-A loss is a loss in high school football, but in the Brattleboro Bears 28-14 defeat at the hands of the Middlebury Tigers on Sept. 12 at Natowich Field, there were more positives than negatives for the Bears.
While a bad second quarter, where Middlebury scored four touchdowns, turned out to be the Bears's undoing, Brattleboro managed to hold a quality Division I opponent scoreless for three quarters, and made the Tigers sweat a little in the second half.
After a scoreless first quarter, where the Bears' defense managed to contain the Tigers, Middlebury scored on its first play of the second quarter, an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brady Lloyd to tight end Cooke Riney. That was followed by a 10-yard touchdown run by Jason Perry and another two more Lloyd touchdown passes, a 40-yarder to Logan McNulty and an 8-yard toss to Tucker Wright. Owen Butterfield was 4-for-4 on his extra points, as the Tigers took a 28-0 lead into halftime.
To the Bears' credit, they did not give up in the second half. While Middlebury was content to sit on its lead and try to run out the clock with running play after running play, Brattleboro was determined to finish strong.
The Bears finally got on the scoreboard with 1:02 left in the third quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run by running back John Harrison. A two-point conversion try failed. Brattleboro later got its second score when Harrison caught a 10-yard pass from Sean Cozza, and then caught a two-point conversion pass from Cozza to cut the Middlebury lead to 28-14 with 5:44 left in the game.
Brattleboro would get no closer, but they avoided getting shut out and built up some much needed confidence. The 0-2 Bears will need it, as their next game is this Friday night at 7 at Natowich Field against Hartford, which dropped down to Division II this year but remains a formidable foe for the Bears.
Terriers stop U-32, 30-14
• Bellows Falls got off to another fast start, and cruised to a 30-14 win over U-32 on Sept. 12 at Hadley Field.
The Terriers led 18-0 at the half. Quarterback Declan Lisai scored on a 1-yard run just three minutes into the game. Patrick Connors and Jaden Bazin also had rushing touchdowns as BF racked up 176 yards rushing in the first half. The BF defense also dominated, holding U-32 to just 31 yards of offense in the first two quarters.
Connors got his second touchdown of the night on BF's first possession of the second half with a 35-yard run. U-32 quarterback Drew Frostick broke up the shutout with a touchdown run late in the third quarter, but BF responded with a long, clock-eating drive capped off by Connors's third TD run, a 4-yarder, to make it 30-6. U-32 closed out the scoring with a touchdown pass from Frostick to Kane Knapp with 1:29 left to play.
Connors finished with 18 carries for 169 yards, Bazin had 19 carries for 137 yards, and Stefan James had five carries for 31 yards as the Terriers' offensive line once again gave the BF running backs plenty of space for them to pile up the yardage.
Next up for the 2-0 Terriers is a ride to Newport this Friday night to face North Country in BF's first road game of the season.
Girls' soccer
• Leland & Gray is off to a uncharacteristically rough start with four straight losses to start this season.
Last week, the Rebels lost 1-0 to the White River Valley Wildcats on Sept. 9 in Townshend. After a scoreless first half, Cassandra Armstrong scored with 32 minutes left in the second half. The Rebels struggled to put together scoring chances, while goalkeeper Annabelle Brookes was kept busy throughout the game by the Wildcats.
The Rebels then lost both of their games in the Green Mountain Tournament at Dorsey Park in Ludlow. In the opening round on Sept. 12 against Green Mountain, the Rebels were shut out, 1-0. Hadley Cenate had the game's only goal, coming in the first half. In the consolation game on Sept. 13, Proctor beat the Rebels, 2-1.
• After a week off, Brattleboro showed no signs of rust as the visiting Bears rolled over Springfield, 8-0, on Sept. 13 to improve their record at 3-2.
• Bellows Falls has started its season with four straight wins. On Sept. 8, Abby Nystrom converted a penalty kick in overtime to give the Terriers a 3-2 victory over Proctor. Grace Hayes and Gracie Patterson scored BF's other goals in regulation time. The Terriers then shut out visiting Twin Valley, 3-0, on Sept. 13
• Alejandra Bevilacqua scored in overtime off a corner bu Scarlett Cimino as Twin Valley defeated Mill River 1-0 in overtime on Sept. 10 at at Hayford Field. With the loss to BF, the Wildcats finished the week at 2-2.
Cross country
• The Brattleboro boys finished third behind Hanover, New Hampshire, and Burr & Burton in a multi-team meet at Thetford Academy on Sept. 9. Hanover was first with 33 points, followed by Burr & Burton (57) and Brattleboro (71)
Nico Conathan-Leach led the Bears with a second place time of 17 minutes, 27 seconds over the 5K course. Jonas Ackerman-Hovis was 13th at 19:24, followed by Willow Sharma (17th, 19:27), Liam Conathan-Leach (20th,19:49), and Jackson Farriera (26th, 20:59).
• The Brattleboro boys took 10 of the top 15 spots to easily win a meet in Westminster on Sept. 12. Brattleboro finished with 16 points to Woodstock's 39. They were the only two schools with enough runners for a team score.
Nico Conathan-Leach was the overall winner in 18:33, followed by Ackerman-Hovis (second,18:56), Farriera (third, 19:40), Charlie Vaughn (fourth, 20:08), and Walter Korb (sixth, 20:20). Bellows Falls' top finisher was freshman Calvin Sargent, who was 17th in 26:46. Leland & Gray's Asher Titov-Chiaravalle was 24th in 39:09.
• Green Mountain's Desi Broadley continued her winning ways in taking the girls' championship in the Harwood Invitational on Sept. 13 in Moretown. Broadley finished with a time of 20:20.30. She was also the top Division III finisher in the Thetford meet, finishing fourth in 21:28.
Boys' soccer
• Brattleboro split their two games in the John James Tournament in Bennington. On Sept. 11, the Bears lost to Mount Greylock in the opening round game. Brattleboro then beat Mount Anthony, 4-1, in the consolation game on Sept. 13 to finish the week at 3-1.
• Leland & Gray lost to West Rutland, 4-1, on Sept. 8 in Townshend. Kenrick Ewing scored the only goal for the Rebels, who beat Long Trail School, 3-1, on Sept. 13 to get their first win of the season.
Field hockey
• Brattleboro continues to play close games, but hasn't been able to win any of them. On Sept. 9 in Westminster, the Bears held Bellows Falls scoreless through regulation time, but Haven Harty scored with four minutes left in overtime to give the Terriers a 1-0 victory.
On Sept. 13, the Bears lost to Fair Haven, 1-0, at Sawyer Field. The game's only goal was scored by Megan Wetmore on an assist from Riley Babbie with 7:10 left in the second quarter. Brattleboro is now 0-5.
• After ekeing out the overtime win against Brattleboro, the Terriers lost to Otter Valley, 5-2, on Sept. 13 to finish their week at 3-1.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 2 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Sep. 11 saw Ricochet (9-1) move into first place with 3 Plus One (8-2) close behind in second. Stayin' Alive (6-4) is in third place, followed by Lucky 7, Innocent Bystanders, and Strikers (all 5-5), Strike Away and Slo Movers (both 4-6), and SOS and Wayne's World (both 2-8).
Carol Gloski had the women's high handicap game (239) and series (671), while Larry McIntosh had the men's high handicap game (239) and Peter Deyo had the high handicap series (682). Strikers had the high team handicap game (917) and Slo Movers had the high handicap series (2,522).
Chuck Adams had the men's high scratch series (658), with games of 237, 222, and 199, while Deyo had a 613 series with games of 209, 203, and 198, and Milt Sherman had a 604 series with games of 209. 206, and 198. Robert Rigby had a 594 series with games of 217 and 203, Rich Pietro had a 545 series with games of 207 and 203, Gary Montgomery had a 521 series with a 203 game, and Rick Westcott had a 510 series.
Gloski had the women's high scratch series (521), with games of 189 and 183. Shirley Aiken had a 157 game, Pat Bentrup had a 156 game, and Deb Kolpa rolled a 155.
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.