Too much Cady.
That was the story as Jake Cady, the senior quarterback for St. Johnsbury, accounted for eight touchdowns, five with his arm and three with his legs, as the Hilltoppers spoiled the homecoming game for the Brattleboro Colonels with a 61-20 rout in Division I football action at Natowich Field on Sept. 28.
Cady was 17-of-25 for 438 yards and five touchdown passes. He also ran for 60 yards and scored three more TDs in a stellar display of offensive firepower.
Hunter Palmieri led the Hilltoppers' receiving corps with seven catches for 191 yards and two touchdowns, while Renwick Smith had five catches for 116 yards and a TD. Trey Alercio (20 yards) and Anthony Gibson (26 yards) also had touchdown catches.
St. Johnsbury led 21-0 midway through the first quarter and looked like it would run away with game early. But the Colonels countered with some offensive fireworks of their own. Adam Newton caught a 22-yard touchdown pass, and Jack Price kicked a 33-yard field goal to make it 21-10 at the start of the second quarter.
The Hilltoppers scored on their next possession, but Chris Frost had a touchdown run to cut the Hilltoppers' lead to 28-17 with 4:49 remaining in the half.
The teams traded scores as the half ended, with another St. J touchdown and a 39-yard field goal by Price as time expired to make it a 34-20 at halftime. After that, it was all Hilltoppers as they scored four unanswered touchdowns in the second half.
The Colonels put up nearly 400 yards of total offense in defeat. Quarterback Tyler Millerick was 14-for-25 for 201 yards of passing, plus another 41 yards of rushing. Kris Carroll (three catches, 92 yards) and Newton (four catches, 54 yards) were the standouts catching the ball, while Frost had 27 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The Colonels are now 0-5, and travel to Hartford this Friday night.
Terriers rip Otters
• After a tough loss to Burr & Burton and an uneven effort in beating Springfield, Bellows Falls needed to get back on task and put together 48 minutes of consistent football.
Against Otter Valley in Brandon on Sept. 29, the Terriers got the complete effort they've been looking for with a 58-21 win over the Otters.
Just the same, it was a little dicey in the beginning. BF scored on its first two possessions, but Otter Valley scored and then successfully recovered an onside kick inside BF territory. Trailing 14-7, the Otters were primed to get a tying touchdown, but they were stopped by the Terriers' defense.
BF slammed the door shut from there, racing out to a 37-7 lead at halftime and then keeping the foot on the gas pedal. By the time the BF reserves took the field in the fourth quarter, the lead was up to 58-7.
The Terriers finished with 351 yards of rushing and 145 yards passing with no fumbles or interception. Everybody pitched in on this game. Running back Jed Lober had 11 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, he made two tackles and was credited with half-a-sack.
Brent Clark carried the ball 11 times for 114 yards and had one catch for 50 yards. He scored two touchdowns. Andrew Elliott made the most of his one carry, running for a 30-yard touchdown.
Julian Christiansen had his best game of the season on both sides of the ball. On offense, he had five carries for 70 yards and a touchdown, and had four tackles and a sack on defense. Quarterback Griffin Waryas had 3 carries for two yards and a touchdown. He was 4-for-6 passing for 145 yards and a touchdown. As a defensive back, he had 2 tackles and an interception.
Wideout Noah Rawling had two receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. The standout on defense was lineman Reno Tuttle, who had seven tackles, five of them for a loss, and 2 1/2 sacks.
Bellows Falls improved to 4-1 and hosts Mount Abraham this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hadley Field.
Boys' soccer
• The speed of Burr & Burton proved too much to handle for Brattleboro as the Bulldogs came away with a 3-1 at Tenney Field on Sept. 27.
“It was a fun game to watch. That's a really good team we just played,” said Colonels coach Paul Sather after the game. “Speed is so important in this game. They are a fast team with decent skill. They moved the ball well and used everyone.”
Much of the Bulldogs' speed was provided by forwards Oscar Loomis and Daniel Hathaway, as Hathaway assisted on the first goal of the game from William Fox, then got a goal of his own for a 2-0 lead at the half.
The Colonels were not sluggards in this game, however. Nate Lewis, Jackson Buettner, and Jack Price all had quality chances. Lewis eventually found the back of the net with a goal in the 65th minute. But the Colonels could not get the equalizer, and the Bulldogs added another goal from Jordan Eisenman in the 72nd minute.
The goalkeeping was solid too as Brattleboro's Emmett Dews made seven saves and Burr & Burton'a Garren Aberth had five saves.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Colonels, but Sather was satisfied with the effort.
“I'm really happy with the kids,” he said. “It was a really competitive game. Sometimes you grow more from a loss.”
Brattleboro got back on the beam with a 3-0 win over Hartford on Sept. 29 at Tenney Field. Lewis, Buettner, and Nick Campbell were the goal scorers and Dews made four saves for the win. The Colonels ended the week at 5-3.
• Undefeated Twin Valley blanked Otter Valley, 4-0, to capture its sixth straight Werner Tournament championship on Sept. 27 in Arlington. With the win, the Wildcats improved to 6-0.
Colin McHale led the way with three goals and Aaron Soskin also scored. Jack McHale had two assists while Finn Fisher and Owen Grinold picked up an assist each. Logan Boyd made four saves for his sixth shutout of the season and Jack McHale was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
• Riley Barton scored three goals as Leland & Gray rolled to a 7-0 win over Fair Haven on Sept. 29. Jordan Persson added two more goals, and Fox Pickering and Nick Tolbert also scored.
Cameron Anderberg has four saves to earn the shutout for the 6-0 Rebels.
• After getting their first win of the season against Black River on Sept. 19, Bellows Falls had a long layoff before playing again. Back in action on Sept. 28, they lost at Proctor, 2-1. The next day in West Rutland, the Terriers were pummeled, 10-0, to fall to 1-6 on the season.
Field hockey
• The juggernaut that is the Bellows Falls field hockey team kept rolling last week. On Sept. 24, they blanked visiting Rutland, 7-0.
Molly Kelly scored first, off a feed from Abbe Cravinho just 3:36 into the game. Madison Streeter popped in a couple of insurance goals and Megan Banik had another goal off a rebound of a Cravinho shot. Kelly then scored again for a 5-0 lead at the half. Cravinho and Maya Waryas scored in the second half.
On Sept. 26 in Windsor, the Terriers took care of the Yellowjackets, 6-0. Cravinho had three goals in the first half and Streeter scored twice in the second half.
BF improved to 7-0 on the season on Sept. 28 with a 7-0 win over Mount Anthony in Bennington. Cravinho and Kelly each scored two goals in the first half, while Streeter. Waryaa, and Abby Dearborn scored in the second half. The Terriers had 23 penalty corners in the game, three of which led to goals.
• Avalon Johnson and Kalin Noble each scored for Brattleboro in a 2-1 victory over Rutland on Sept. 29 at Tenney Field.
Rachael Rooney and Gracie Frost were both credited with assists. The Raiders broke up the shutout with a goal with 3:33 left in regulation. Brattleboro ended the week at 3-2-1.
Girls' soccer
• Leland & Gray outshot Green Mountain, 27-13, and got two big goals from Ellie Longo, but it was a penalty kick by Paige Karl that was the deciding moment in GM's 3-2 win over the Rebels in Chester on Sept. 26.
Karl staked the Chieftains to a 2-0 halftime lead with a pair of goals, Longo cut the lead to 2-1 early in the season, but a Rebel defender's takedown of Sarah Warnecke in the penalty area gave Karl a chance to get her third goal of the day. Longo got her second goal, but the equalizer never came.
• Brattleboro had a 12-5 advantage in shots, but Rutland came away with a 2-0 win over the Colonels on Sept. 29 at Tenney Field.
Earlier in the week, the Colonels played Mill River to a 2-2 tie in a Sept. 25 game shortened by thunderstorms. Brattleboro ended the week at 1-6-1 and needs at least two wins to qualify for the Division I playoffs.
• Bellows Falls picked up their first of the season over Black River, 3-1, on Sept. 26, but lost 5-1 to Otter Valley in Brandon on Sept. 28. Madi Pencek scored the only goal for the 1-8 Terriers.
Cross-country
• Brattleboro's boys and girls teams each placed second in a sodden multi-school meet in Woodstock on Sept. 25.
Sarah Gallagher took second in 22 minutes 44 seconds, and teammate Bella Takacs was ninth in 24:29 to lead the Colonel girls to a second place finish behind Bellows Falls.
BF's Abby Broadley won the girls race in 22:34. Stephanie Ager (fourth, 23:08) and Lia Clark (sixth, 23:43) also made the top 10. Burr & Burton was third, Woodstock finished fourth, and Thetford came in fifth.
Woodstock won the boys' meet. Brattleboro took second, Bellows Falls was third, and Burr & Burton ended up in fourth.
Finn LaMorder (20:39) and Bram Tabachnick (22:20) placed fourth and ninth, respectively, to lead the Colonels. Tim Salter-Roy (20:56) was fifth and Ian Wallace (21:37) finished seventh for BF.
Senior bowling roundup
• Team 5 (16-4) held on to first place after Week 4 of the fall season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl. Team 4 (15-5) moved into second place while Team 7 (14-6) jumped up to third place. Team 2 (13-7) is fourth, followed by Team 8 (12-8), Team 1 (11-9), Team 9 (9-11), Team 6 (7-13) and Team 3 and Team 11 (both 6-14).
Pam Prouty had the women's high handicap game (247) and Debbie Kolpa rolled the women's high handicap series (661). Robert Rigby had the men's high handicap game (256) and series (678). Team 1 had the high team handicap game (907), and series (2,679).
In scratch scoring, Rigby (678) and Marty Adams (606) each had a 600-plus series. Rigby had games of 256 and 228, while Adams had a 204 and a 203. Jon Peters (505) was the lone male with a 500-plus series; he had a 204 game.
High scores for the women included Kolpa (178), Carole Frizzell (178), and Josie Rigby (170).