Deeee-Fense. Deeee-Fense!
Vermont State University Castleton played a great game on the defensive side of the ball and it was nearly enough to lift them to their first New Jersey Athletic Conference victory last week.
Many Vermonters think of Rice Memorial graduate Dallas St. Peter as a prolific passer and dangerous runner as a high school quarterback.
But at Salve Regina University he has become a terrific player in the defensive backfield. And last week in the Seahawks’ game against Coast Guard he rang up a game-high 14 tackles. Eleven of those were solo stops.
You know that St. Peter is looking forward to Saturday’s game because it brings him back to Vermont. Salve is in Northfield to play against Norwich University.
“We recruited Dallas like a lot of people did,” Norwich coach Bill Russell said. “Paul Booth (NU basketball coach) was also recruiting him. I think it came down to wanting to experience something different out of Vermont. He is a great athlete.”
VTSU Castleton could just about taste its first New Jersey Athletic Conference victory last week, When Deacon Schneider broke through and sacked the Kean University quarterback in the end zone, it gave the Spartans a 9-0 lead early in the third quarter.
Schneider played his high school football at Cambridge in New York State, a school with a proud football history and one that is very close to the Vermont border.
The tag of dynasty has been heard often when talking about Cambridge football.
But at this level, it has been more losing than winning for Schneider and his Castleton teammates. After Schneider’s sack, the day belonged to Kean as the home team came back to win 14-9.
The difficulty that the Spartans have had in negotiating the bumpy road of the NJAC was not unexpected in their first year in the league. It is a highly regarded conference. D3football.com, at midseason, ranked the NJAC the seventh toughest league among 28 NCAA Division III league.
There are 241 NCAA Division III football teams and two of the NJAC schools have residency in the Top 25 poll — No. 7 Salisbury of Maryland and No. 13 Christopher Newport of Newport News, Virginia. Both are 8-0.
VTSU Castleton ends the season on Nov. 14 at Salisbury.
But Saturday, the Spartans are at Rowan and once again in search of that elusive first NJAC victory. Castleton is 2-6 and 0-5 in the NJAC. Rowan 5-2-1 and 3-2 in the league.
Kickoff at Richard Wacker Stadium in Glassboro, New Jersey is set for noon.
Norwich University also kicks off at noon at Sabine Field. Tufts and Middlebury will go at it in Middlebury at 12:30 p.m.
The VTSU Castleton defense was stellar against Kean and was still pitching a shutout early in the third quarter.
One member of that defensive unit came into his own on against Kean. Josh Cormier amassed a game-high 15 tackles.
“He had been mainly a role player and was on special teams. He has worked really hard and this was a breakout game for him,” Castleton coach Tyler Higley said.
Connor Chilson was another major contributor with 11 tackles a sack and a pass breakup.
“He is an all-round athlete,” Higley said of Chilson, also a kicker and punter.
Then, there was Tyler Buxton who disrupts offenses every week. “He makes plays all over the field,” Higley said.
Isaiah Oufiero collected 10 tackles and was credited with a quarterback hurry.
“He is a captain and a true leader of the defense,” Higley said.
Alex Polli, an Otter Valley graduate who transferred from Norwich, was in on eight tackles.
“This really is his first year starting. He plays strong safety and can come up and make tackles,” Higley said of Polli. “He plays like a linebacker sometimes.”
Those guys and their defensive teammates will have a challenge against Rowan.
“Rowan is uniquely balanced. They are balanced with their run and pass and balanced in their types of runs,” Higley said.
Fans should take note that the noon kickoff represents a time change. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m.
There promises to be a large crowd at Norwich’s Sabine Field for the game against Salve Regina. It is Senior Day for one thing.
Another factor that should swell the crowd is that the opponent from Newport, Rhode Island has a roster sprinkled liberally with Vermonters.
St. Peter, Burr and Burton Academy’s Miles Kaplan, Rice’s Maxime Makuza and Coleton Merchant, Bellows Falls’ Jake Moore and Middlebury Union’s Kyle Stearns are on the Seahawks’ roster.
Salve Regina brings a 4-4 record to Northfield. The Cadets are 1-7.
Russell got his first look at freshman quarterback Tyler Hermanns last week under fire. The other quarterbacks Landon Beecher and Aidan Sullivan were shelved by injuries. Hermanns was 8-of-17 for 43 yards passing against Springfield.
“I thought he played well for going into your first college game against the top team in New England,” Russell said. “He played within himself. He has great arm talent which we knew.”
Hermanns is expected to be one of the contenders for the starting job in the spring.
The Cadets’ leading receiver Henri Bourque also threw a 50-yard touchdown pass against Springfield for the team’s lone score. He was a sophomore quarterback in 2016 when he led Stevens High School of Claremont, New Hampshire to a state title.
“We try to be creative to give ourselves some opportunities,” Russell said.
“Salve Regina has lost their last few games but they are very, very talented.”
Two decades ago Russell and Salve Regina head coach Kevin Gilmartin were coaching on the same staff at Mount Ida.
It promises to be a moving Senior Day celebration with a group that is close to Russell’s heart.
“This is a great group of kids. They are special, future architects, future Army officers and everything in between. They encapsulate what makes Norwich great,” Russell said.
Middlebury can finish its season with three straight victories and a winning record on Saturday by beating Tufts.
The 4-4 Panthers will hope to benefit from another game like the one they got from Connor McClellan last week. He was a workhorse with 35 carries for 216 yards and two touchdowns in the 24-21 victory at Hamilton.
This will be the final year that Middlebury will not be eligible for the NCAA Division III playoffs. Beginning in 2026, the Panthers and other teams in the New England Small College Athletic Conference become eligible for the playoffs.
QUICK KICKS: Dartmouth takes a 5-2 record into Saturday’s home game against 3-4 Princeton. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. … Rutland’s Slade Postemski and CVU’s Jackson Sumner each have a Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year accolade. Now, they can get another piece of hardware on Saturday when they and their Bowdoin teammates clash with Colby in Waterville, Maine at 5 p.m. At stake is the CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) trophy. Bowdoin has already beaten Bates so it would claim the hardware by defeating Colby.
