Friday , October 6 , 2017 Rutland Herald Fall Sports Guide 5
Mill River Football 3 Will Grabowski 5 Colby Fox 11 EJ Patch 23 Rylee Brisson 25 Ryan Ward 28 Jacob Langlois 32 Evan McPhee 40 Elijah Williams 42 Josh Bishop 44 Matt Roberts 45 Spencer Ahearn 50 Ethan Stoodley 51 Kaleb Branchaud 52 Koby Langlois 55 Levi Tarbell 58 Nate Kapusta 59 Will Farwell 61 Galen Trapeni 62 Hunter Lanfear 63 Alan Baird 65 Colt Billings 70 Josh Ray 73 Allen Severance 78 Dylan Beebe 80 Jerry Merrow 81 Chase Purinton 82 Joziah Cox 84 Gary Burnett 86 Brian Eaton 88 Tyler Shelvey
Coach Jon Wallett Assistant Coach Greg Lewis ,
Paul Magro and Devin Siva
Szabo , Zach Murray and Dylan Lee . Defenses might have a hard time picking them out among the Slaters big linemen as they all go about 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds .
Fair Haven is even rich in special teams with Morse , a soccer player , and freshman Evan Reed capable of 30-plus yards in field goal range . Coloutti will be the punter .
On defense , the Slaters will be led up front by Stannard and Alexander , at linebacker by Stoodley and Ellis and in the secondary by safeties Zabo and Murray .
Fair Haven will have one scrimmage , a four-team session on Saturday that includes Middlebury , before opening next Friday at Mount Anthony .
Neither could come soon enough but Grady is determined to keep the Slaters ’ focus on the day at hand .
“ All we ’ re looking at is , ‘ Are you getting better today ?’” Grady said .
“ With all the title teams I ’ ve coached , that ’ s been the mindset .”
OTTER VALLEY
The past two graduations swallowed most of the juggernaut that won the Division III title two years ago . The upside as the Otters enter D-II is that the junior class provides a good foundation for the future . OV has only a handful of seniors as it begins this new chapter .
Quarterback Tyler Rowe is one of those juniors in a class of good skill position players though the Otters know they ’ ll need more than that to hold their own in a tough division . They do not have a starter back from a defense that will rely on its quickness .
“ We ’ ve got to work on everything but the biggest thing is stepping up to the physicality of the varsity level ,” said head coach Charles Hall .
While the Otters are young Hall was pleased with their performance in last week ’ s scrimmage with Woodstock , another team hit had by graduation but still in possession of plenty of talent at the skill slots .
“ I was really proud of our guys ,” Hall said .
OV will depend on Rowe embracing more of a leadership role and while he ’ s not the most vocal of players the Otters will do well to follow his work ethic and dedication , says Hall .
With only 30 players out OV will have plenty of two-way performers . One will be Robert Cook , the lone returning player from the offensive line .
If OV can spring some holes , the Otters have good backs to put them to use : from the speed of Dan Allen and Chandler Coy to the potential bruising running of 210-pound C ’ Rique Wood , who could be the latest in a line of battering-ram style of runners that included Brent Nickerson and Carson Leary .
Another key loss was 6-foot-5 receiver Will Ross but Rowe will have talented targets in Payson Williams , Dylan Mackie and Nate Hudson .
The Otters open their season at home against Milton , another team in transition with a new coach in veteran Jim Provost .
Division III MILL RIVER
Gone is quarterback / playmaker Mike Morgan but the entire offensive line and the top running backs return .
So , the persona of the 2017 Minutemen goes from heavy emphasis on Morgan to , well ... everything but .
“ We definitely have holes to fill but we have a lot of returning players ,” said coach Jon Wallett , who graduated only three seniors from a team that went 4-4 , then was bumped in the first-round of the Division III playoffs by Windsor .
Last year the Minutemen were throwing the ball 25 or so times a game but now they ’ ll look for a quarterback to manage the game and be a playmaker when needed .
Heading into last week ’ s scrimmage against Brattleboro , Wallett had his QB candidates narrowed down to senior EJ Patch , sophomore Colby Fox and junior newcomer Spencer Ahearn .
The three-headed running attack includes veteran fullback Matt Roberts , top tailback Ryan Ward and last year ’ s second tailback , Josh Bishop .
The all-veteran line includes Colt Billings , Nate Kapusta , Levi Tarbell , Dylan Beebe and Hunter Lanfear . Tyler Shelvy returns at tight end and Brian Eaton gives the Minutemen breakaway speed at wideout .
Many of the same players will go to