Sometimes, inspiration and emotion is not enough to win a football game.
The Brattleboro Colonels dedicated the Sept. 7 game at Natowich Field against the Colchester Lakers to the memory of Charly McLoughlin, a longtime football coach and mentor, who died of cancer on Sept. 4 at the age of 67.
And the Colonels came close to winning one for Charly, who is also the father-in-law of current coach Chad Pacheco. Unfortunately, the Colonels lost to the Lakers, 27-19, in a game that was far more competitive than the opening night loss to Rutland.
The Colonels' varsity suited up only 28 players for this game, so they were thankful for a cooler and less humid night so they could preserve their stamina. That was important because the Brattleboro defense again had the tall task of shutting down an opponent's ground attack.
In Week 1, Brattleboro was spared seeing Rutland's top runner, junior Dakota Peters, who was out with an injury. But the Raiders simply shifted gears and got lots of production from senior quarterback Ryan Moore, who threw for three touchdowns in the last five minutes of the first half.
Colchester looked at the undersized Colonels, and decided to run, run, and run some more, with 255 yards of rushing in the first half.
Max Anderson rushed for 221 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, while Quinton Hoskins ran for 92 yards and scored two touchdowns - one on a 15-yard run in the first quarter and the other on a screen pass from quarterback Llewey Powell with 38 seconds left in the first half - to give the Lakers a 27-12 lead at intermission.
The two teams traded touchdowns early on. Brattleboro's Chris Frost opened the game by scoring a 41-yard sweep to give the Colonels a 6-0 lead with 11:00 left in the first quarter. Colchester responded with the first of Hoskins's TDs to make it 6-6 with 6:49 left in the first.
Chris Carroll then scored on a six-yard run to put the Colonels in front, 12-6, with 4:28 left. But the Lakers would take the lead to stay when Powell connected with Tristan Powell with a TD pass to the corner of the end zone. The point after kick gave Colchester a 13-12 lead with 10:42 to play.
Anderson's 11-yard touchdown run and the ensuing extra point made it 20-12, but Brattleboro still had a chance to tie up the game. Quarterback Tyler Millerick drove the Colonels down to the Lakers 15, but a fumble gave the ball back to Colchester with 4:49 to go. The Lakers then turned that mistake into points with Hoskins' touchdown catch as the first half ended.
The Colonels weren't going to go away easily, however. After stopping the Lakers on the first possession of the third quarter, Millerick scored on a 49-yard run. Jack Price's point after cut the lead to 27-19 with 6:44 left in the third.
After another stalled Laker drive, Brattleboro had their first chance to tie the game, but they got no closer than the Laker 25 before they turned the ball over on downs.
The Colonels had one last chance in the fourth quarter to tie, but Powell intercepted a Millerick pass in the end zone with 42 seconds to play to preserve the win for the 2-0 Lakers.
Millerick played valiantly, going 6-for-12 through the air for 101 yards and carrying the ball 12 times for 123 yards. Chris Frost and Kris Carroll ran for 90 and 69 yards, respectively. And the defense, battered in the first half, held the Lakers scoreless in the second half.
The Colonels, now 0-2, will play at Mount Mansfield on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Terriers pillage Vikings
• The ground-and-pound offense of the Bellows Falls Terriers was on full display in a 46-18 win over the Lyndon Vikings on Sept. 8 in Lyndonville.
Running backs Jed Lorber and Brady Clark, who combined for 170 yards of rushing in Week 1's 30-8 win over Spaulding, again carried the load. Fullback Julian Christiansen also stepped up, as he picked up some of the work that would have gone to injured running back McGregor Vancor.
In the first half alone, Lober, Christiansen, and Clark rushed for 62, 48, and 28 yards, respectively. In all, Lober ran the ball 11 times for 94 yards, while quarterback Griffin Waryas ran for two touchdowns and had a 3-for-9 day passing.
The BF defensive line, led by Reno Tuttle and Andrew Kim, dominated the Vikings and all but shut down their running game. Two of Lyndon's three touchdowns came through the air as quarterback Steve Ferraro had a 10-for-13 day of passing for 225 yards.
Christiansen scored on a one-yard run on BF's first possession. Waryas then scored on a quarterback sneak, Clark bulled into the end zone with another one-yard run, and Lober ran in for a five-yard TD as the Terriers took a 27-0 lead with 5:02 left in the second quarter.
Lyndon broke up the shutout with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Ferraro to Dylan Williams, but Lober got the points back with a 16-yard touchdown run for BF. After another desperation heave by Ferraro was reeled in by Brandon Stone for a 66-yard gain, Ferraro ran in the ball from the BF 9 to cut the Terriers' lead to 34-12 at the half.
Waryas opened the second half scoring for BF with another quarterback sneak to push the lead to 40-12 with 8:48 left in the third quarter, and the first-string offense ended its day by scoring after a 99-yard drive that ended with a one-yard TD run by Andrew Elliott.
The 2-0 Terriers travel to Manchester this Saturday at 1 p.m. to face Burr & Burton.
Field hockey
• Bellows Falls may have got what it wanted by playing in Division I in field hockey this season, but they won't be seeing the northern powerhouse teams until the playoffs.
But the Terriers are not concerned about who they play in late October. First, they have to get through the Marble Valley League schedule.
The Terriers began their drive for a fourth straight state title with a 4-0 win over the Burr & Burton Bulldogs on Sept. 4 in Manchester, followed by a 10-0 romp over Springfield in the home opener on Sept. 6.
Against the Bulldogs, the Terriers scored a pair of goals in the first half and two more in the second half. Abbe Cravinho, Madison Streeter, Sophie Hyslop, and Maya Waryas were the goal scorers for the Terriers.
BF was held scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the game, thanks to some great goaltending by Burr & Burton's Hannah Callen, who made 17 saves.
Once Cravinho got BF's first goal off a turnover with 14:55 left in the game, the momentum shifted BF's way and stayed there. Streeter scored six minutes later with a hard shot from just inside the circle.
The Bulldogs' best chance of getting back into the game came when they were awarded three straight penalty corners. But goalie Emma Lober and the BF defense turned aside the challenge, as Lober made three saves.
Hyslop opened the second half with a goal in the opening minute and, three minutes later, she assisted on Waryas' goal.
Against the Cosmos, Cravinho and Madison Streeter each had two goals to lead the Terriers.
Hyslop, Emily Harris, Taylor Goodell, Halle Dickerson, Brooke Bennett, and Abby Dearborn each scored a goal for the Terriers as coach Bethany Coursen was able to give her reserves some significant playing time.
Lober made one save to earn her second shutout, and give BF its 42nd consecutive win.
Boys' soccer
• Mount Anthony scored a pair of goals in the final 2:39 of regulation to give the Patriots at 4-2 win over Brattleboro on Sept. 5 in Bennington.
Emiliano Salazar scored off a turnover, blasting a shot off a Colonel defender, to break the tie. David Chorlton later got an insurance goal in the final seconds.
Jackson Buettner scored in the 35th minute, and the Colonels got another goal off a corner kick. But the Patriots countered with a goal from Chorlton and another from Randy Armstrong to knot the game at 2-all.
The Colonels then traveled to Woodstock on Sept. 7. Luke Williams got the game-winning goal with four minutes to play as Brattleboro picked up its first win of the season, 3-2.
Williams scored twice in the game and Buettner also scored for the 1-2 Colonels, who'll face Arlington in the opening game of the annual John James Tournament in Bennington on Sept. 13.
• Twin Valley opened the season on Sept. 4 with a 5-0 shutout of Otter Valley under the lights at Buddy Hayford Field.
Jack McHale scored two goals and Colin McHale had two assists to lead the winners.Tommy Therrien, Owen Grinold, and Izaak Park each had a goal, while Casey Sibilia tallied an assist.
Wildcats goalkeeper Logan Boyd made only three saves to earn the shutout, while Otter Valley keeper Clay Hays faced 22 shots.
Two days later, the Wildcats crushed Windsor, 10-0. Sibilia led the scoring with four goals. Lucas Messing added two goals, while Colin and Jack McHale, Jack Kehoe and Grinold also scored for the 2-0 Wildcats.
Grinold had a team-high two assists, while Kehoe and Jack McHale each had one. Boyd needed to make just one save for his second shutout.
Girls' soccer
• Brattleboro got off to a rough start in the Lady Patriot Classic in Bennington on Sept 6 with a 7-1 loss to Wahconah. Olivia Romo scored the only goal for the Colonels.
In the second match of the tourney, Mount Anthony led wire-to-wire to beat the Colonels, 4-2. The Patriots led 2-0 at the half on goals by Cat Worthington and Chloe Gore. Jordan Mattison then got a pair of insurance goals in the second half. Kiarra McNary and Hailey Derosia were the Colonels' goal scorers.
• Casey MacVeigh scored in overtime on Saturday to give Thetford a 2-1 victory over Leland & Gray in Townshend on Sept. 8.
Ellie Longo scored on a breakaway in the 28th minute, assisted by Arin Bates, to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. Thetford's Alexis Gaetz later buried the equalizer off of a corner kick near the end of the second half.
Cross-country
• Bellows Falls had a good showing in its first home meet on Sept. 4.
The Bellows Falls girls won their meet with 48 points. Stratton Mountain School (70 points) was second, followed by Hartford (124) and Windsor (125).
Abby Broadley led the way for the Terriers by winning the girls race in 19 minutes, 22 seconds. Stephanie Ager finished fifth in 20:46, Lia Clark was seventh in 21:18, Jasmine Boucher was 16th in 23:54, and Hailey Covillion was 19th in 24:20.
Brattleboro didn't have enough runners to qualify for a team score. Bella Takacs (23:24) was 13th, Liz Morse (23:52) came in 15th, Kathryn Wocell (24:08) was 17th, and Mollie Patenaude (27:21) was 28th.
Stratton Mountain School took the boys' meet, winning with 39 points, followed by: Thetford (57 points), Woodstock (71), Brattleboro (83), Bellows Falls (108), and Hartford (161).
Trevor Kipp led the Colonels with a 10th place finish in 18:26. Finn Lamorder (14th, 19:04), Evan Koch (16th, 19:19), Nolan Holmes (20th, 19:51), and Bram Tabachnik (23rd, 20:42) rounded out the Colonels' scoring.
BF's Ian Wallace was third in 18:18, while teammates Tim Salter-Roy was 15th, Stone Bradbury was 25th, Gabe Hakimoglu was 28th, and Isaac Wilkinson was 31st.
Senior bowling roundup
• The 17-week fall season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League began last week at Brattleboro Bowl with 11 teams.
Teams 8, 4 ,10, and 11 all started out the season undefeated at 5-0. Team 1 (4-1) and Team 5 (3-2) are in sole possession of second and third place, respectively, while Team 6 (2-3) is fourth and Team 2 (1-4) is fifth. Teams 7, 3, and 9 are all tied for sixth at 0-5.
Sandy Ladd had the women's high handicap game (247) and series (665), while Robert Rigby had the men's high handicap game (246) and Wayne Randall rolled the men's high handicap series (683). Team 10 had the high team handicap game (918), while Team 8 had the high handicap series (2,571).
In scratch scoring, Robert Rigby (609) had the lone 600-plus series, with two 200-plus games (243, 201), while his spouse, Josie Rigby (509) had a 500-plus series and rolled a 200 game.
Four other men were in the 500 club: Warren Corriveau, Sr. (545), Randall (539), Fred Ashworth (537), and Marty Adams (521). Adams (211) and Peter Cross (201) both had 200-plus games.