-It doesn’t always show in the win column, but the Brattleboro field hockey team can make life difficult for the opposition.
A good example of this came on Sept. 29 at Sawyer Field as the Bears held the Bellows Falls Terriers scoreless in the first half and were tied 1-1 heading into the final 15 minutes before BF got a pair of goals for a 3-1 victory.
“We keep getting better and better,” said Bears head coach Erin Cooke.
BF controlled the flow of play in the first half, but managed only two shots on Bears goalie Lilly Bogert. The Terriers picked up the pace in the third quarter and finally broke through with 11:08 remaining when Avery Maxfield scored off a penalty corner from Haven Harty.
Brattleboro answered that goal with 3:11 left in the third with an all-out blitz on the BF cage by Mary Cady, Lizzy LaClair, and Suha Rifaiy. Cady started the play when she got the ball into the circle. BF goalie Brook Parker was caught out of position as LaClair and Rifaiy charged toward the empty cage. LaClair pushed the ball ahead and Rifaiy extended her stick to tip it in.
“That was a nice ‘one touch and trust your teammate’ goal,” said Cooke. “It was beautiful to watch.”
The Terriers have had trouble this season scoring goals, but when they do score, it’s usually off a penalty corner and that is how BF got two goals in the final three minutes of the final quarter. Kenna Applegate scored the winning goal off a Maxfield corner with 2:52 to play, and Haven Harty also scored with no time on the clock.
• Cooke’s takeaway from the BF game is that the Bears generated more offense against the Terriers than in any meeting they’ve had in the past few years. Unfortunately, that didn’t carry over in the Bears’ Oct. 1 game against Burr & Burton in Manchester as the Bulldogs won, 8-2. Fiona Corbett had five goals to lead Burr & Burton. Cady scored off an assist from Suha Rifaiy for the Bears; Rifaiy also had a goal of her own. Bogert has two saves in goal as Brattleboro fell to 0-7-2.
• The Terriers journeyed to White River Junction on Oct. 2 to take on the Hartford Hurricanes, and lost the rematch with their Division II rival, 1-0. BF is now 6-2-1, with their only losses so far this season coming against two teams in their division, undefeated U-32 and Hartford.
Football
• Bellows Falls had a Week 4 opening in their schedule. Instead taking the week off, the Terriers scheduled an Oct. 2 home game against Saranac Lake, New York, another team that needed to fill a hole in its schedule.
The 3 1/2 hour bus ride from the Adirondacks to Westminster didn’t seem to faze the Red Storm, as they put up a good fight against the Terriers before BF ultimately prevailed, 27-18.
The Terriers were missing several key players, but they took advantage of this game with an out-of-state opponent to try some new things and give some of the younger players a chance to get some experience.
Saranac Lake got its first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter on a 44-yard reception by Owen Lawrence from quarterback Evan Harvey, but Jackson Fletcher blocked the point after kick as the Red Storm took a 6-0 lead.
BF needed just four plays to take the lead as wide receiver Brody Davignon reeled in a play action pass from quarterback Jacob Kissell for a 71-yard touchdown. The Terriers then tried something different for the two-point conversion — lining up senior right guard Brock Lovell in the quarterback spot. He took the direct snap and rumbled into the end zone to make it 8-6 with 10:09 left in the quarter.
The Red Storm responded with a 10-yard touchdown run by Elias Martell. The two-point conversion attempt failed, but they had a 12-8 lead with 5:11 remaining in the first half.
The Terriers then took the lead to stay with a long scoring drive to end the first half. Bryar Barnett ran for a 5-yard touchdown, and Lovell again ran in the two-point conversion to make it 16-12 at the break.
BF scored in the third quarter with another 8-yard rushing touchdown from Barnett, and Lovell’s third conversion run of the night gave BF a 24-12 advantage with 4:02 remaining in the third. The Red Storm answered with a 22-yard touchdown run by Harvey, but Fletcher again blocked the extra point kick so that the Terriers swere ahead, 24-18, with 33.3 seconds left in the quarter.
The final quarter was a slog for both teams, but BF coach Bob Lockerby had one last surprise. Facing a 4th-and-goal on the Saranac Lake 8, he sent out rarely-used kicker Quincy Knapp, who booted a 25-yard field goal with 5:15 left to give the Terriers some breathing room. Kissell, playing defense, then sealed the win when he intercepted a Harvey pass at the 1-yard line with 2:34 to play.
Barnett finished with 114 yards of rushing, Kissell threw for 109 yards, and Davignon had 92 receiving yards to lead the 4-1 Terriers, who host Lyndon this Friday at 7 p.m.
• Burr & Burton scored 35 points in the second quarter to turn a competitive game into a rout as the Bulldogs blasted the Brattleboro Bears, 54-7, at Natowich Field on Oct. 2.
Brattleboro trailed 7-0 after one quarter after the Bulldogs scored on their opening drive with a 4-yard run by quarterback Sam Dowd. A roughing the kicker penalty on fourth down by the Bears extended the scoring drive and shifted the momentum of the game.
Burr & Burton’s offense got into gear in the second quarter and rapidly piled up the points. Dowd finished the game with three touchdown passes to Kaden Downey, Sam Gilliam, and Blaine Niquette. Jack Johnson ran for two touchdowns and returned a punt for another score. Gilliam also contributed on defense when he recovered a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown.
The Bears broke up the shutout bid in the third quarter, when quarterback Logan Casey connected with wide receiver Kymarion Hall for a 46-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown the Bears had scored at Natowich this season. Now 0-5, the Bears travel to Rutland for a Thursday night game on Oct. 8.
Boys’ soccer
• Twin Valley stayed undefeated with an 8-0 win over Green Mountain on Sept. 30 at Hayford Field. Niko Gerding scored four goals to lead the Wildcats, Alex Sullivan had a goal and an assist and Jordan Denny, Gabe Walling, and Brayden Brown also scored. Goalkeeper Davis Cole made five saves to earn another shutout victory.
The 10-0 Wildcats have outscored their opponents 66-8 so far this season, led by Brayden Brown (20 goals, 10 assists), Gerding (19 goals, two assists) and Sullivan (16 goals, six assists).
• Brattleboro had a tough week, with two road losses after a 6-1-1 start to their season. The Bears traveled to Rutland on Sept. 29 and lost 3-1, then lost 2-1 at Division II Springfield on Oct. 1.
• Leland & Gray played a 1-1 draw at Springfield on Sept. 29.
Girls’ soccer
• Riding a four-game winning streak, Bellows Falls is looking like a contender in Division III. On Sept. 29, they nipped Mount St. Joseph, 3-2, as Abby Nystrom scored three unassisted goals and goalkeeper Grace Hayes made eight saves.
The Terriers then shut out Twin Valley, 1-0, on Oct. 2 in Westminster to improve their record to 6-4. Grace Patterson scored the game’s only goal and Hayes made 12 saves in goal.
• Earlier in the week, Twin Valley held off Arlington, 2-1, on Sept. 29 at Hayford Field. Goals by Avery Brown and Joslyn Codogni in the first half goal and strong defense in the second half proved to be the difference for the Wildcats, who finished the week at 8-2.
• Leland & Gray played to a 1-1 draw with White River Valley on Sept. 29, and defeated Green Mountain, 2-1, on Oct. 1 to boost their season record to 4-6-1.
• Brattleboro played a 1-1 draw with Mount Anthony in Bennington on Oct. 1, to improve their record at 1-6-2.
Golf
• Bellows Falls continued its surprising resurrection of its golf team this fall after five decades of dormancy with a third place finish in the South qualifier at Crown Point Country Club in Springfield.
Hartford was the top qualifier in the South at 81-over, led by Teelin Nowlan’s 86 and Cody Hathorn’s 91. Green Mountain was the second qualifier at 88-over, led by Cooper Garvey’s 78. Bellows Falls was the third and final qualifier at 96-over, led by Morgan Haskell’s 91 and Colton Shanks’ 92.
The state championships are set for Thursday, Oct.. 8, at Ralph Myhre Golf Course.in Middlebury.
Holt hired as new Twin Valley AD
• Twin Valley Middle High School has a new athletic director, Clifford “CJ” Holt, who is succeeding longtime AD and educator Buddy Hayford, who has retired from that job.
For the past five years, Holt was athletic director at Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton, Massachusetts. In a news release, Holt said he has been coaching high school sports for more than three decades, and has experience coaching varsity-level soccer, tennis, softball, girls’ lacrosse, and boys’ and girls’ basketball.
Holt has also taught physical education and health at the high school and middle school levels. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts and a masters degree from Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio.
Holt began his new post with the start of this fall sports season. He said Hayford, and the other coaches and administration at the school, has helped make the transition a smooth one for everybody at Twin Valley.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 5 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League on Oct. 1 at Brattleboro Bowl saw In the Worx and Assisted Living (both 19.5-5.5) remain in a tie for first place, followed by Rolos (16-9), Gutt-ER-Done (13.5-11.5), Stuff Happens (12.5-12.5), SDWM (12-13), Girls & Boys and Four On The Floor (both 11-14), and Slow Moves and Single Pin (both 7-18).
Mary Piluski had the women’s high handicap game (251) and series (689), while Pete Cross had the men’s high handicap game (246) and series (665). Girls & Boys had the team high handicap game (890) and Rolos had the high handicap series (2,517).
Kevin Napaver again had the men’s high scratch series (645), with games of 225, 216, and 204, while John Walker had a 605 series with games of 226 and 217. Robert Rigby had a 572 series with games of 226 and 189, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 568 series with games of 204 and 195, Peter Deyo had a 553 series with games of 204 and 202, Chuck Adams had a 543 series with games of 198 and 186, Rick Westcott had a 529 series and Mike Pavlovich had a 511 series.
Carol Gloski had the women’s high scratch series (546), with games of 211, 166, and 169. Notable games included Shirley Aiken (176), Diane Miller (166), Debbie Kolpa (160) and Darlene Ladabouche (157).
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.