The Bellows Falls girls' cross country team turned in a dominant performance at the Vermont State Cross-Country Championships on Oct. 27 at Thetford Academy.
The Terrier girls had four runners in the top 10 in Division III, and won their first state title since back-to-back wins in 1985 and 1986.
And it may be too soon to talk about back-to-back titles by this current group of Terrier Harriers, but with two ninth-graders and a sophomore in that top-10 quartet, Holland Gymnasium may have to find some room for a couple more championship banners.
Ninth-grader Abby Broadley covered the hilly 5-kilometer Thetford course in 20 minutes, 0.9 seconds to finish first. Fellow ninth-grader Stephanie Ager was third in 21:02, and sophomore Abby Dearborn was fourth in 21:05 and senior Lia Clark was sixth in 21:47.
Also finishing for the Terriers were Molly Hodsden (21st, 24:11), Jasmine Boucher (23rd, 24:34), and Haley Covillion (26th, 24:48). BF took first place with a team score of 14 points. Rice was second with 42 points and Northfield was third with 69.
The BF boys were fifth in the Division III meet. They had two runners in the top 15 - Ian Wallace (10th,18:58) and Timothy Salter-Roy (14th, 19:32). Also finishing were Stone Bradbury (35th, 20:41), Gabriel Hakimoglu (37th, 20:47), Issac Wilkinson (43rd, 21:16), Collin Robertson (54th, 22:05), and Jacob Howarth (73rd, 23:51).
Brattleboro finished ninth in the Division I girls' meet. Sarah Gallagher led the Colonel girls with a 20th-place finish in 21:49, followed by Bella Takacs (38th, 22:45), Alexandra Miskovich (62nd, 24:16), Liz Morse (65th, 24:28), Kathryn Wocell (66th, 24:38), and Molly Patnaude (75th, 26:54).
The Colonel boys finished 10th in their Division I meet. Finn Lamorder was 24th in 18:22, followed by Bram Tabachnick (45th, 19:10), Evan Koch (61st, 20:35), Nolan Holmes (65th, 20:30), Reis Perotti (70th, 21:01), Ben Berkson Harvey (72nd, 21:18), and Logan McKay (77th, 23:27).
Next up for the BF girls is the New England Championship meet, set for Nov. 10 in Manchester, N.H.
Football
• It took persevering through the screwiest final four minutes of a high school football game that I've ever seen, but Bellows Falls advanced to the Division II semifinals with a 20-18 win over the U-32 Raiders at Hadley Field on Oct. 26.
How screwy? U-32 had an 18-12 lead with 4:06 left in regulation. They had just stopped BF's fake punt play on fourth down. All they had to do was run out the clock for the win.
Instead, the Raiders fumbled away the ball to BF on the first play from scrimmage. The Terriers quickly turned that mistake into points, as quarterback Griffin Waryas connected with Brady Clark for a 14-yard touchdown to tie the game with 3:08 left.
Jeb Monier came in to kick the extra point, but his kick hit the post. However, U-32 drew a “roughing-the-kicker” penalty and BF got a second shot at breaking the tie. Again, U-32 was hit with another penalty, this time for jumping offsides.
With the ball now on the 1-yard line, BF coach Bob Lockerby decided to go for the two-point conversion, and running back Jed Lober blasted through the U-32 line to give BF a 20-18 lead.
Game over, right? Wrong.
U-32 got the ball and started driving the ball down the field, only to fumble it away. BF got the ball back, and could run out the clock for the win.
Except BF fumbled the ball away near midfield with 30.7 seconds and gave U-32 one more chance to win. This time, on the first play from scrimmage, Lober tipped a pass from quarterback Nathan LaRosa and Braden Maxfield reeled it in for the interception.
That finally sealed the win, and BF fans had a chance to breathe again.
While the Raiders lost to BF a week earlier, they jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter of the rematch on a pair of touchdown runs by Nathan McMahon.
BF eventually tied the game, 12-12, with touchdown runs by Waryas and Lober. But LaRosa put the Raiders back in front with a 46-yard TD pass to Michael Bove with 8:01 left in the final quarter to set up the wild finish.
“Crisp” was not an adjective to use to describe this game. Each team had three turnovers and the defenses definitely had the upper hand. BF's Dylan Clark and Reno Tuttle had nine and eight tackles, respectively, for the Terriers. Maxfield had a fumble recovery and a sack to go with his game-saving interception, and Harrison Gleim also had a fumble recovery.
On offense, Lober punished the Raiders, carrying the ball 30 times for 184 yards. Waryas completed six of his 16 passes for 75 yards.
The Terriers (7-2) now advance to the semifinals, where they will take on the defending champs, the Fair Haven Slaters (7-2), in a road contest this Friday night at 7.
• Brattleboro ended its season with a 55-37 loss to BFA-St. Albans in a Division I consolation game on Oct. 26.
Field hockey
• Top-seeded Bellows Falls made a statement in their 3-1 win over the No. 8 Champlain Valley Redhawks in a Division I quarterfinal on Oct. 26 in Westminster. The Terriers can more than hold their own against the big northern schools.
CVU has 1,200 students, while Bellows Falls has about 300, but the Terriers have the quality players needed to trade punches with the big schools in field hockey. And that quality begins with senior forward Abbe Cravinho, who celebrated her 18th birthday with a goal and an assist.
“It feels great to beat a good northern team. It's amazing,” she said after the game. “Everyone says that we played an easy schedule, and we did, but we are a team to be reckoned with.”
Although they were the eighth seed, CVU played the Terriers extremely tough. For BF, that meant a slight adjustment on offense.
“We knew we couldn't take direct, hard shots against this team,” said Cravinho. “We were aiming for the posts.”
BF created their scoring chances by swarming the goal at every opportunity. They outshot CVU, 8-3, and had 10 other attempts that just missed the goalmouth.
The Terriers had a 10-0 advantage in penalty corners in the first half, but could not score until Cravinho's one-timer inside the circle beat CVU goalie Kristy Carlson with 1:07 left for her 31st goal of the season.
Freshman Maya Waryas opened the second half with a goal with 24:56 left. But CVU wasn't rolling over and put a brief scare into the Terriers when Caroline Reynolds scored to make it a 2-1 game with 11:15 remaining.
BF didn't panic. Sophie Hyslop scored a minute later and order was restored.
“We definitely played more relaxed than maybe we should have,” said BF coach Bethany Coursen. “This was a nice test.”
At press time, the Terriers beat second-seeded South Burlington, 3-2, in a Oct. 29 semifinal game at Middlebury College. Their win streak now at 56 games and counting, BF (16-0) will play in its fourth straight championship game this Saturday at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
• Fourth-seeded Otter Valley ended fifth-seeded Brattleboro's season with a 6-0 win over the Colonels in a Division II quarterfinal in Brandon on Oct. 26.
Alia Edmonds and Morgan LaPorte each scored a pair of goals for the Otters. Colonels goaltender Natalya Forkin made 15 saves in the loss.
Boys' soccer
• In a Division III quarterfinal match at Hayford Field on Oct. 26, top-seeded and undefeated Twin Valley shut out Green Mountain, 4-0.
Owen Grinold scored twice, Jack McHale and Colin McHale each added a goal, and Colin McHale had two assists. Goalkeeper Logan Boyd made three saves for the shutout.
At press time, Twin Valley (15-0) was scheduled to host Peoples Academy in a semifinal match on Oct. 30.
• Fourth-seeded Leland & Gray got knocked out of the Division III tournament by Peoples Academy, 6-2, in a quarterfinal match in Townshend on Oct. 26.
In the first round, the Rebels beat 13th-seeded Thetford, 3-2. Trailing 1-0 in the first half, Jordan Persson scored the equalizer and Riley Barton picked up two more goals for a 3-1 lead at the half.
Thetford's William Bugg converted a penalty kick in the second half to cut the Rebels' lead in half, but the Panthers got no closer.
• Tenth-seeded Brattleboro's playoff run started with high drama as Luke Williams scored off a Jackson Buettner pass for a 1-0 upset of the seventh-seeded Burr & Burton Bulldogs in a Division I first round game in Manchester on Oct. 23.
The Bulldogs had a 20-16 advantage in shots, but Colonels goalkeeper Emmett Dews made 11 saves to preserve the win.
In the quarterfinal round, however, second-ranked St. Johnsbury shut out visiting Brattleboro, 4-0.
After a scoreless first half, Malik Joell scored two goals for the Hilltoppers. Sajan Harvey and Pablo Gonzalez-Rotger also scored. Dews made 14 saves in the loss. The Colonels ended the season with an 8-8 record.
• Second-seeded Stowe blasted visiting 15th-seed Bellows Falls, 9-0. in a Division III first-round game on Oct. 23.
The Terriers were no match for the six-time defending champions, who got two goals from Jace Boerger and individual tallies from Alex Pelletier, Norris Duff, Jono Nissenbaum, Alex Reichelt, Alex Tilgner, Hans Huber, and Jules Gershman.
Girls' soccer
• Seventh-seeded Twin Valley was on the verge of a big upset, but Arlington's Tess Belnap got the goal to end that dream as the second-seeded Eagles put away the visiting seventh-seeded Wildcats, 1-0, in the Division IV quarterfinals on Oct. 26.
Eagles goalkeeper Shaana Staab had one save for the shutout victory. Maria Page had 10 saves for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats reached the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over No. 10 Blue Mountain in a first-round match on Oct. 24 at Hayford Field. Sadie Boyd scored a pair of goals for Twin Valley as the Wildcats had a 15-0 advantage in shots on goal.
The Wildcats finished the season with a 5-11 record.
• Eighth-seeded Leland & Gray got an early exit from the Division III playoffs with a 3-2 overtime loss to Stowe in a first-round match in Townshend on Oct. 24.
After giving up a goal in the first minute, the Rebels struck back with goals from Ansley Richardson in the third minute and Rain Bates in the 10th minute for a 2-1 lead at the half.
The Rebels held onto that lead until the 75th minute, when Stowe's Elizabeth Fitzgerald scored. Then, 50 seconds into the second overtime period, Selah Barrett scored the winning goal. Leland & Gray ended the season at 9-6.
Senior bowling roundup
• Another week, another reshuffling of the leaders. Week 8 of the fall season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl saw Team 2 (28-12) move into first place, with Team 4 (27-13) close behind in second. Team 7, Week 7's leader, is tied for third with Team 5 (both 25-15).
Team 9 (24-16) is now fourth, followed by Team 1 (23-17), Team 10 (22-18), Team 11 (21-19), Team 8 (20-20), Team 3 (14-26), and Team 6 (9-31).
Shirley Aiken had the women's high handicap game (264) and series (519). Peter Cross had the men's high handicap game (268), while Warren Corriveau Sr. had the high handicap series (617). Team 9 had the high team handicap game (931) and series (2,572).
In scratch scoring, Marty Adams (544), Jerry Dunham (547), and Cross (563) were the men in the 500-plus club, while Aiken (519) and Debbie Kolpa (517) were the two women who rolled a 500-plus series.
Corriveau (225) was the only male bowler to top 200, while the women were led by Kolpa (212), Aiken (202), and Bunny Fogg (184).