-The Brattleboro Bears girls' soccer team had a chance to clinch the Southern Vermont League A Division title on Oct. 11 when they hosted the Burr & Burton Bulldogs for a noontime Homecoming Weekend match at Natowich Field.
That achievement will have to wait as the two teams played to a 1-1 draw after 80 minutes of regulation time and two 10-minute overtimes.
"We had never won an SVL title before," said Bears coach Jay Cudworth. "We played really hard today, but we came up just a bit short."
Burr & Burton got the first goal of the game in the first half in a scramble in front of the Bears net, and Brattleboro tied it with 12:18 left in the game on a direct kick from 30 yards out.
What the game lacked in scoring was made up for with intense defense, with the Bulldogs collecting 23 fouls to Brattleboro's seven. The Bears had a 20-18 edge in shots on goal and Bears goalkeeper Naima Harris made 15 saves.
Brattleboro ended the week with an 8-3-1 record and ranked fourth in Division I with two games left in the regular season.
Bears fall to Rutland, 39-7
Brattleboro gave up four touchdowns in the first quarter and the Bears never recovered in a 39-7 loss to Rutland at Natowich on Oct. 10.
Rutland set the tone early when senior Grady Gallagher ran back the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown. It was the first of his four touchdowns in the game.
After Brattleboro stalled on its first drive, junior quarterback Giovanno Spallieri hit senior receiver Cellen Wood for a 35-yard gain. A pair of Gallagher runs, the second being a 19-yard burst up the middle for a touchdown, and Rutland had a 14-0 lead with 9:18 left in the first quarter.
The Brattleboro offense, led by sophomore quarterback Logan Casey, managed to get the ball down to the Rutland 19 on its second possession, but Casey was sacked and stripped of the ball on fourth down to give Rutland the ball on the Bears 26. Gallagher did the rest, as he took the handoff from Spallieri and ran for a 74-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 with 4:17 left in the first.
After a three-and-out for the Bears, Rutland struck again. This time, it was a 47-yard touchdown catch by Wood from Spallieri. Senior kicker Quincy Bruttomesso had his extra point kick blocked by Brattleboro's Colby Bristol, but Rutland had a 27-0 lead with 53.3 seconds left in the first.
Casey was intercepted by Rutland's Griffen Norton at midfield at the start of the second quarter, which set up a 42-yard reception by junior Aden Galiano and a 9-yard touchdown run by Gallagher to push the lead to 33-0 with 10:46 left in the first half.
Rutland was driving for another touchdown when Spallieri was injured and left the game after a hard hit by Bears senior defender John Harrison. Galliano and Gallagher would alternate taking the offensive snaps for the rest of the game for Rutland.
Brattleboro would hold Rutland to a touchdown the rest of the way, and the Bears broke up the shutout bid late in the third quarter on a 5-yard touchdown by Harrison. Hunter Roth's extra point cut the lead to 33-7 with 2:10 left in the third. Rutland closed out the scoring with 58.1 seconds left in the game on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Galliano to Wood.
Now 0-6, the Bears travel to Bennington this Friday at 7 p.m. for the annual Elwell Trophy game against the Mount Anthony Patriots.
Terriers top Lyndon, 32-14
• Bellows Falls remained one of two unbeaten football teams in the state with a 32-14 win over the Lyndon Vikings on Oct. 11 in Lyndonville.
After Lyndon's Beckett Stanley scored the first touchdown of the game, the Terriers took control. Sophomore halfback Jaden Bazin ran for two touchdowns and also threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Goyette. BF successfully converted three two-point conversion tries for a 24-7 lead late in the second quarter.
Lyndon scored again to make it 24-14 at the half, but the BF defense clamped down in the second half. The Terriers added another score with 4:15 left in the third quarter to nail down the win.
Now 6-0 and the top seed in Division III with three wins against Division II teams, BF has one last Division II foe to face in Mount Mansfield this Saturday in Jericho at 12:55 p.m.
Boys' soccer
• Brattleboro got off to a fast start against Burr & Burton on Oct. 11, when Oscar Dawson scored a goal in the first minute of the game. The undefeated Bulldogs then showed why they are the top-ranked team in Division I by scoring five unanswered goals to beat the Bears, 5-1, in a Homecoming Weekend match at Natowich Field.
The Bears trailed 2-1 at halftime, but the 11-0-1 Bulldogs scored in the first minute of the second half, and got two more goals to coast to the win.
"When you play the best teams, the margin for error is small," Bears coach Jonathan Elwell said after the loss. "Burr & Burton came out with great intensity in the second half, and we couldn't match that."
It was the fourth straight loss for the 5-7 Bears, with two games to play in the regular season. Earlier in the week, Brattleboro was shut out by Mount Anthony, 3-0, on Oct. 8.
• Twin Valley stayed undefeated last week. On Oct. 6, the Wildcats blanked White River Valley, 8-0. Carson McHale and Alex Sullivan scored two goals each, and Landon Brown and Brayden Brown each had a goal and an assist. Niko Gerding and Max Nido also scored and Colton Corey and Zack Mercier both had assists. Kaelyn Lackey and Davis Cole combined for three saves to earn the shutout.
The Wildcats followed that win with a tense 1-0 victory over Randolph in their closest match of the season. McHale scored the game's lone goal in the 51st minute and Lackey made four saves in goal.
• Leland & Gray let a 3-0 lead slip away against Mount St. Joseph, but got the winning goal on a free kick late in the game for a 4-3 victory on Oct. 6 in Rutland. The Rebels then defeated Long Trail, 3-1, in Dorset on Oct. 8, and played Green Mountain to a 3-3 tie to improve their record to 5-5-2.
Girls' soccer
• Green Mountain shocked visiting Bellows Falls with a 2-0 win on Oct. 10. Izzy Gibson and Jordan Farrar were the goal scorers for the 2-10 Grizzlies. BF's record fell to 9-2.
• Twin Valley lost to Mount St. Joseph, 3-2, on Oct. 7 in Rutland.
• Leland & Gray lost to Windsor, 3-0, on Oct. 8. Rebels goalkeeper Annabelle Brookes had nine saves.
Field hockey
• Brattleboro got its second win of the season with a 4-0 Homecoming Weekend victory over Rutland on Oct. 11 at Sawyer Field. Earlier in the week, the Bears lost a 2-1 home game to Hartford on Oct. 7, with junior Elizabeth LaClair scoring Brattleboro's only goal.
• Bellows Falls started its week with a 3-1 win over Burr & Burton on Oct. 6 in Westminster. Freshman Kenna Applegate, sophomore Callyn Lisai, and senior Avery Dole scored the goals for BF, while sophomore Avery Maxfield and senior Veronica Moore each picked up an assist. Junior goaltender Brook Parker had a pair of saves.
The Terriers followed that with a 3-0 win at Rutland on Oct. 8, but were upset by Fair Haven, 1-0, on Oct. 11. BF now takes a 10-2-1 record into the final week of the season.
Cross country
• Green Mountain's Desi Broadley continued her winning ways with a victory in the 5,000-meter girls race on Oct. 7 in Springfield. Broadley finished with a time of 20 minutes, 18 seconds, edging Hartford's Sylvia Johnson by 6.62 seconds. GM teammate Gillian Robb was fifth in the race in 24:59.51.
Next up is the Southern Vermont League championship meet on Oct. 17 at Bellows Falls Union High School, and the Vermont state championship meet on Oct. 25 at Thetford Academy.
Brattleboro Ski Hill plans fall work bee on Oct. 19
• On Oct 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., join Brattleboro Ski Hill supporters, volunteers, and board members in their annual fall Work Bee at Living Memorial Park.
"We will be putting the ski hill back together for the coming season," organizers said in a news release. "Some tasks include hanging T-bars, preparing the base, and general organization. You can also learn about other volunteer roles for the upcoming season, such as lift loader, base operations, and ski patrol. We work until we are done."
There will be coffee and doughnuts available to help volunteers power through the morning. Come out, and support the hill as they get ready for the season ahead. If you have questions, email brattleboroskihill@gmail.com.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 6 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Oct. 9 saw first place Ricochet (20-10) have a 2-3 week, while 3 Plus One (18-12) went 2-3 to move into second place. Slo Movers went 0-5 to fall into a third place tie with Stayin' Alive (both 17-13), followed by Wayne's World and Pinocent Bystanders (both 16-14), SOS and Strike Away (both 13-17), Strikers (11-19), and Lucky 7 (9-21).
Pat Bentrup had the women's high handicap game (246) and Candida Wall had the high handicap series (664), while Warren Corriveau Sr. had the men's high handicap game (258) and series (692). Stayin' Alive had the high team handicap game (930) and Pinocent Bystanders had the high handicap series (2,558).
Corriveau had the men's high scratch series (622) with games of 248 and 195, while Leo Southwick had a 622 series with games of 225, 202, and 195. Robert Rigby had a 619 series with games of 235 and 215. Kevin Napaver had a 609 series with games of 232 and 225, and Milt Sherman had a 606 series with games of 207, 203, and 196. Stan Kolpa had a 533 series, Mike Pavlovich had a 521 series, Gary Montgomery had a 518 series with a 190 game, and Rick Westcott had a 513 series.
Carol Gloski had the women's high scratch series (467), while Bentrup had the high scratch game (179). Gloski has a 167 game, Shirley Aiken had a 159 game and Debbie Kolpa rolled a 152.
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.