to seal the victory.
The final statistics were even. The Tigers netted 296 yards and nine first downs, rushing 37 times for 293 yards. The D-II Otters netted 289 yards and 14 first downs, mostly through the air.
Harrison — who ran for 116 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries — said the win meant a lot to a team that graduated about 20 seniors from the 2007 team that posted an undefeated regular season.
“Coming into the preseason, I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “So it was big to come out here and show Otter Valley that we’re still Middlebury, and we’re doing pretty well.”
Harrison was not surprised the young Tigers — he, safety/running back Ryan Foley and linemen Dylan Newton, Troy Audet and Jimmy Danyow are the only returning starters — played better in the second half.
“A lot of kids it was their first varsity game, Friday night lights,” he said. “By the second half we kind of got into it, knew our blocks, knew our reads.”
OV coach Dennis Perry also fields an inexperienced squad: 17 seniors graduated. Despite the loss, Perry found a few things to like, including Williams’ passing; junior Joey Massores’ receiving (nine catches for 78 yards); and a defense that in the first half held MUHS to two first downs and 130 yards, 82 of which came on the Tigers’ two-play second-quarter scoring drive.
“We came up and competed, which is what I was looking for,” Perry said. “It was a great first half, but we gave them great field position (in the second half), and the two big plays in the first half hurt us.”
Perry said in most respects the game played out as he expected.
“We felt pretty confident we could come up here and get a win if they looked past us, but they didn’t,” he said. “They certainly come out and scrap. But I think we did, too. I think we scrapped with them.”
The first quarter looked like a season opener, with four fumbles. OV threatened after junior safety Casey Babcock (who played a fine all-around game returning kicks and tackling) recovered a fumbled punt at the OV 46.
Williams completed passes to Massores and fullback Parker Howland to move the ball to the Tiger 26, but Tiger senior tackle Jon Wright sacked Williams for an 11-yard loss to kill the threat.
Finally, the Tigers broke through in the second period. Foley ran 32 yards on a counter play to the 50. On the next play Harrison went untouched up the middle, cut to his right about five yards downfield and raced down the right to make it 6-0 at 5:28.
The Otters then marched 56 yards for a 31-yard Pierce Thurston field goal at 0:28. Key plays were an 18-yard completion to Ryan Owen (seven catches, 41 yards), and Howland’s seven-yard run on fourth-and-one and 13-yard reception.
In the third quarter a key moment came when OV faced fourth-and-two at the MUHS 40 with the score still 6-3. Perry called for Howland, but he came up short at 3:23 of the third.
Strong runs by Harrison and Liljestrand, the quarterback, put the ball on the one yard line, and Harrison powered in and kicked the point-after to make it 13-3 at 0:46.
OV failed to move, and Harrison picked up a short punt at the OV 47 and ran 35 yards to the 12. Foley swept left to the three, and Harrison punched it in; his kick made it 20-3 at 10:34 of the fourth.
Liljestrand then picked off a deflected pass at the OV 47, and soon it was 26-3. Tommy Ryan ran twice for 32 and six yards, and Liljestrand scored from the two at 8:01.
Williams then hit seven of nine passes for 45 yards on one drive, but the Tigers held at their 25. The Otters got the ball back at 3:38 on their own 34, and Williams needed just 52 seconds of game time to complete five more passes — including a 23-yarder to Owen — to move OV to a touchdown, a 10-yarder to Naylor on a tipped ball.
But Newton recovered the onside kick, and this time the Tigers ran out the clock.
For OV, Howland ran 10 times for 29 yards and caught three balls for 29. Alex Ramage ran 10 times for 40 yards.
Perry said he hopes the young Otters realize they have nothing to hang their heads about after Friday’s setback.
“We’ll get better. Our biggest coaching challenge right now is to keep them believing they can get it done, to not let this defeat turn into a real negative for them. We’ve got to let them know that Middlebury is always in the hunt, and maybe this is a nice springboard for them,” Perry said. “I thought we came up and we battled with them, basically went toe-to-toe with them.”
For MUHS Foley added 60 yards on six carries, Liljestrand ran five times for 39 yards, and Ryan earned 52 yards on four carries. Liljestrand and Harrison each attempted two passes unsuccessfully.
The win was the first for MUHS interim coach Dennis Smith, who is in charge while longtime coach Peter Brakeley is on medical leave.
Smith said good defense was a constant, and the offensive improvement in the second half was due to both better execution and adjustments.
“We made mistakes offensively in blocking assignments, but that’s to be expected with this young of a group,” Smith said. “I just challenged the offensive line in the second half to start staying with their blocks and start knocking people off the ball, and they answered.”
He believes the young Tigers will improve steadily, especially once he can expand the playbook.
“Overall, I felt real good,” Smith said. “We’re only going to get better.”