Middlebury gridders to visit OVUHS

Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., the Otter Valley High School varsity football team hosts the Tigers of Middlebury, the only Division I opponent on the Otters' 2012 schedule. The game will be played at Markowski Field in Brandon.

The Middlebury Union High School Tigers are a perennial Division I powerhouse (7-3 in '09, 10-1 in '10 and 9-2 in '11), who have struggled at times this year. The Tigers trounced defensive pushovers Mt. Mansfield, 28-6, and Mount Anthony, 41-6, in Weeks 1 and 3 of the season. However, they lost very close contests to Essex and Rutland in Weeks 2 and 4.

(Division I is led by the Hartford High School Hurricanes and the Essex High School Hornets, both 4-0. Essex narrowly defeated Middlebury, 21-20, in Week 2 of the season. Hartford and Middlebury are not scheduled to face each other in the 2012 regular season.)

Defense has been Middlebury's strength. The 2-2 Tigers have allowed only 48 total points through the frst four games. Coming off a painful 15-13 loss to Rutland last Friday night, the Tigers will be highly motivated to capitalize on Saturday's matchup with the Division II Otters.

Otter Valley, also 2-2, had been turning in good defensive performances of its own until last week's game against Milton, in which the Otters surrendered a season-high 38 points. Before that contest, the Otters had been allowing just 13 points per game. That figure shot up to 19.5 after the Milton contest.

The Otters have not ranked among the top scoring teams in their division. Through four games, they are averaging 22 points. However, their scoring numbers are held back a bit by a Week 2 shutout by Lyndon Institute. Ignoring that game brings their per-game total up by more than a touchdown.