Bellows Falls successfully defended their Division III state cross-country title with another stellar championship effort on Oct. 26 at Thetford Academy.
BF sophomore Abby Broadley once again was the individual champion, covering the 5-kilometer course in a time of 19 minutes, 39 seconds, finishing ahead of runner-up Camille Bolduc of Craftsbury by 44 seconds.
Stephanie Ager (fifth, 21:28), Victoria Bassette (14th, 23:07), and Abby Dearborn (16th, 23:12) rounded out the scoring for the Terrier Harriers, who ended up with 31 points, edging out runner-up Rice, which had 37.
Broadley and Ager both qualified for the New England Championships in Manchester, Conn., on Nov. 9.
The BF boys finished third, behind Peoples and Thetford, with 56 points. Timothy Salter-Roy (ninth, 18:32), Justice Bassette (12th, 18:59), Collin Robertson (13th, 19:00), and Stone Bradbury (22nd, 19:46) were the top five finishers for the Terriers.
In the Division I meet, the Brattleboro boys finished ninth, led by Finn LaMorder (36th, 18:54) and Bram Tabachnick (38th, 18:59). The Colonel girls came in 11th, with Alexandra Miskovich (58th, 25:21) and Caitlyn Robinson (61st, 25:57) as the top finishers.
Boys' soccer
• The spotlight may be shining brightly on the undefeated Brattleboro football team, which won their first playoff game since 1973 with a 55-6 thrashing of North Country in a Division II quarterfinal on Oct. 25.
But there's another Colonels team that is on a roll right now. The varsity boys' soccer team is also seeking to make history.
The Colonel boys made only one appearance in the state finals, in 1998 when they lost to North Country, 4-3. They haven't played in a semifinal since 2010, when they lost to Essex, 5-1. Going into this year's tournament, the Colonels had a 9-27 record in the playoffs since 1979.
But this year, the story is different. This year, the Colonels are in the semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Colonels opened their Division I playoff run with a 5-2 win over No. 13 Rice in a first-round game on Oct. 22 at Sawyer Field.
No. 13 Rice may have been winless, but they gave the fourth-seeded Colonels a good scare before order was restored and Brattleboro picked up its first home playoff win since 1990.
Luke Williams and Nick Campbell scored for the Colonels in the opening 15 minutes, and it looked like the rout was on. But Rice's Sam Rubman scored a pair of goals in an 18-second span to tie the game in the 26th minute.
The Colonels then got down to business and scored three unanswered goals to end Rice's upset bid. Campbell scored his second goal for a 3-2 lead at the end of the first half. Alex Lier, who set up Campbell's first goal, followed with two of his own in the second half.
Brattleboro outshot Rice, 14-7, with only four of those shots by Rice coming after they had tied the game. The Colonels' defense and goalkeeper Paul McGillion played stoutly in the second half.
The Rice game was a wake-up call for the Colonels, for they came out on fire against the fifth-seeded St. Johnsbury Hilltoppers at Sawyer Field on Oct. 25 and came away with a 2-0 quarterfinal win that first-year coach Jay Cudworth called “the best start-to-finish game we've played all season.”
They were buoyed by one of the biggest crowds to watch a soccer game in years. With final-period classes cut short so BUHS students could attend, there were more than 500 people crowded onto the field's embankment, joined by the Colonel pep band, the girls' soccer and field hockey teams, and members of the football team.
All were treated to an electric, fast-paced, and intense match between two talented teams. The quality of play was as good as it gets for Vermont high school boys' soccer.
The first half was scoreless as the Colonels used their speed, their precise passing, and their defensive positioning to counter an equally fast Hilltopper squad. “We were organized in the back and controlled the midfield,” said Cudworth. “With our speed, we're a tough team to deal with.”
It was only a matter of time before a goal was scored, and the Colonels cashed in just two minutes into the second half when Lier pounced on a rebound off Toppers goalkeeper Asom Hayman-Jones and pushed it into the net with 37:25 to play.
Once they had the lead, the Colonels could concentrate on defense and continued to thwart the St. Johnsbury attack. Williams later scored an insurance goal with 8:27 to play to punch Brattleboro's ticket to the semifinals, where they were set to play top-seeded Champlain Valley on Oct. 29. The winner advances to Saturday's championship game in Burlington.
Cudworth, who succeeded longtime coach Paul Sather, credited the hard work his team put in during the preseason months for their success so far. “I'm beyond blessed to have inherited a talented team that's focused and has a passion for the game,” he said.
• Twin Valley gave up the first goal of the game, then proceeded to score eight unanswered goals as the top-seeded Wildcats rolled over eighth-seeded Blue Mountain, 8-1, in a Division IV quarterfinal at Hayford Field on Oct. 26.
Josh Ottoni scored Blue Mountain's goal in the second minute. Twin Valley played shutdown soccer after that, as Jack McHale had two goals and an assist to help lead the Wildcats.
Casey Sibilia, Colin McHale, Owen Grinold, Lucas Messing, and Sebastian Arbogast also scored for the Wildcats. Finn Fisher and Sibilia each picked up an assist and Jack Kehoe made one save in goal for the 12-2-1 Wildcats, who were scheduled to host fourth-seeded Rivendell in a semifinal on Oct. 29.
• Matt Spiller scored 3:48 into sudden death overtime to give eighth-seeded BFA-Fairfax a 2-1 win over No. 9 Leland & Gray in a Division III first-round game on Oct. 22.
Riley Barton tapped the ball in during a scramble in front of the goal to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead in the first half. The Bullets forced overtime via a penalty kick in the 77th minute.
Seniors Quinn Kelloway, Jairen Sanderson, Conall Halvey, Nick Tolbert, and Trey Crego all played their final games for the 4-10-1 Rebels.
Football
• Brattleboro had absolutely no trouble against the No. 8 North Country Falcons, since this was the kind of game that the newly-instituted mercy rule for football was designed for. Unfortunately for the Falcons, by the time it was invoked at the start of the second half, they were already trailing 55-0.
Quarterback Tyler Millerick ran 33 yards for the first of his three rushing touchdowns to make it 7-0 with 8:50 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing Falcons series, quarterback Jack Young was sacked and fumbled the ball. Lineman Timmy Velasquez recovered and Frost would later score on a 7-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 6:56 left.
Young then threw an interception on his next series, as Aaron Petrie picked him off. That turned into a 9-yard touchdown run by Millerick and a 21-0 lead with 5:30 to go. Once again, Young threw the ball on the Falcons' next series and, once again, he was intercepted. This time, it was Chris Frost who did it, and he ran it back untouched for a 50-yard TD and a 28-0 lead with 3:51 to play.
There was another turnover on the next North Country series, as Gavin Howard came up with the fumble recovery. Frost ran it in from the 18 for his first rushing touchdown and a 35-0 lead just 14 seconds after Frost's other TD. Brattleboro finished the first quarter with a 10-yard touchdown catch by Cobe Mager to make it 42-0 with 1:27 left.
The second quarter saw fewer pyrotechnics by the Colonels. Millerick scored a 3-yard touchdown run, but Reed Sargent, who made his first six extra points, missed on the seventh to make it 48-0 with 7:38 left in the half. In Sargent's defense, he might have been tired since he also played in the soccer game a couple of hours earlier.
Petrie's second interception of the night set up the Colonels' final touchdown as Velasquez took over for Frost and ran in for a 5-yard score and a 55-0 lead with 5:09 to play in the half.
Millerick joined Frost and the rest of the starters who got the rest of the night off after that touchdown. With the second half played under a running clock, North Country got its lone touchdown with 2:48 left in the third quarter on a 10-yard run by Young.
Even with limited duty, Millerick ran for 66 yards and passed for 66 yards, while Frost had 13 carries for 113 yards. The reserves got playing time, and a remarkable season keeps rolling on. Now 9-0, the Colonels will host No. 4 Fair Haven (5-4) in a semifinal game on Friday at 7 p.m. on Natowich Field. Brattleboro beat the Slaters 41-7 during the regular season.
• Lyndon scored on its first drive, and Bellows Falls responded with 41 unanswered points as the third-seeded Terriers cruised to a 47-14 win over the sixth-seeded Vikings in a Division II quarterfinal at Hadley Field on Oct. 25.
Jed Lober rushed for 209 yards and three touchdowns. McGregor Vancor ran for one score and caught a Griffin Waryas pass for another TD, while Jeb Monier had a pair of rushing touchdowns.
The 7-2 Terriers advanced to the semifinals for the eighth straight year. They will travel to East Montpelier to face No. 2 U-32 (8-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Girls' soccer
• Leland & Gray got its playoff run started by defeating their rivals, the 14th-seeded Green Mountain Chieftains, 1-0, in a Division III first-round playoff game on Oct. 22.
Arin Bates scored in the 68th minute, set up by Izzy Ameden, for the only goal in the match. Goalkeeper Sydney Hescock needed to make just two saves to earn the shutout.
Against sixth-seeded Stowe in the quarterfinals on Oct. 25, Ellie Longo scored twice off Bates' assists to win 2-1 in double overtime. Hescock had eight saves to secure the victory.
The 14-2 Rebels will travel to No. 2 Vergennes in a semifinal on Oct. 30. The winner advances to the championship game at Hartford High School on Saturday.
• Seventh-seeded Twin Valley beat No. 10 Hazen in a Division IV first-round game at Hayford Field on Oct. 22.
The Wildcats then traveled to West Rutland to face the second-seeded Golden Horde in the quarterfinals on Oct. 25 and lost, 3-1. Kiana Grabowski scored a pair of goals and Kiera Pipeling converted a penalty kick as the Golden Horde improved to 14-2. Twin Valley ended the year at 6-9-1.
• No. 13 Brattleboro lost to No. 4 Burlington, 5-0, in a Division I first-round playoff on Oct. 23. Payton Karson had two goals and an assist to lead the Seahorses, and Maggie Barlow added two more goals. Goalkeeper Eliya Petrie stopped 10 shots for the Colonels, who finished with a 3-11-1 record under first-year coach Anna Kayes.
Field hockey
• After a 7-7 regular season, it would be easy to say that the Bellows Falls championship run was about to end. Somehow, that news never reached the visiting sixth-seeded Terriers as they shut out third-seeded South Burlington, 2-0, in a Division I quarterfinal on Oct. 24.
In a rematch of last year's state final, Bellows Falls scored two goals in the first half and made them stand up with great defense and goaltending in the second half.
Maya Waryas got the first goal with 6:20 left in the first half and Grace Wilkinson got the insurance tally three minutes later for Bellows Falls. Meagan Kelly and Ashlynn Boucher were credited with assists. Jaia Caron had three saves in goal for the Terriers, while goalie Ainsley Hultgren had four saves for the 9-6 Wolves.
BF's quest for a second-straight Division I title continues on Oct. 30, when they face second-seeded Champlain Valley in the semifinal round at Middlebury College.
• Seventh-seeded Middlebury defeated No. 10 Brattleboro, 3-1, in a Division II first-round playoff on Oct. 22.
Middlebury scored a pair of goals in the first half and never let the Colonels get closer. Edie Cay scored Brattleboro's only goal in the second half. The Colonels ended the season at 4-11.
Senior bowling roundup
• Magic in Motion (28-12) had a 5-0 week to move into first place after Week 8 of the fall season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl. A 0-5 week dropped Ageless Wonders (27-13) into second place, while Us'ns (26-14) had a 5-0 week to move into third.
Whatevers (24-16) is now in fourth, followed by Trash-O-Matic (23-17), Crash & Burn (22-18), The Drifters (21-19), Stayin' Alive (20-15), One Pointers (17-18), Split Ends (13-27), and Delayed Reaction (12-28).
Pat Putnam had the women's high handicap game and series (633). Warren Corriveau Sr. once again had the men's high handicap game (246), while Ken Flagg had the high handicap series (651). Us'ns had the high team handicap game (854) and series (2,474).
In scratch scoring, Robert Rigby rolled games of 211, 226, and 214 to again lead the men with a 651 series, while Corriveau rolled games of 222 and 191 as part of his 575 series, and Jerry Dunham had a 186 as part of his 508 series. Charlie Marchant (191) and Fred Ashworth (192) were also high rollers for the men.
Josie Rigby had games of 194, 184, and 169 to compile the women's top scratch series at 547. and Carol Frizzell rolled a 162.