Friday, October 6, 2017
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
Rutland Herald Fall Sports Guide
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 line-
backer 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 Divi-
sion 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 physi-
cality 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 lead ership 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 tar-
gets in Payson Williams, Dylan Mackie and
Nate Hudson.
The Otters open their season at home
against Milton, another team in transition
5
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 man-
age 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 Bill-
ings, 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