By Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

Vermont coach Mike Law had a list of priorities when he was selecting his team for this year's Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, and linemen were at the top of that list.

"We were looking for linemen on both sides of the ball who could really move their feet," Law explained. "New Hampshire always seems to have some good athletes up front.

"A lot of times you're choosing between small kids who can move or big kids who can't move. The pool (of linemen) wasn't bad this year, but I don't think it was very deep."

Law, who is the head coach at U-32 High School in Montpelier, said he received 92 nominations this year. He had to whittle that number to 36 last weekend. He said the team will be announced in early February.

This year's Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl will be played Aug. 2 at Dartmouth's Memorial Field. Laconia's High School Craig Kozens is New Hampshire's head coach. New Hampshire leads the series 39-13-2.

"You always have those really good athletes that come to the top," Law said. "There were 20 to 22 players who were obvious, then it got tough."

U-32 played eight-man football when Law became the program's head coach in 1994. There were six Vermont schools with eight-man football at that time. U-32 petitioned to play 11-man football in 2003.

U-32 finished with a 7-3 record after it lost to Spaulding (17-13) in the Division II semfinals last season. Spaulding went on to win the Division II championship.

Law said Vermont will likely run a Wing-T offense in this year's Shrine Game and that his team won't be one-dimensional.

"I know some Vermont coaches have thrown the ball all over the place in this game, but I don't know if you can live off that," Law said. "I think you have to have some balance. If New Hampshire knows what's coming it's going to be like the NFL and your quarterback is going to take a beating. We do have some kids who can run. Our skill kids all have some pretty good speed."

The players for both teams will report to training camp on July 23.