-The 2025 high school football season began in Vermont on Aug. 11, the start of three weeks of practice for the players before the varsity season begins on the first weekend of September.
Old-timers may grumble about the end of two-a-day football practices in the August heat. They are just a memory now, thanks to the Vermont Principals' Association's (VPA) new heat acclimation period.
The policy, which applies to all fall high school sports in the state, mandates a five-day window during the initial days of preseason activity. The policy limits practices to one per day for a maximum of three hours each day. It does allow for walk-throughs, which must be conducted at least three hours after the conclusion of practice.
I remember broiling in the Georgia sun at Fort Benning when I was in basic training at the U.S. Army Infantry School back in the summer of 1982. The drill sergeants would have laughed at the idea of easing up in hot weather. But there is a big difference between training for combat and getting ready for football season. There's no reason for overtraining and risking the health of a student-athlete. With hotter Augusts and Septembers in Vermont, it just makes sense to slowly ramp up the physical activity to get bodies acclimated to the heat.
• Bellows Falls drops down to Division III this season, after reaching the Division II semifinals last season. Head coach Bob Lockerby said he was worried that he might be shorthanded this season, but just before the start of preseason practices, 10 freshmen signed up at the last minute, along with a couple of upperclassmen who have football experience but didn't play last year.
The Terriers opened their preseason with 39 players who will be spread among the varsity and junior varsity teams. Lockerby said that both squads have been practicing together through the first week, and he is encouraged by what he and his coaching staff are seeing.
Senior Declan Lisai is the likely starting quarterback, succeeding Eli Allbee, who graduated along with key players such as fullback Josh Streeter and tight end/outside linebacker Will Hallock. In addition to Lisai, other returnees who will be carrying the offensive load include sophomore tailback Jaden Bazin, senior fullback Stefan James, and senior slotback Patrick Connors.
As has been the case in recent years, many of the starters will be playing both ways, and most of the Terrier linemen will be working hard on both offense and defense. But line play has usually been a strength for the Terriers, as befits a team with a long history of effectively running the football.
The Terriers will have scrimmages against Burr & Burton in Manchester at 4 p.m. on Aug. 23 and against Mount Anthony at Hadley Field at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29.
BF begins the regular season at home against Windsor on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. and hosts U-32 on Friday, Sept. 12, before taking the long ride to Newport to face North Country on Sept. 19.
The traditional rivalry game against Springfield for "The Trophy" will be played on Sept. 26 at Hadley Field. This long-running series began in 1894. BF holds a 62-45-2 record in the series. It's been one-sided in recent years, as Springfield hasn't beaten the Terriers since 2009.
The Springfield game will be followed by another home game against Fair Haven on Oct. 3.
Bellows Falls then finishes its season with three road games - on Oct. 11 at Lyndon, Oct. 18 in Jericho against Mount Mansfield, and on Oct. 24 against Woodstock.
Lockerby takes a positive view of the Terriers dropping down to Division III this season. He says BF still has a tough schedule with Division II teams such as Fair Haven, Lyndon, North Country, and U-32, but the change gets traditional rivals such as Windsor and Woodstock back on the schedule. And the rivalry game with Springfield will have even more meaning this year as a divisional game that will have payoff implications.
• Brattleboro remains in Division I this season, and hopes to improve upon a 2024 season where they went 0-8.
The Bears will play Saturday scrimmages on Aug. 23 at Woodstock at 10 a.m., and against Monadnock Regional at Natowich Field on Aug. 30 at 5 p.m.
Brattleboro opens the regular season at St. Johnsbury on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m., and plays their first home game on Sept. 12 against Middlebury, followed by a Sept. 19 game at Natowich against Hartford.
The Bears will have two tough road games at Fair Haven on Sept. 26 and at Burr & Burton on Oct. 4 before returning to Natowich to face Rutland on Oct. 10.
The Elwell Trophy game against Mount Anthony is Oct. 17 at Spinelli Field in Bennington. Brattleboro will conclude the regular season on Oct. 24 when they host North Country.
We'll take a closer look at the upcoming season for the Bears in next week's roundup.
• With the changes in the divisional alignments for 2025 - with Hartford dropping down to Division II and Bellows Falls shifting to Division III - there now will be three divisions in Vermont, each with 10 teams, through the 2027 season.
You may have noticed the schedules are a little different for Brattleboro and Bellows Falls. That's because of the creation of new leagues that cut down on the long road trips and encourage schools to play more of their natural rivals.
For Brattleboro, they will not have to face any team from Chittenden County until the playoffs, while still playing a mostly Division I schedule. Their longest road trip will be the opener in St. Johnsbury.
For Bellows Falls, despite dropping down a division, they still have a strong schedule but will have three northern trips this season - to Jericho, Lyndon, and Newport.
The playoff format remains the same, with the top eight teams in each division qualifying for the postseason. The state championship games will be played at South Burlington high school on Saturday, Nov. 15.
VPA introduces changes for school sports
• The Vermont Principals' Association had its annual Media Day last week. Here are a few of the new developments affecting their 72 member high schools for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.
• Eighth-graders will again be allowed to compete at the varsity level in field hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, and softball if a school is unable to field a junior varsity team. With falling enrollments in Vermont's schools, using eighth-graders on varsity teams has been a necessity, particularly for sports such as field hockey that struggle with participation rates.
For every program such as Bellows Falls and Hartford that maintains a strong program, there are schools such as Springfield that will not field a team this year for the first time since the early 1970s. The Cosmos, a Division III team, compiled a 0-55-1 record over the past four seasons. There has been discussion that field hockey could consolidate into two divisions if participation rates don't improve.
• The spring sports schedules for baseball and softball will be reduced from 16 to 14 games for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Between rain-outs (and snow-outs), school vacations, and transportation issues, schools struggled to play a full 16-game schedule this past season.
• Unruly fan behavior at games has been a major point of emphasis for the VPA for the past few years. Nearly all the incidents reported around Vermont have involved adults. It has been the VPA's policy that games will be stopped if questionable behavior takes place, with the potential for forfeits and suspensions if the behavior continues.
That policy remains unchanged, and the ongoing emphasis on supportive fan behavior at games has led to fewer problems. But the jerks are still among us. Reports of game officials being followed to their cars by irate fans has led the VPA to look into arrangements for designated parking areas and post-game escorts for officials.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 16 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Aug. 14 saw Team 7 (53-27) remain in first place despite a 2-3 week, while Slo Movers (51.5-28.5) had a 5-0 week to stake sole possession of second place. Cyclones (47.5-32.5) is in third place, followed by Dims (43-37) in fourth, followed by Leftovers (42-38), Wayne's World (39-41), I.D. Care (36-44), Having Fun (34-46), 4 Queens (29.5-50.5), and Strikers (24.5-55.5).
Debbie Rittenhour had the women's high handicap game (277) and series (738), while Kevin Napaver had the men's high handicap game (278) and Mike Pavlovich had the high handicap series (757). Slo Movers had the high team handicap game (910) and series (2,685).
Napaver had the men's high scratch series (710), with games of 278, 218, and 214, while Pavlovich had a 670 series with games of 224, 214, and 213. Chuck Adams had a 625 series with games of 224, 202, and 199, Milt Sherman had a 564 series with games of 205 and 191, and Gary Montgomery had a 527 series with a 212 game. Rick Westcott had a 506 series with a 209 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 504 series with a 194 game, and Stan Kolpa had a 191 game.
Rittenhour had the women's high scratch series (513) and game (202). Carol Gloski rolled a 181, while Diane Cooke had a 170 game.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at news@commonsnews.org.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.