Week 4 Games and Teams of the Week

Somewhat belatedly, here are my thoughts on the top teams and games from Week 4 of the Vermont High School football season.

Teams of the week

• Division I: It's been years since Middlebury needed a bounceback win in the regular season, but they got one Friday night. The Tigers responded to their loss to Brattleboro by breaking from a halftime tie to beat Colchester 27-7. At 3-1, the Tigers remain a key factor in the Division I playoff race and expect them to be a tough out come playoff time.
• Division II: Bellows Falls put a resounding halt to Mt. Mansfield's surge, romping to a 55-8 victory that further reinforced the gap between the D2's top two and the rest of the field. The Terriers have piled up 185 points in a 4-0 start, and they look like the only team that can challenge defending champion Burr and Burton for this year's title.
• Division III: My labeling of Woodstock as the clear favorite here looks more than a little premature after Windsor romped to a 55-13 victory over defending champion Otter Valley. The Wasps have been dominant in a 4-0 start, outscoring their opponents by an average of 46 points, and they'll get plenty more chances to impress down the stretch. U-32, Mill River and Woodstock are three of Windsor's last four opponents.

Game of the week

• Mt. Abraham 28, North Country 23: This one might not have much impact on the postseason but it featured three lead changes in the second half. Coleman Russell guided the Eagles to their first win, tossing deciding touchdown pass to Dylan Bradford with less than six minutes to go. MAU forced three turnovers in the second half in rallying from a 15-8 deficit at the break, the last of which came in the final five minutes. The result leaves both teams at 1-3 but gives the Eagles the head-to-head edge in the race toward the middle tier of the standings.

Week 5 Game to Watch

• St. Johnsbury at CVU (2:30 pm Saturday): The last two undefeated teams in Division I square off in a matchup that will give the winner a solid hold on first place in the standings. Both teams can count solid wins over Essex and Rutland among their four victories, but this figures to be a different sort of challenge. The Redhawks boast a suffocating defense that's posted back-to-back shutouts but they haven't faced a passing attack like the one Collin Urie leads at SJA. This should be a great one.