Tenth Anniversary Season 2007-2016

Hormel Stadium – Medford Ma.

10/2/16

Kick-off 5:00pm

Staff Report

Vermont Ravens 18

Mystic River Tigers 7

Coach Everett accomplished his main goal which was to get out of a meaningless end of season game, with no bearing on the standings, with the team relatively healthy and tuned up for the playoffs.  It was not an easy game to coach as he is competitive and wants to win, but knows the regular season record is secondary to healthy players heading into the play-offs.  So his game plan recipe for victory was simple.

Vermont came out relying on the season long success of giving the ball to running back #21 Anthony LaRosa (Northfield) and letting him run.  Churning for yards and moving the chains LaRosa dominated early and often. #63 Paul-Dan Winter (E. Montpelier), #55 Tyler Baker (Northfield), #75 Jeffrey DeForge (Barre), #72 Bradley Durkee (Montpelier), #67 Brian Brunner (Barre), #57 Nolan Callahan (Cabot), #77 Juju Ayida (Plainfield), and #80  Jamal Jacobs (Barre) all contributed on the offensive line to move bodies for LaRosa and protect quarterback #19 Jaren Jeffcoat (Northfield).

Jeffcoat scored twice down by the goal line as the Tigers stacked inside to stop  LaRosa and the fleet quarterback beat the defense to the corner.  The first at 7:05 of the first quarter was from one yard out and the second from 2 yards out with 10:00 left in the third quarter.  Jeffcoat benefitted from receiver #5 Austin Mayo (Winooski) and his blocking ability as he impeded the only imminent threat to Jeffcoat from scoring his second touchdown.  Jeffcoats pass to #35 Jess Burke for the two point conversion was incomplete and the score at the time was 18-0 Ravens.

The Raven defense allowed one score, a 1 yard rush up the middle by Tigers fullback #32 Nick Arroyo with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter.  The point after was good by kicker #16 Steven Page and that was it for scoring for either team, final 18-7 Ravens.

LaRosa finished with 58 yards on 12 carries and made two catches for 18 yards, and Jeffcoat had 19 yards and the 2 touchdowns carrying the ball 6 times.

Vermont’s defense contributed nicely with versatile defensive back/return man/receiver #18/31 Jeric Tyler (Northfield) for the second game in a row, making an interception on the 1 yard line to stop a threat.  This time was a bit different as he finished the job by reaching the end zone in seemingly Usain Bolt time.  After flying up the right sideline 64 yards he was annoyed by one would be tackler who had not been caught up by traffic, so at about the 35 he took a hard turn towards the middle of the field to avoid contact and without any more trouble glided home for the second score of the game. 

Unfortunately for Vermont for the second straight attempt of a two point conversion Jeffcoat was tackled for no gain.  The score was 12-0 Ravens at the end of the first quarter.

Tyler added a second interception and return of 18 yards in the fourth quarter and finished with 4 tackles, 2 of them solo.  He also contributed on special teams as he had one punt return of 49 yards and had a 55 yard punt return called back due to a blocking penalty.

Other Vermont defensive standouts were defensive back #22 Jesse Martin (Barre) who had an interception on a nice diving catch and two passes defensed to go along with 3 tackles, 2 of them solo.

Fellow defensive back #1 Matt Gomes (Montpelier) had one pass defensed to go along with his 4 tackles, 3 of them solo.

The team had two sacks, one by defensive end #46 Joe Picard (Montpelier) and one by Baker.  Tyler Baker filled in on both sides of the ball as did Callahan who had a fumble recovery and 5 tackles, 3 of them solo.

The Ravens finish the regular season with a 6-4 record and the fourth seed for the Double A play-offs in the New England Football League.  They travel to Danielson, CT next Saturday for a first round game versus the Green Valley Blackhawks.  The Blackhawks defeated the Ravens back on August 13 by a score of 48-7 and finished their regular season with a 9-1 record and the number 1 seed. 

The address for the game is H. H. Ellis Tech High School 613 Upper Maple St. Danielson, CT

For more team information www.vermontravens.com or www.facebook.com/VTRavensfans