The Bellows Falls field hockey team completed its second straight undefeated regular season with a 3-0 win over Windsor last Friday, but it took some work by the Terriers to do it.
Windsor played excellent defense in the first half but was worn down by the Terriers. Leah Robinson broke the scoreless deadlock with 3:55 left in the first half, and Anna Clark and Cassidy Santorelli scored in the second half to give BF a 14-0 record and the Marble Valley League title.
It was Senior Day, and emotions ran high as Sarah Wells, Clark, Santorelli, Quinn Lawrence, Molly Dufault, Morgan Finnell, and McKenzie Brandon were honored before the game.
“We came out on fire,” said BF coach Bethany Coursen. “Windsor is a good team, and to beat them 3-0 shows the confidence, growth, and determination of this team.”
BF outshot Windsor 14-6, while Windsor had an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners. Lawrence made six saves to earn her ninth shutout victory, while Windsor's Emma Saucier stopped 11 shots on goal.
On Oct. 14, Averie Lowe scored 1:17 into overtime to give Bellows Falls a 2-1 win over Burr & Burton. Santorelli got BF's first goal at the 15-minute mark. Burr & Burton's Sarah Marcus tied the game midway through the second half.
The Terriers dominate as much this year as they did last year, outscoring their opponents 59-6. Wells leads all scorers with 23, followed by Santorelli with 18 and Robinson and Clark with six each.
At 14-0, BF is the top seed in Division III and will host a quarterfinal game this Saturday at 2 p.m. They will play the winner of the Oct. 22 first-round game between No. 8 Fair Haven (1-12-1) and No. 9 Milton (1-13).
Girls' soccer
• Abbie Lesure had one goal and a pair of assists to make it a happy Senior Night as Brattleboro rallied to beat Rutland, 4-1, on Oct. 14 at Tenney Field.
Lesure joined fellow 12th graders Tori Svec, Taylor Bird, Sophie Zimmerman, Anna Burch, Michaela Shea-Gander, Natasha Clark, Tylynn Kuralt, Maddy Derosia, Danielle Looman, and manager Casey Blust in being honored in a halftime ceremony.
Brattleboro got all its goals in the second half as Clark, Derosia, and sophomore Devin Millerick joined Lesure on the scoresheet. The Colonels had a 27-12 shot advantage, and Svec made seven saves in goal to seal the victory.
The Colonels finished the regular season with a 6-1 loss to Burr & Burton last Friday. At 5-7-2, they were seeded 12th in the Division I tournament. At press time, they were scheduled to face fifth-seeded U-32 in East Montpelier on Oct. 21.
• Leland & Gray ended a two-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Bellows Falls on Oct. 11 but fell to Windsor, 5-3, two days later. Skyler Nupp, Gianna Gaspero-Beckstrom, and Charly Sperling were the goal scorers in the loss to Windsor.
The Rebels finished at 10-4 to earn the No. 4 seed in the Division III playoffs. They host No. 13 Richford (5-7-2) in a first-round game on Oct. 22.
• Bellows Falls ended its season without a win. The Terriers lost 1-0 at Williamstown on Oct. 14. At 0-12-2, it was the No. 16 seed in the Division III tournament and was scheduled to face top-seeded Sharon Academy (12-2-1) on Oct. 21.
• Arlington shut out Twin Valley, 3-0, on Oct. 15. Julia Lacoste had two goals; Avery Buccharri added another for the Eagles. The Wildcats finished 3-10-1 and were seeded No. 12 in the Division IV tournament. They're on the road to face No. 5 Whitcomb on Oct. 22.
Boys' soccer
• Twin Valley started the week with an 8-0 pasting of Bellows Falls on Oct. 14. Tobbie Will had a pair of goals for the Wildcats. Javier Mateos, Wyatt Shippee, Morrow Bernard, Nick Nilsen, and Skyler Boyd also scored. BF also contributed with an own-goal as goalkeeper Zach Brooks made 29 saves in the loss.
The Wildcats wrapped up their second straight undefeated regular season Saturday with a 5-0 win over Fair Haven.
Once again the top seed in Division IV, the 14-0 Wildcats are off until the quarterfinals this Friday. They will host the winner of the Oct. 21 first-round game between No. 8 Black River (6-6-2) and No. 9 Proctor (5-8-1).
Bellows Falls finished 4-10 and was seeded 14th in Division II. They were scheduled to face No. 3 Woodstock (9-1-4) on Oct. 21.
• Brattleboro finished the regular season with a pair of wins: a 5-1 victory over Springfield on Senior Night at Tenney Field last Friday, and a 2-1 win over Rutland last Saturday. It was a good sendoff for seniors Kassidi Ramirez, Robyn Avery, Brennen Zolnoski, Leon Ogden, John Curtis, and Harrison Dews.
At 6-8, the Colonels were seeded 11th in Division I. They are on the road to face No. 6 Colchester (9-3-2) on Oct. 22.
• Leland & Gray wrapped its regular season with a 2-0 loss to Woodstock on Oct. 14. At 11-3, it earned the No. 4 seed in Division II and was set to face No. 13 Randolph (5-9) on Oct. 21.
Field hockey
• Brattleboro's Senior Day came on Oct. 15 at Tenney Field, and the Colonels responded with another scrappy effort - but the result was a 1-0 loss in overtime to Fair Haven. Elly Maynard got the game-winner six minutes into OT.
Senior players Nina Goodhue, Meg Powell, Daija Germain, Katie Damian, Abby Brooks, Molly Duff, Ashley Maguire, and Kayla King were all honored. The Colonels failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Cross-country
• The Bellows Falls and Brattleboro teams had two major tune-ups heading into this Saturday's state meet at Thetford Academy.
The Brattleboro boys' and girls' teams both placed fifth at the Connecticut Valley Conference Championships in Hanover, N.H., on Oct. 10. Bellows Falls' boys came in seventh.
Ryan Gilligan finished seventh in 18 minutes, 19 seconds to lead the BUHS boys. Tyler Clement (29th, 20:03), Colin Costa-Walsh (33rd, 20:18), Jonah Koch (37th, 20:28) and Josh Meachen (46th, 21:11) also placed.
The Terriers' top five were Willie Moore (fifth, 18:07); Cody Tallent (22nd, 19:38); Jackson Purdy (31st, 20:09); Nic Potter (55th, 21:52); and Ethan Lauricella (81st, 25:27).
Leading the Colonel girls were Becca Freeman (22nd, 24:28); Caty Yost (25th, 24:51); Gwen Harris (51st, 27:50); Annie Takacs (55th, 28:35); and Jazmin Smith (57th, 28:59).
• The Brattleboro teams traveled to Rutland on Oct. 14 for the Marble Valley League A Division championship meet, both finishing fourth.
Gilligan placed second to lead the boys, six seconds behind Burr & Burton's Will Fisher. Jonah Koch finished 14th, followed by Clement (20th), Costa-Walsh (25th), and Phelan Muller (32nd).
Yost finished 16th to lead the Brattleboro girls, followed by Freeman (23rd), Harris (30th), Takacs (36th), and Katie Reynolds (38th).
• The MVL B Division championship meet was run in Springfield, and the BF boys placed second - 40 points behind Woodstock.
BF's Willie Moore won the race in 17:40 with Cody Tallent eighth in 19:36, earning them both MVL All-Star selections. Purdy came in 12th, followed by Potter (19th), William Scarlett (33rd), and Lauricella (40th).
Football
• The Albert Elwell Trophy is back in the trophy case at Mount Anthony as the Patriots rolled over Brattleboro, 26-0, in a one-sided renewal of this longtime rivalry at Spinelli Field in Bennington last Friday night.
Junior Pat Powers logged more than 175 yards of total offense and two touchdowns, while senior Carson Cushman had two touchdown runs for the 2-6 Patriots.
The Brattleboro offense was held to just 25 yards of total offense for the game. Quarterback Tyler McKinney accounted for most of the Colonel offense with 11 yards of rushing and one pass completion for 24 yards.
The 1-7 Colonels wrap up their season with a game at South Burlington.
• The 99th regular season meeting between Bellows Falls and Springfield last Saturday saw a new twist - it was the first time these longtime foes squared off in a Hadley Field night game.
The outcome of the game wasn't a surprise: the Terriers cruised to an easy 42-7 win over the Cosmos.
The 6-2 Terriers held on to “The Trophy” for the fifth straight year and improved their record in the series to 53-42-4. The teams started playing each other annually in 1914, though no games were scheduled in 1915, 1916, or 1921, and in 2012 Springfield was forced to forfeit over a lack of players to field a team.
BF scored all its points in the first half. Quarterback Ethan Illingworth completed four of his five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Brian McAnuff reeled in both touchdown passes: 24 and 63 yards, respectively.
On the ground, Austin Stack scored on runs of four and 23 yards; Carson Fullam had an 80-yard touchdown run; Illingworth scored on a six-yard run.
After running up their lead to 42-0 at the half, the Terriers played their reserves in the remainder of the game against the 1-5 Cosmos.
Bellows Falls travels to Lyndon (2-6) in its regular season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Terriers have clinched a spot in the Division II playoffs along with Rice, Fair Haven, and Burr & Burton.
Shrine game moves to Castleton
• The Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, the annual high school all-star game between Vermont and New Hampshire, will have a new home next year.
Last week it was announced that the 2015 game will be played at Castleton State College.
Dartmouth's Memorial Field, the game's traditional home, is out of action while its main grandstand and press box are being renovated. Castleton, host of the teams' week-long training camp for the past two years, was a natural choice for the game.
The bigger question remains: Will there be a Shrine game after 2015? The game, a major fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals for Children in the Northeast, has been plagued by weak attendance and a lack of competitiveness by Vermont, which hasn't won since 2000.
That said, the Shriners appear committed to keeping the series going next year and beyond.