The Bellows Falls girls' soccer team had a breakthrough season last year. After slogging through a 1-12-1 record in 2010, the Terriers finished with an 11-4-1 record and advanced to the Division III semifinals for the first time in the program's history.
So last Monday's game against Brattleboro was a good measuring stick for where the 2012 Terriers are at as a team.
While the final score - Brattleboro 5, BF 1 - suggests it was a rout, let the record show that for the first 55 or so minutes of this game, the Terriers held their own against a better skilled team.
“We made them work for the result,” said BF coach John Broadley.
Brattleboro built up a 2-0 halftime lead on an early goal by Halie Lange and a late goal by Libby Annis. If not for some outstanding goalkeeping by BF's Enny Mustapha, the Colonels might have scored at least four more goals.
BF forward Corina Stack took advantage of some slack defense by the Colonels to cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second half. However, the Colonels responded by coming right back with a goal from Hannah Lynde, assisted by Lange.
“If we had held it at 2-1, we might have had a chance, but that third goal burst the balloon,” said Broadley.
The Colonels took care of business after that, and spent the remainder of the half blitzing the BF net. Again, Mustapha turned away several great chances, but Maddie Rollins and Bailey Paige both eventually scored for Brattleboro.
“BF is a good team, but I think in the end, our passing was sharper and we stepped up the pressure in the second half,” said Brattleboro coach Edwin de Brujin. “But I've known John for a long time, and his teams never give a game away. They will make it tough on you.”
Cosmos pull the plug
Given the long and proud history of football at Springfield High School, it seems inconceivable that the school was forced last week to shut down its varsity football program for the season due to a shortage of players.
However, that's the situation that the school faced. At a community forum on Sept 17, school administrators, including principal Bob Thibault, athletic director Joe Brown, and first-year coach Kevin Tallman, announced they were pulling the plug on the varsity season.
The school is playing a Division II schedule this year, and the Cosmos lost their first two games by a combined score of 108-6. Heading into their Sept. 15 game with Lyndon Institute, they were down to just four upperclassmen - three seniors and a junior - out of the original 34-player roster. Springfield chose to forfeit to Lyndon rather than risk more players getting hurt.
Given the size and speed of the opponents they now face in Division II, a team can't take the field with 14 freshmen and expect to be competitive.
“It's not about the scores for me, it's about safety,” Thibault told the Burlington Free Press. “We have young guys going up against full size, Division II opponents who are big. It's hard for us to physically compete.”
Tallman agreed.
“We don't want to put our kids in harm's way,” Tallman, who has been involved with football for nearly four decades, told the Free Press. “We took some time and really agonized over this. “We need to do the right thing here. ... At this point we can't compete at the Division II level.”
With the cancellation of Springfield's season, opponents will receive wins based on forfeits, so Bellows Falls will pick up a victory in the final week of the regular season, instead of hosting the traditional rivalry game for “The Trophy.”
The Springfield brain trust is hopeful that there will be more players in future years and that this is, they hope, a one-time aberration. But this is yet another sign that more than a few schools in Vermont are struggling to keep their football programs going in the face of declining interest and enrollments.
Football
• In contrast to Springfield's woes, Hartford has a football program considered by many as one of the best in Vermont. They proved that last Friday night at Natowich Field when the Hurricanes pounded Brattleboro, 45-7.
Hartford scored on each of their first five possessions to take a 34-0 lead at the half. Quarterback Greg Shinn threw three touchdown passes and ran for another TD. Tailback Josh Claflin also scored on a 10-yard run. The Hurricanes generated 350 yards of total offense in those first 24 minutes, as Claflin carried the ball 10 times for 123 yards.
On defense, linebacker Nolan Viens, who was a standout for the Bellows Falls/Hartford wrestling team last season, dominated the line of scrimmage for the Hurricanes and shut down the Colonels' running game. Brattleboro's only scoring came in the third quarter, when quarterback Tyler Higley connected with Noah Simeon for a 48-yard completion that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Elliot Gragen.
The 0-4 Colonels host St. Johnsbury this Friday night at 7.
• Bellows Falls crushed Windsor, 51-14, on Saturday in the annual Dale Perkins Trophy game at MacLeay-Royce Field.
BF took a 39-7 halftime lead on three touchdown runs by Zach Rawlings, a 32-yard fumble recovery by Kyle Reeves, another rushing touchdown by Carson Fullam, and a touchdown pass from Ethan Illingworth to Mike LeBeau.
In the second half, Illingworth scored on a quarterback keeper, and Fullam ran in another score as the Terriers scored 51 points for the second straight week.
Now 3-1, the Terriers host U-32 for a Saturday afternoon game at 1 at Hadley Field.
Boys' soccer
• Leland & Gray rolled over Green Mountain, 5-0, to win the Josh Cole Tournament in Ludlow on Sept. 15. Jake Sherman, Corey Nystrom, Zach Wilkins, Tyler Scott, and Bruno Posa were the goal scorers for the Rebels. In the consolation game, Black River defeated Bellows Falls, 7-1.
• You don't often get to see a last-second game-winning overtime goal in high school soccer, but in Wilmington, Twin Valley's Nick Nilsen did the trick as he booted in the ball from just outside the penalty area as time expired for a 1-0 overtime win over Leland & Gray last Wednesday.
Sam Molner, who was making his first start in goal for the Wildcats since being struck down by appendicitis on August, showed few signs of rust and made 15 saves to earn the win. Rebels goalkeeper Tanner Karg was almost as outstanding in goal with 11 saves.
• Brattleboro's Paxton Reed scored the lone goal early in the second half in a 1-0 road win Saturday over the Rutland Raiders. Isaiah Ungerleider assisted on Reed's goal as the Colonels ended the week with a 3-2 record.
• Bellows Falls got shut out by Black River, 5-0, at home on Friday as the Terriers fell to 0-5 on the season.
Girls' soccer
• Brattleboro kept the ball rolling after the BF win with a 1-0 victory over Burr & Burton last Wednesday at Tenney Field. Lange scored what proved to be the game winner in the 34th minute.
While the Colonels are undefeated at home, they are winless on the road. They lost on Friday to Mount Anthony in Bennington, 4-2. Brattleboro led 2-0 at the half goals by Biak Chia-Tial and Lynde, but the Patriots stormed back with four unanswered goals in the second half. After playing four games in six days, the 4-3 Colonels have this week off.
• Bellows Falls bounced back with a 1-0 home win over Otter Valley last Wednesday. Lydia Pedigo scored on a penalty kick in the 69th minute to finish the week with a 1-1-1 record.
• Undefeated Black River beat Leland & Gray, 1-0, in Townshend last Thursday. Morgan Kathan scored the only goal of the game in the first half. Black River used great passing and ball handing to frustrate the Rebels, and outshot them, 19-12. The Rebels ended the week at 2-3-1, and needed to step it soon to move up the standings in Division III.
• Arlington's Molly Ellwell scored with 17 seconds left in regulation give the Eagles a 2-1 win over Twin Valley at Baker Field on Friday. Twin Valley's lone score came from Sammy Cunningham, assisted by Jordan Niles, late in the second half as the Wildcats finished the week with a 1-1-2 record.
Field hockey
• Bellows Falls stayed unbeaten last week with a 2-0 win over Mount Anthony in Bennington. Mariah Barnett and Cassidy Santorelli were the goal scorers, while Sarah Wells assisted on both goals.
• Brattleboro got two goals from Meghan Kinsman, but it wasn't enough as the Colonels lost to Stevens, 6-2, in Claremont, N.H., last Thursday. The next day, they traveled to Windsor and lost 3-0. The Colonels ended the week with a 0-6 record.
Cross country
• Jamie Moore finished first overall in 16 minutes, 58 seconds to lead the Bellows Falls boys' cross-country team to a third place finish behind Woodstock and Rutland at Friday's Russ Pickering Invitational at BFUHS. Brattleboro finished fourth.
Contributing to BF's strong showing were Willie Moore (third in 17:35), Tim Jones (10th in 18:30), Jamie Matthew (46th in 22:59), Matt Chapin (48th in 23:03), Will Scarlett (51st in 23:22), and Logan Cushman (69th in 28:54).
Woodstock also won the girls race, followed by Stratton Mountain School and Rutland. Neither Bellows Falls nor Brattleboro had enough runners for a team score. Anna Clark finished eighth overall in 22:06 to lead the Terriers, while Chapin Reis was 24th and Lucy Lawlor 32nd.
• Brattleboro had a good showing at a multi-team meet in Hartford earlier in the week, tying Woodstock for first place in the boys meet.
Spencer Olson led the Colonels with a third place finish in 19:52 over the 5-kilometer course. He was followed by Arturo Guttierez (fourth in 20:02), Michael Cioffi (sixth in 20:14), Graham Glennon (19th in 21:43), and Ryan Gilligan (20th in 21:46).
Woodstock won the girls' meet. BUHS freshman Catey Yost finished 11th in 25:26, while teammate Dana Alexa was 27th in 32:18.