Otter boys to face Woodstock in semis

The Otter Valley boys varsity basketball team advanced to the Vermont Division II playoffs semifinal round with Saturday's quarterfinal win over visiting Vergennes. 

The Otters play next on the big stage of Barre Auditorium, Monday, March 2, at 8:15 p.m. Their opponent will be the undefeated Wasps of Woodstock.

Otters fans can purchase a limited number of tickets for the event. Fourteen balcony seats ($8 each) and 350 general admission seats ($7 adult, $4 students and seniors) are available. Tickets will be on sale at the activity director's office in Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday (just before the final performances of Walking Stick Theatre One-Act Plays) and from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tickets also will be available during the school day on Monday. Purchasers are asked to bring cash for their tickets.

The battle between Otter Valley and Vergennes began at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Brandon. OV Principal Jim Avery tweeted updates from the game. He noted that the Commodores were up by 19-14 at the half and by 29-28 with just six minutes left in the game. At 3:30 p.m., Principal Avery tweeted the come-from-behind Otter victory: "48-39 We are going to the Aud!!!! Great effort by both teams. So much to be proud of. #OVpride #classygamefrombothteams"

Otter Valley (16-6) last faced Woodstock (21-0) on Feb. 11. That game did not go well for the visiting Otters, who lost by a score 64-36, though it featured senior forward John Winslow's 1,000th career point. 

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.

Congratulations to Otter athletes

The football and field hockey squads of Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon, VT, finished at the top of the regular season standings this fall and moved on into the playoffs.

The football Otters posted an unblemished 5-0 Division III record in the 2014 regular season and suffered just one narrow loss through eight games overall. That lone loss was a season-opening one-point defeat at Division II Fair Haven. The Otters led their division in regular season scoring, despite playing in one less game overall than other top division teams. The last time the football Otters finished at the top of the standings was in 2005.

Entering the postseason with the Division III top seed, the Otters defeated visiting Poultney on Saturday by a score of 41-21. At 1 p.m., Nov. 1, the Otters will host fourth-seed Windsor in the  playoffs' semifinal matchup. Windsor advanced with a 47-20 quarterfinal win over U-32.

(In the other Division III football quarterfinal games, second-ranked Fairfax defeated Woodstock, 34-22, and third-ranked Mill River fell to visiting Mount Abraham, 20-15. Mt. Abraham was seeded sixth in the playoffs.)

The Otters field hockey team finished the regular season with a perfect 7-0 Division II record and an overall record of 11-2. This is the second consecutive year the Otters have finished atop the regular season standings.

The team entered the postseason as Division II's second-seed, behind 13-1 Rice. On Friday the team shut out the seventh-seeded Mount Abraham Eagles, 1-0, to advance to the Division II semifinal game to be held in Castleton State College's Spartan Stadium this afternoon (Oct. 27).

The Otters have won five field hockey championships in their history. The team's last state championship was in 1999.