Bulldogs Defeat Defending State Champs in Home Opener
MANCHESTER — Burr and Burton football has championship aspirations this fall. They proved that lofty goal is obtainable on Saturday, defeating the defending state champion Champlain Valley RedHawks 38-28.
The magnitude of the Week 1 victory isn’t lost on the Bulldogs.
“As our coach said, ‘that win’s just as big as some of the championships we’ve had in this program,” Bulldogs senior captain and starting quarterback Jack McCoy said. “For the defending champs to come out here on our turf, our house, and we come out with a win – that’s very exciting for us.”
McCoy was an integral part of the outcome favoring BBA, finishing with 282 all purpose yards and four total touchdowns.
Facing a third-and-5 from its own 25 on the game’s opening possession, CVU’s Oliver Cheer connected with Brian Rutherford over the middle for a first down. As Rutherford fought for extra yardage after the catch, a pack of Bulldogs swarmed to the ball. A BBA defender was able to rip the football out of Rutherford’s grasp, and McCoy, who also plays defensive back, fell on the loose ball at the CVU 37.
The BBA quarterback made CVU pay for that miscue nine plays later, finding Zak Chani on a 12-yard touchdown pass.
On the very next possession, BBA senior linebacker Peyton Gray jarred the ball away from CVU’s Dylan Frere, and this time it was Thomas Sheldon recovering the fumble for BBA near midfield. BBA capitalized once again, this time on a six-play, 46 yard drive. The bulk of the yardage came on a beautiful 34-yard pass from McCoy to tight end JT Wright down the right sideline. The Bulldogs faked a wide receiver screen and Wright, running a wheel route, was left open, eventually being brought down at the 1-yard line. McCoy snuck the ball in on a silent count two plays later, building BBA’s lead to 14-0 with under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
BBA coach Tom McCoy said those turnovers very well may have been the difference in the contest.
“We got fortunate, really lucky, that they turned the ball over a couple of times early, and we capitalized on it,” he said. “There’s no special recipe for any of that stuff. It’s just the team that usually makes the least amount of mistakes, in any sport, usually ends up winning the game.”
BBA answered with an efficient drive of its own, executing the two-minute offense to perfection. It took the Bulldogs just five plays and more importantly, only 50 seconds, to retake the lead. McCoy was a perfect 4-for-4 through the air on the drive, finishing the drive by hitting Kaleb Gabert in the seam for a 21-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the half.
Looking for a spark, CVU head coach Rahn Fleming opted to go for it on fourth-and-2 from its own 28 yard line midway through the third quarter with his team trailing 21-14. Cheer looked to Frere past the sticks, but Sheldon was step-for-step with him in man coverage, forcing an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
BBA once again made the RedHawks pay for the giveaway, as McCoy ran in untouched from 12-yards out three plays later on a speed option. That rushing touchdown built BBA’s lead to 28-14 with under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. A Seb Dostal 42-yard field goal on BBA’s next possession stretched its lead to three possessions early in the fourth.
CVU trimmed its deficit to 10, 31-21 after Rutherford found the end zone midway through the fourth quarter, but that’s the closest the visitors would get. The captain made an impressive, contested, catch over a BBA defensive back for a 22-yard score.
BBA didn’t blink. Chani fell on an onside kick attempt, giving the Bulldogs great field position to work with. Gray found the end zone three plays later, breaking four tackles on his way to a 38-yard rushing score to essentially ice the game with 4:50 left.
Cheer capped off a seven play, 80 yard drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone, but BBA chewed the remainder of the clock to secure the statement win.
CVU was one of the two teams to beat BBA in 2022. When asked if revenge served as an extra motivating factor on Judy McCormick Taylor Field Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs head coach didn’t shy away from the program’s goals.
“We’re always hungry,” McCoy said. “Our expectations every year with the program that we put together is to win the state championship. We just take it week-by-week and game-by-game and try to prepare the best that we can to win. But our mindset is to win the last game of the season.”
Next up for the Bulldogs is the only other program to hand them a loss last fall, Middlebury. The Tigers host BBA Friday at 7 p.m.
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