The Brattleboro Colonels believe they can make the Division I football playoffs, and they had a shot last Friday night of controlling their destiny against the Rutland Red Raiders.
This game, the final home game of the season for the Colonels, was not going to be easy and they needed to play their best football of the season to beat Rutland. But it is hard to play you best when you're missing several of your key players.
Rutland would roll over the Colonels, 40-15, in what came down to a tale of two running backs.
Brattleboro's workhorse back Cheick Diakite, hobbled by a sore back and various leg muscle strains, lasted only one quarter before he left the game for good. He finished with eight carries for 63 yards.
Diakite's teammates tried to pick up the slack. Fullback Kolton Ravenna had nine carries for 43 yards. Quarterback Tony Martinez had 11 carries for 28 yards, mostly by running to avoid being sacked. Martinez was sacked five times, negating the yardage he picked up on a pair of 20-yard runs. Taylor King ran for 19 yards and a touchdown late in the game, while Jack Gagnon had one carry for 9 yards.
The Raiders, however, had no problems moving the ball, thanks to senior running back Caleb White. He carried the ball 26 times for 195 yards and four touchdowns before Rutland started putting in its reserves in the third quarter.
Brattleboro scored first on a 19-yard touchdown from Martinez to Matthew Gaboriault. King's extra point gave the Colonels a 7-0 lead just 2:12 into the game.
The Raiders then scored 40 unanswered points. Penalties and a pair of fumbles in the first half derailed the Colonels' drives, while Rutland's read-option offense had Brattleboro's defense flummoxed. White had touchdown runs of 1, 1, 6, and 18 yards, and quarterback Andrew Kenosh threw to Jimmy Mee for an 11-yard score and ran for another touchdown on a seven-yard keeper.
Brattleboro would not score again until there was 8:43 left in the game, when King scored on a four-yard run and Martinez connected with Seth Rhodes for the two-point conversion. Martinez was 5-for-12 for 79 passing yards.
The loss spoiled Senior Night for the Colonels. Before the game, Joseph Mercure, Tyler McKenney, Evan Perkins, Troy Wood, Taylor King, Josh Simeon, Brandon Niemczyk, Aleks Harrison, Eli Kapral, Ty Grannum, and Austin Gilbeau were all honored by the team.
The 3-3 Colonels are now ranked fifth in the Division I standings. Only the top four teams make the playoffs. Brattleboro will play at Essex on Friday night in what will be a must-win game for the Colonels' postseason hopes.
Terriers conquer Vikings
• Bellows Falls improved to 6-0 with an effortless 35-6 win over the Lyndon Vikings last Saturday afternoon at Hadley Field.
The Terriers scored all their points in the first half as Jahyde Bullard carried the ball six times for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Logan Cota, Shane Clark, and Jacob Lober also scored touchdowns and Chris Doucet was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points.
With the mercy rule invoked at halftime, the second half was played with a running clock and BF's second string. Neither starting quarterback Zac Streeter, nor his understudy Caleb Lisai threw a pass all day. That was by design, according to Terriers coach Bob Lockerby.
“I was going to make sure that the trip for the Burlington scouts was a complete waste of time,” Lockerby said, referring to this Friday night's opponent. “We only ran four different plays.”
But even a plain vanilla offense managed to rack up the points against the Vikings. BF scored on its first three possessions in the first quarter as they ran the ball at will. Clark scored on a 7-yard run, then Bullard rumbled for a 46-yard score, and followed it up with a 19-yard touchdown.
In the second quarter, Cota raced for a 27-yard score and Lober finished the first-string's day with a 1-yard touchdown with three minutes left in the half.
Lyndon's only score came in the third quarter, when Cameron Murray had a 7-yard touchdown run.
It was a good day for BF's first-string defense, as they had four sacks and held Lyndon quarterback Justin Joyal to just one completed pass for five yards. Lober recovered two fumbles and Bullard had two sacks. The second defense played well too, as Reid Coursen had a fumble recovery and Noah Wilkinson had an interception.
Bellows Falls finishes their regular season schedule with three tough opponents - Burlington and Burr & Burton on the road, and Fair Haven in the season finale at home.
Boys' soceer
• Twin Valley again beat Arlington, 2-1, on Sept. 29.
Chris Robinson scored his first varsity goal for the Wildcats in the 30th minute, but the Eagles got the equalizer just 15 seconds later from Alex Paustian.
With a 1-1 tie to start the second half, Justin Hicks put away the game-winner just 40 seconds into the second half. Goalkeeper Kyle Murdock made five saves for the 8-1 Wildcats, who still are in first place in Division III.
• Leland & Gray moved up the Division III standings with a pair of wins last week.
The Rebels won on the road on Oct. 1 at Mill River, 3-0, and followed that up two days later with a 2-1 victory at home against Green Mountain. They now are ranked sixth at 7-4, and could get a home playoff game if they can keep up the pace.
• Wes Lord scored two goals as Burr & Burton shut out Brattleboro, 3-0 on Oct. 1 at Tenney Field.
Lord got his first tally in the 14th minute, and added another in the 38th minute for a 2-0 lead. Bulldogs goalkeeper James Moore was kept busy in the first half, but had little to do in the second.
Burr & Burton's third goal came late in the second half from Wally Hynds, who headed in a feed from Tim Stewart. Brattleboro goalkeeper Brian McCarthy made 10 saves.
The Colonels traveled to St. Johnsbury on Saturday and lost 8-0. They are now 3-6 on the season.
• Bellows Falls is having a nightmare of a season. They struggled to attract enough players to field a varsity team and started the season three weeks late.
Keeping the few players they have on the field is another problem. They have had to forfeit six of their games, and have a 0-10 record.
Girls' soccer
• Its ranks depleted by illness, Brattleboro was no match for Burr & Burton, as the Bulldogs rolled to a 9-1 win at soggy Tenney Field on Sept. 29.
The Bulldogs scored five goals in five minutes. Jamie Mahoney, who normally is a midfielder, volunteer to play goalkeeper after starter Megyn Ayotte could not due to the flu bug that has swept its way through the high school over the past three weeks.
Facing one of top teams in Division I, Mahoney managed eight saves. Defensive back Aisha Schor scored Brattleboro only goal in the 60th minute from 25 yards out.
With a 5-0 loss to Rutland on Oct. 1, the Colonels fell to 4-5.
• Bellows Falls is still searching for its first win of the season. The Terriers lost to Green Mountain, 7-0, last Friday to fall to 0-9.
• Leland & Gray beat Windsor, 5-3, last Friday to improve to 3-6-1.
Cross-country
• There's no place like home for the Brattleboro cross-country team. Running on their home course off East Orchard Street seems to bring out the best in the Colonel runners.
The Brattleboro boys finished second out of six teams on Sept. 29, while the Brattleboro girls came in fourth. Stratton Mountain School's runners won both events, but the Colonel boys came close to winning their meet.
Brattleboro's Isaac Freitas-Eagan finished just one second behind winner Kameron Hussain of SMS, who covered the wet course in 18 minutes, 3 seconds.
The Colonels' younger runners also looked good. Josh Meachen came in fifth in 18:51, followed by Jonah Koch (sixth in 18:53), Colin Costa-Walsh (15th in 19:55), Trevor Kipp (16th in 19:56), Dan Burdo (17th in 20:22), and Tyler Clement (20th in 20:49).
Stratton Mountain School finished with a team score of 32, followed by Brattleboro (42), Mount Anthony (72), Bellows Falls (91), Burr & Burton (155), and Springfield (164).
Kathryn Ogden of SMS was the winner in the girls' race, finishing in 20:33 - not far from the course record of 20:20 set in 2010 by Rutland's Mary Kate Cirelli.
Sarah Gallagher led the Colonel girls with a third place finish in a personal best time of 22:20. Catey Yost placed 11th in 24:10, followed by Emilia Dick-Fiora (17th in 25:51), Mollie Patenaude (28th in 26:59), Kata Blakeson (34th in 28:26), and Annie Takacs (36th in 28:35).
Stratton Mountain School won the girls' meet with a team score of 21, followed by Burr and Burton (70), Mount Anthony (71), Brattleboro (85), and Hartford (157).
Field hockey
• Bellows Falls remains unbeaten and in first place in Division III, but picked up its second tie of the season last Friday with a 2-2 decision at Rutland.
Those two goals were the first ones given up by the 6-0-2 Terriers this season.
• Brattleboro lost to Burr & Burton, 3-0, on Sept. 29 to fall to 2-7-1.