Varsity Insider

Some people think it is a sad state of the affairs for MMU to willingly make money off the misfortune of one Otter Valley player on a single play.  This is not the NFL.

In case you missed it, here is the situation: MMU junior Jeff Sutherland picked up the football after Otter Valley’s premature celebration and ran in the winning touchdown with no time left as the Cougars stunned the Otters, 20-16, in a Division II game Sept. 26 to end a wild game.

Otter Valley took a 16-14 lead with 16 seconds left on a 20-yard field goal. MMU got off two offensive plays before it attempted a 46-yard field goal with 1.3 seconds left.

The kick fell short and an Otter Valley player fielded the ball near the goal line. He ran to the 11, where he spiked the ball to celebrate the apparent win. Sutherland scooped up the ball at the 8 and ran into the end zone. Otter Valley contended the ball was dead because it was fielded in the end zone. The referees ruled the ball was live and scored the play a touchdown because they thought the ball was caught by OV out of the end zone.

The Otter Valley player, family and team took a lot of heat for the play. It came not only from people in his community and school, but from all across the country. There were more than one million hits on YouTube in the first week of posting a television sportscast that included his name.

Just when it looked like the issue had died down, a new wave of attention happened with a contest to determine the best or worst play in high school football. The 50-second video won both the regional award and is now the overall winner in the country.

As one Northern Vermont football fan noted to in an e-mail to me: “I was utterly disgusted by MMU’s video contest winning, and appalled at their athletic department for allowing it to be submitted. Yes, it was very quick thinking on the part of the MMU player – but is anyone thinking about how devastating that whole experience was for the Otter Valley player?”

MMU athletic director Brian Cain said the video was submitted by a parent – not the school — to a national contest.

From all we have heard, the Otter Valley student-athlete is a quality kid. It looks like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. What would have happened had he taken a few more steps and had gone out of bounds, or that when he spiked it, the ball bounced out of bounds? There was a second Otter Valley player also back for the kick. What would have happened had he caught the ball? The questions are endless.

MMU, which has been without a home field, plans to use the money toward building its first permanent football field. The school needs to buy chains and yard markers, while also building a press box and a grandstand.

The planned use of the money is just one of many ironies in this story. The play came as Otter Valley was celebrating opening day of its new football facility, Markowski Field.

Wouldn’t it be a touch of class if MMU provide a share of the prize money to Otter Valley?

Half might be nice, but certainly $1,000 or $2,000 wouldn’t be out of line.

After all, isn’t it about sportsmanship?

What do you think?

The top two seeds (Otter Valley and U-32) were eliminated from the Division II high school field hockey tournament. That leaves No. 3 Windsor and No. 4 Milton at home for its semifinal games.

I was at Milton’s quarterfinal victory over Spaulding on Friday. Lots of positives for the Milton side: strong defense, controlling midfield and a finishing offense.

As mentioned in the game story, Milton has made a dramatic turnaround. The Yellowjackets went through winless seasons in 2007 and 2008. After Friday’s win — its first Div.-II playoff triumph since 1995 — the Yellowjackets can continue its “Cinderella” story, as coach Tiffany Stuart said, in Tuesday’s home semifinal game against Woodstock.

It will be Milton’s first semifinal at home since its 1982 championship season.

Windsor, which won three Div. II titles in the 90s’ and early 2000s, will play Springfield.

For Friday’s field hockey playoff roundup, click here.

For complete tournament results, click here.

WCAX’s video from Saturday’s unbelievable conclusion to the Mount Mansfield-Otter Valley high school football game has drawn quite the attention across the nation.

The video was uploaded to Youtube and, as of this afternoon, there’s been nearly 500,000 views.

The video has also been linked/posted on several big-time Web sites, like Sports Illustrated and Digg, a social networking site that allows people to share content — like videos and articles — from anywhere on the internet.

A key function of Digg.com — and probably the major reason its so popular — is the voting on stories/videos. This afternoon, the football video was the top-rated digg in the last 24 hours.

Here’s the Free Press’ recap and WCAX’s video.