New England’s other perfect team
15-0 Vermont Ice Storm head to USA Bowl championship

Alex McIntire | photo editor

Vermont Ice Storm helmets await their Jan. 19 meet with the Detroit Black Ravens in the USA Bowl National Championship. Alex McIntire, photo

Despite the popular notion that the New England Patriots are the only undefeated football team in the Northeast, another team exists that disproves this belief.  The 15-0 Vermont Ice Storm not only has a better record than the highly touted Patriots, but a guaranteed chance to become national champions as well.

Since winning out during the regular season in the Empire Football League (EFL), including the EFL championship, the Ice Storm, a Division III-A club team (the highest semi-professional division in the country) has become the number two ranked semi-pro team in America out of about 600 Head Coach Doug Perez says. 

On Jan. 19, Vermont will take on the number one seeded Detroit Black Ravens at the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami, Fla. for the USA Bowl National Championship game.

After playing teams from only surrounding Northeast states, this will be the Colchester-based team’s first opponent from west of New York. With the title game being over a month away, the Ice Storm will have to find ways to keep ready in order to take on its most difficult opponent of the season.

An opportunity awaits

The opportunity to become a national champion in any sport doesn’t come around often.  The opportunity to become an undefeated national champion arrives even less often.  Only one team in the history of the NFL, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, has ever gone undefeated over the course of a season, an accomplishment that attests to the difficulty of going undefeated in any football season.

“Football is very injury oriented, but it’s also the most emotional of sports,” Perez says regarding the difficulties of going undefeated in football. “You have to be up, and it’s hard to be up, because it’s a bruising sport.  For three and a half months you have to be up.”

However, the job is not done yet.  The Ice Storm still has one final opponent to overcome; one that Perez admits he and the team knows nothing about.  Detroit’s only loss in its 11-1 record came against last year’s USA Bowl champions. 

With almost a month and half before the championship game, the Ice Storm will be looking for ways to stay in game shape for what will probably be the biggest game in most of these players’ football careers, says assistant coach and offensive coordinator Scott Aguglia.

For now the team is practicing sparcely but will build on practice time as game day comes closer, Perez says. He adds that generic practices with an emphasis on physicality will be the team’s best way to keep in game shape. 

"Everybody is supposed to be in the gym keeping themselves in shape and stretching and running on their own," Aguglia says. "We’re practicing one or two times a week, depending on the week.  And then as we get closer we’ll squeeze it up a bit."

With such a long time before heading to Miami, if a player happens to roll an ankle or experience any other minor injury, there is plenty of time for recovery, Perez says. Game video of Detroit will also contribute to the Ice Storm’s preparation and act as the team’s main source of scouting. 

Quarterback Brad Ruderman looks on as his team practices last Thursday at Sports and Fitness Edge in Williston, Vt. Alex McIntire, photo

Perusing perfection

While making it to the USA Bowl Championship game is a success in itself, Perez and his team are looking beyond the opportunity to play and focusing on a way to win, he says. 

In football, the postseason is often referred to as the second season.  Since Vermont has already been through a postseason where it defeated the Watertown Red and Black 9-8 in the EFL championship, Perez is calling this the third season.  He says his team isn’t looking to change much in its approach to the game. 

“I have to say I’ve never seen our team so pissed off and ready to play again, especially our defense who’s ready to get back out there,” quarterback Brad Ruderman says.  “It’s good.  We still haven’t been beaten, and we don’t expect to get beat.”

The Ice Storm will bring its West Coast style offense to Miami, where the team will focus on passing to set up its run offense.  According to Perez, the Ice Storm is one of the first club teams in the country to actually run this style of offense and run it effectively. 

The element of surprise by passing on first down from any point on the field and running on third and mid yardage downs is where Perez hopes to be successful. 

Perez says his approach on the defensive side of the ball will continue to be attributed to toughness and by utilizing a number of schemes that Vermont has mastered over the season.

“In the NFL you hear teams talk about, ‘Oh, we run a 3-4, we run a 4-3,’” Perez says. “My philosophy is that defensive players are as smart as offensive players.  We have a 3-4, and a 4-3, and a split six.  We’ve got four different defenses and we can run out of all of them.” 

How did they do it?

Backup quarterback Matt Paul works with his offensive linemen in one of only two practices the team held in November. Alex McIntire, photo

Being undefeated can generally affect a team in one of two ways in terms of its approach to its next game.  The New England Patriots are a firm example of remaining humble.  Perez on the other hand, admits his team’s cocky nature. 

After beating teams earlier in the season such as the New England Hawks and the Watertown Red and Black, Vermont gained some swagger.

“We’re 7-0 and when you look at the schedule, with the exception of one team we hadn’t played yet, we’d already beaten everybody we’re going to play,” Perez says about his team’s thoughts midway through the season.  “That’s when people started saying, ‘You know we could be undefeated.  It’s possible.’” 

After then rattling off a streak of seven consecutive wins in the second half of the season, Vermont was headed to the EFL championship, a game that was decided in the final seconds as Ruderman found Rob Joy in the end zone on a four-yard touchdown pass.  Four days later, the Ice Storm was formally invited to play for a national championship.