How Jason Sperry, No. 1 Middlebury football powered way to another D-I title game

MIDDLEBURY ― After the Middlebury football team picked up a fresh set of downs on its opening drive, Jason Sperry had his number called.

The junior running back went for 15 yards on his first carry. He then churned out a pair of 20-plus yard scampers to set up the Tigers’ first touchdown.

And on the third play from scrimmage to start the second half, Sperry motored 74 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Tigers to a three-score advantage.

“Jason Sperry has had a coming out party this year so far,” Middlebury coach Jed Malcolm said. “To me, he’s the top back in the state. I wouldn’t pick anybody else

“And he showed it tonight.”

Sperry refused to go down, Middlebury refused to give in, and the top-seeded team in Division I delivered on a muddy terrain — ideal for Tiger football — in a 27-7 victory over No. 5 Burr and Burton in the Vermont state semifinals at Doc Collins Field on Friday, Nov. 7.

Middlebury (9-1) will play No. 2 St. Johnsbury (9-1) for a state championship at South Burlington High School on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Tigers are chasing the program’s 11th crown in their 23rd finals appearance.

“The field conditions benefited us. But that’s why we do what we do, because guess what, the weather is in November in Vermont, it’s muddy and cold and wet,” Malcolm said.

Sperry went for 192 yards on 17 carries, Logan McNulty chugged for 58 yards and a pair of scores and Tucker Wright produced a sack and a big interception on defense to thwart a potential BBA scoring drive that kept the contest just out of reach for the visitors.

For BBA (6-4), quarterback Sam Dowd threw for 109 yards on 12-for-23 passing while rushing for 126 yards on 17 carries with a score in the final seconds to avoid the shutout. Owen Cassan had 90 yards from scrimmage and Sam Gilliam caught six balls for 53 yards.

“I think the conditions hurt us a little bit to be honest with you. I’m sure it slowed them down a little bit. It’s just tough conditions to throw the ball around and I think we had to have some success to throwing the ball … to get the (win),” BBA coach Tom McCoy said. “But that’s just how it goes, that’s the deal in November.

“We didn’t finish off drives.”

Indeed. The Bulldogs, who won in overtime in the quarterfinals at Essex last weekend, failed to produce any points on their first three trips into the red zone. After Brady Lloyd and McNulty scored TDs on Middlebury’s first two possessions — the latter set up by Marshall Eddy’s 32-yard reception on a broken play — Dowd engineered a long drive that started on the BBA 8-yard line with gutsy runs and playmaking to get the Bulldogs to the Middlebury 10-yard line with about 3 minutes to play in the first half.

But on second down, Middlebury sent Ben DeBisschop on a corner blitz from the edge, and Dowd fired over the middle, where linebacker Tucker Wright snagged the interception.

“We were planning on blitzing a little bit more than we did. The blitzing, obviously, was very effective. Where they were beating us was where we were voiding the area,” Malcolm said. “We started recognizing that and disguised some blitzes and sent some guys from different spots.

“We made them work for everything they did tonight.”

Playing without two-way star, and likely their best blocker, Cooke Riney for the third straight game, the Tigers’ offensive line, led by Kameron Raymond, executed and created holes for Sperry and Co.

Sperry fought through tackles for most of the night when he did bounce it outside, but the path for those big runs began up front.

“They knew where they needed to be and they went out there and blocked,” Sperry said. “Coaches teach us, you gotta get low and stay on your feet. Again, it’s the offensive line, it’s the lead blocks, it’s everything. It’s not just me out there.”

Sperry’s 74-yard TD dash — he reversed field on third-and-5 and found a seam down the home sideline to paydirt — gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 10:25 to play in third quarter. The Bulldogs turned it over on downs in the red zone on their next two possessions, the latter with 10:04 to go in regulation.

Middlebury then uncorked a 10-play, 98-yard scoring drive capped by McNulty’s 2-yard plunge for a 27-0 advantage with 3 minutes to play.

“That’s the name of the game,” Malcolm said of the Tigers’ tried-and-true formula. “We are not going to win a shootout with anybody. We just don’t have that kind of system. We love 5-yard pickups.”

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.