After blanking Otter Valley, 49-0, in last Friday’s semifinal, Woodstock is one win away from repeating as VPA Division III state champions.
Standing in the way of that accomplishment come Saturday’s final at South Burlington High is Bellows Falls, who defeated Mt. Abraham, 44-14, in their semifinal matchup last Friday.
These two squads, which both ended the regular season 7-1, had an absolute barnburner in October, which saw Woodstock come away with a 60-52 win.
That victory has its benefits. Wasps’ Head Coach Ramsey Worrell said his team has some confidence knowing they have competed with Bellows Falls once, but that comes with a caveat.
“Beating a team twice in one season is never easy, and beating a team as good as they are twice in one season is never easy,” he said.
Worrell said his squad also has lost the element of surprise.
“They hadn’t seen us or played us in a long time, and now they have,” he said.
The defending champion Wasps are back in the state title game after a winning streak that began after suffering a week one loss, 35-14, to U-32, a team that played in the Division II playoff bracket this season.
“By the second week, we had figured some things out, or at least we were heading in the direction of figuring things out,” Worrell said. “It seemed like this group just was very coachable, very hardworking, and really, they’ve been doing that the entire season.”
The Terriers were in the Division II bracket of the VPA playoffs last season and made the semifinals before realignment last summer moved them to D-III.
Outside of its one blip against the Wasps, the Terriers have terrorized teams, with its slimmest margin of victory being 16 points against U-32.
Worrell said there was no way to predict whether the teams will have a high-scoring rematch similar to their regular season game.
“That night was just one of those nights,” he said. “When you get into championship games, anything can happen. … you’ve just got to hope that you prepared your guys for any situation.”
That championship unpredictability also breeds the unlikeliest of heroes.
Wasps senior wide receiver and defensive back Asher Emery, who had a rushing, receiving, and interception return touchdown in his squad’s semifinal win, or Terriers sophomore Jaden Bazin, who rushed for nearly 190 yards and had multiple scores last Friday, could be tabbed to have big games.
But the difference maker could be someone off the radar.
“There’s something about this game that can bring out the best in kids,” Worrell said. “I’ve seen average football players and kids that we played the first time who didn’t do much have the game of their life in this game.”
Worrell said his team has had a good week of practice, and in order to go back-to-back, it will come down to consistency.
“Whether it’s defensively tackling, alignment, (or) offensively, your techniques — just consistency in every facet of the game,” Worrell said.
Kick off for Saturday’s Division III state championship game at South Burlington High is scheduled for 2 p.m.