Otters basketball enters postseason

The fourth-ranked Otter Valley High School boys basketball team (14-6) hosts the No. 13 Harwood Union High School Highlanders (4-16) in a Division II postseason "playdown" tonight. Doors open for the event at 6:20 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $4 for students and senior citizens. 

John Winslow
(Addison Independent 2014)

The Otters are led by senior forward John Winslow (2014 Addison Independent Player of the Year), who has surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his high school hoops career.

The Otters-Highlanders winner will likely move on to face No. 5 Vergennes (13-7), expected victor of a playdown against 6-14 Hartford.

The division's top regular season team, 20-0 Woodstock, seems likely to advance at least to the semifinals at Barre Auditorium on March 2. The Otters may meet the Woodstock Wasps there, if they can manage two postseason wins.

UPDATE (Feb. 26, 2015): MOVING ON - The Otters defeated Harwood in the play-down game by a score of 45-27 and advance to face Vergennes in a quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. Vergennes came out on top, 68-53, in its play-down against Hartford.

The winner of the Otter Valley-Vergennes matchup will move on to a March 2 semifinal game at Barre Auditorium. The opponent will be the winner of Friday's quarterfinal game between top-ranked Woodstock (20-0) and eighth-ranked Mill River (10-11). Mill River advanced to the quarterfinal round after a 62-55 play-down win against Milton.

Otter Valley and Vergennes did not play each other this season. Otter Valley faced Woodstock on Feb. 11. The game did not go well for the visiting Otters, who lost by a score 64-36, though it featured John Winslow's 1,000th career point.

YELLOWJACKETS 38, Otters 20

The Otter Valley Union High School varsity football team surrendered a season-high 38 points in a 38-20 loss to the hosting Milton High School Yellowjackets last night. Both teams are now 2-2 on the Division II season.

Milton had not been expected to put on an offensive show against the stingy Otters defense. The Yellowjackets had scored an average of just 16 points through their first three games. But those three included contests against league-leaders Rice Memorial and Lyndon Institute.(The Otters were shut out by Lyndon two weeks ago and haven't yet played Rice Memorial.) Rice Memorial has allowed only six points this season - those were all scored by Milton. Lyndon Institute has allowed just 16 on the season - those were all scored by Union-32 while Lyndon strolled to a 53-16 win last night.

Next Saturday, the Otter Valley varsity plays host to Division I powerhouse Middlebury. The black and orange Tigers of Middlebury are coming off a disappointing loss to Rutland and are just 2-2 this season. The Tigers have not had more than three losses in a season since 2008.

On Monday afternoon, the Otters junior varsity visits Manchester for a game against the Burr & Burton Academy Bulldogs.

OTTERS 20, Raiders 18

The Otter Valley Union High School varsity football team improved to 2-1 on the season with a 20-18 win yesterday afternoon over the Union-32 Raiders at Brandon's Markowski Field. The well-attended contest was the featured event of the Otter Valley Homecoming Weekend.

Union-32 drops to 1-2 with the loss. So far this season, the Otters have scored 68 points while giving up 40.  Union-32 has surrendered 90 points on the season, while scoring 58.

The Otters travel to Milton High School on Friday night to face the 1-2 Yellowjackets. Milton beat high-scoring Burr & Burton (Week 2) and lost to Lyndon Institute (Week 1) and Rice Memorial (Week 3). Its six points against Rice Memorial yesterday were the first points scored against the Green Knights of South Burlington this season. Milton has been outscored this season by a per game average of 27-16.