Brattleboro's Nevada Powers has delivered many great performances as the top runner for the Colonels girls' cross country team. However, the race she ran on Oct. 15 in the Marble Valley League A Division championship in Brattleboro was as gutsy as they come.
Over the weekend, Powers escaped serious injury when the car she was riding in got into an accident in Brattleboro. Powers ended up with a wrenched neck, but another passenger in the car, teammate Becca Freeman, suffered a concussion and was unable to run in the MVL race.
So, with her neck still hurting, and under extra pressure to pick up the slack for an absent teammate, the ninth-grader scorched the Colonels' hilly 3.1-mile home course on East Orchard Street in 21 minutes, 51 seconds - 32 seconds ahead of runner-up Brynn Cairns of Rutland.
“We train on this course all the time, so we're used to all the hills,” Powers said after the race. “I was afraid my neck would start hurting, but I felt fine.”
Even with the home course advantage, Powers said she “was hoping for fifth place. I never thought I would win like this.”
Catey Yost was 19th overall in 24:54, with Gwen Harris (25:55), Eve Pomazi (26:23), and Dana Alexa (27:54) rounding out the top five for the Colonel girls.
Mount Anthony swept both the boys' and girls' races, while Brattleboro was third in the boys' race and fourth in the girls' race.
Rutland's Tim Hughes won the boys' race in 17:50, but Brattleboro's Ryan Gilligan was a very respectable sixth in 19:16.
Like Powers, Gilligan is also fond of the East Orchard Street course. “The last lap is my favorite. That's where I passed a lot of runners. None of the guys had any kick left by the last hill,” he said.
Just one second separated Brattleboro's Tyler Clement (16th in 20:36) and Dan Burdo (17th in 20:37), while teammates Jon Burdo and Josh Meachen wound up 20th and 24th, respectively.
It was a good day, for the most part, for the Colonels, who now are focused on the state championship race this Saturday at Thetford Academy.
Boys' soccer
• When Hinsdale faced Leland & Gray a few weeks ago in Townshend, the Rebels rolled to a 9-1 victory. The rematch between these two teams in Hinsdale on Columbus Day was closer, but the result was a 4-0 win for the Rebels.
Hinsdale has an extremely young team, with eighth- and ninth-graders logging significant minutes. The Pacers held their own for the first 38 minutes despite constant offensive pressure by the senior-laden Rebels, but an own-goal by Hinsdale in the 38th minute gave Leland & Gray a 1-0 lead at the half.
“It was a struggle for a while,” said Rebels coach Chris Barton. “We didn't really loosen up until the first goal.”
In the second half, the Rebels dominated and finally broke through in the 48th minute with a goal from Adam Beattie. Two minutes later, Jacob Sherman's blast from the top of the penalty area made it 3-0. Cameron Robbins got the final goal in the 78th minute from Reilly Hamm.
“We played a lot more unselfishly in the second half, and spread the field more,” said Barton. “The seniors have to learn to trust the younger players.”
Hinsdale goalkeeper Zack Lepisto kept the final result respectable by making 13 saves. Leland & Gray had a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks.
In their last regular season game, at Proctor on Oct. 17, the Rebels lost, 1-0, to finish with a 5-8-1 record.
• Twin Valley showed no signs of letting up as they clinched both the No. 1 seed in the Division IV tournament and the Marble Valley League's D Division title with a 6-0 win over Bellows Falls at Baker Field on Oct. 14.
Colin Lozito had two goals and two assists, Dal Nesbitt also scored two goals, and Troy Felisko and Nick Nilsen each added a goal.
Two days later, the Wildcats celebrated Senior Night at Baker Field with a 10-0 thrashing of Windsor. Dal Nesbitt had three goals and two assists, Lozito scored twice and had three assists, Nilsen put away two goals, and Felisko, Morrow Bernard, and Jacob Hicks each added a goal.
This game also marked coach Buddy Hayford's 500th game. He started coaching at Wilmington High School 32 years ago and has coached the Wilmington/Twin Valley boys' teams to six state titles.
The Wildcats then completed their perfect 14-0-0 season last Friday with a 3-0 road win over Otter Valley. Nilsen, Lozito, and Dal Nesbitt - the team's leading scorer with 21 goals and 19 assists - all found the net for Twin Valley, while goalkeeper Sam Molner got his 14th shutout by making five saves.
• Brattleboro lost to St. Johnsbury, 7-1, at Tenney Field on Oct. 14. Jeb Burroughs and Natzu Friebel each scored twice for the Hilltoppers. Connor Elliott-Knaggs got the Colonels' only goal midway though the second half. In the regular season finale on Oct. 18, the Colonels beat Mill River, 1-0, to finish at 5-8-1.
• Bellows Falls ended the regular season with a 1-1 tie at Arlington last Friday to finish with a 4-7-3 record.
Girls' soccer
• Brattleboro was swept by the Rutland Raiders in a home-and-home series to start the week. On Oct. 14, the Colonels traveled to Rutland and lost 4-0. The next day, at Tenney Field, the Raiders pulled out a 2-1 win. Libby Annis was the lone goal scorer for Brattleboro.
The 3-8-3 Colonels closed out the regular season with a 3-0 loss against Mill River. All three goals came within a six-minute span in the first half.
• A strong second-half gave Black River a 5-2 win over Twin Valley on Oct. 15. Savannah Nesbitt scored off a Jordan Niles feed for a 1-0 Wildcat lead at the half.
Black River's Sarah Rumrill started the second half with a pair of goals off corner kicks, both coming within 50 seconds of each other. Katelyn Hunt tied the game off a pass from Nesbitt, but Black River scored three unanswered goals to win with Morgan Kathan knocking in two of them.
• Giannina Gaspero-Beckstrom scored three goals, and Emily Stockwell added two to carry Leland & Gray to their fifth win, a 5-3 victory over Bellows Falls, in Westminster on Oct. 15. Remy Kirkland, Keri Ticeno, and Tasha Long all scored for the 1-12-1 Terriers.
The Rebels ended the regular season at home last Friday and lost 2-1 in double overtime to Twin Valley. Nesbitt gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead on a breakaway in the 20th minute. The Rebels picked up the pace in the second half, and Ashley Bates got the equalizer an hour in.
The game remained tied until Sammy Cunningham knocked in the winning goal off a Hannah Swanson corner kick with 7:33 remaining in the second overtime.
“This was a tough game, as they always are when these two teams play,” said Twin Valley coach Chris Walling, whose team ended the regular season at 8-6. “It was a good way to go into the postseason.”
The Rebels finished at 5-9, and coach Lucas Bates thinks his team can be a spoiler: “We've been up and down all season, but now it's playoff time, and I hope we can knock somebody off.”
Football
• Brattleboro's Kassidi Ramirez scored a touchdown on a 14-yard run in the second quarter, and the Colonels held on for a 7-6 win over arch-rival Mount Anthony at Natowich Field last Friday night.
Adam McPhail had 76 yards on 15 carries to lead the Colonels; Ryan Fontaine kicked the extra point, which proved to be the difference in this game.
Fontaine's kick became important after Mount Anthony's Tyler Mattison scored on an eight-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for Mount Anthony (0-8) but the extra point was missed. Mattison had 47 yards on 11 carries; Jacob Normyle ran for 58 yards on 17 carries.
MAU fell to 0-8. At 2-6, Brattleboro earned a consolation game on Friday night against Colchester.
• For everyone who thought that Bellows Falls' 74-26 win over Fair Haven on Oct. 12 was a fluke, the Terriers played Springfield on Friday night and clobbered the Cosmos, 77-8, at Brown Field.
The game for “The Trophy” was never in doubt for BF. Carson Fullam ran a punt back 70 yards for a touchdown on Bellows Falls' first offensive play of the game. David Dunbar added a 47-yard run for a touchdown, and Austin Stack recovered a fumble and then ran the ball 20 yards into the end zone on the next offensive possession for Bellows Falls.
It was 39-0 at the half. BF improved to 6-2. Springfield is 0-7. The Terriers wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Lyndon.
Field hockey
• Anna Clark and Mariah Barnett each scored as Bellows Falls beat Springfield, 2-0, on Oct. 14. Two days later, the Terriers dream of an unbeaten regular season ended with a 2-0 loss to Otter Valley in Brandon.
The Otters, the No. 2 team in Division II, got second-half goals from Jenna Elliott and Courtney Bushey to knock off BF, which ended the regular season as the top team in Division III with a 12-1-1 record.
Considering the Terriers gave up only three goals all season, and that they are totally focused on completing the unfinished business of last season - in which they were upset by North Country in the first round - BF is primed for a championship run in 2013.
• Brattleboro and Burr & Burton played to a scoreless tie on Oct. 14. Colonel goalie Jen Dyer had four saves to give her team its second tie of the season.
In the regular season finale the next day, the Colonels lost at Windsor, 1-0. Brattleboro ended another difficult season with a 1-11-2 record.