South to wage war in D-III
Toolbox
By Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: November 6, 2009
Pass the grits and save room for some black-eyed peas. It's a southern-flavored tournament.
… Southern Vermont, that is, and it promises to be a good one with Windsor, Bellows Falls and defending state champion Springfield all thought to have a realistic chance to grab the big prize.
"It's exciting if you're a football fan," Bellows Falls coach Bob Lockerby said.
No. 4 BFA Fairfax (5-2, 5-4) is at No. 1 Windsor (7-1, 7-2). No. 3 Springfield (7-1, 7-2) is at No. 2 Bellows Falls (6-1, 7-2). Both games are Saturday at 1 p.m.
The outsider is BFA-Fairfax. The invaders from northern Vermont are not only the odd man out geographically, they don't appear to fit into the rest of this wide-open field. The Bullets are a long shot.
Windsor went up to Fairfax on Oct. 3 and breezed to a 42-0 victory.
Yet, Windsor coach Jim Taft isn't discounting the Bullets.
"They do the same kinds of things they did then, but they do them better," Taft said. "They are a different team now."
Mike Williams' Bullets are coming off an impressive, 28-7 victory over Winooski.
Still, the Yellow Jackets have to be a prohibitive favorite, particularly with the way they finished the season, thumping a good Woodstock team that was playing with some urgency and a chance to make the playoffs.
The Jacks throttled Woodstock 49-7 behind the combination of Gavin Callahan and Jacob Page. Callahan threw four TD passes and Page caught three of them. Callahan also ran for a score.
That combination alone gives the Bullets plenty to deal with and Windsor has a lot more, including speed all over the field.
Callahan wants to keep up with his sisters, earning a state crown of his own. Kaitlin and Makenzie Callahan helped Windsor bring home the state championship in field hockey last week.
Anyway you slice it, Saturday's marquee semifinal is the one between No. 3 Springfield and No. 2 Bellows Falls at Hadley Field.
Springfield hosted the Terriers last Friday night in front of a huge throng at Brown Field and won 19-18.
This time the Terriers get to play it at home.
"It's great to be on our field," Lockerby said.
"These Terriers achieved a 7-2 record by being a team," Lockerby said.
'It's been different guys each week," he said. "If you lean on any one person, you can be in trouble."
Lockerby said the game against Springfield was an example of that when he lost two good players in tight end/defensive end Jake Stratton and offensive tackle Joe Stockwell and others picked up the stack.
Lockerby said Stratton and Stockwell are still questionable for this game.
Tim Muzzey has been a constant. He's a hard runner who is a threat for a 100-yard game each week.
"He is a tough nut," Lockerby said. "But Ryan Hayward has been a great complement to him. They are two totally different runners."
And quarterback Ben Hewitt has been making it all go.
"He is showing the maturity that I hoped he would by the time he was a senior," Lockerby said.
His big concern with the Cosmos is their big-play offense and a very stingy defense.
"They try to get players in space and if you don't tackle, they will kill you," Lockerby said.
Blocking, tackling and eliminating penalties have been points of emphasis this week for the Terriers. Those are areas that need improvement over last Friday night's performance.
Springfield coach Mike Hatt has the same concerns.
"I don't think we executed very well," Hatt said.
"We got a great physical effort from our kids but there were a lot of little things we didn't do right, like lining up on defense. There are a lot of things we can improve on."
Springfield quarterback Brandon Boyle, his running back Matt Mitchell, Bennett Chevalier, Billy Wheeler and the other components of the big-play offense have to be a big concern to the BF staff.
But the defense is also an important piece of all the Springfield success.
"Mike said that his defense was the underrated part of last year's 11-0 team," Lockerby said. "I know we had to scratch for everything we got."
The Cosmos have been getting other people integrated into the offensive scheme. The headliners had been Mitchell, Boyle and Wheeler, but players like Colin LaPlante and Chevalier have been becoming more prominent late in the season.
LaPlante caught a touchdown pass and had 65-yard reception to set up another TD last week.
"Other players are becoming more important in our offense and that's the way it has to be for us," Hatt said.
The winners of the semifinal games will play the state championship game the following weekend at Brattleboro's Natowich Field.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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