-The Brattleboro Bears started off the girls' basketball season right, with a victory in the annual Leland & Gray Tip-Off Tournament in Townshend.
The Bears put up an impressive display of defense in the opening game of the tourney on Dec. 13 with a 42-20 win over the Burr & Burton Bulldogs. Brattleboro held the Bulldogs scoreless in the first quarter and took a 13-0 lead. Burr & Burton never got closer as Brattleboro forced 32 turnovers, and held the Bulldogs to a 23% shooting percentage.
"We worked hard on our press defense," said Bears head coach Karen Henry. "We held a varsity team to six points in the first half. That's pretty impressive."
Junior guard Reese Croutworst led the Bears with 20 points and four steals. Sophomore Naima Harris had seven points, six rebounds, two steals, and one blocked shot in her first varsity start, while point guard Abby Henry had six points, three steals, and one blocked shot.
In the championship game against the Arlington Eagles on Dec. 14, Croutworst and Henry did all the heavy lifting as they scored 19 and 14 points, respectively, in a 42-31 win.
It was a close game in the first half, with the Bears holding a slim 14-13 lead at the break. Brattleboro started to pull away in the third quarter and led 31-24 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Henry was named the tournament's most valuable player, and she and Croutworst were both named to the all-tournament team. This week will be much tougher for the 2-0 Bears with home games against Champlain Valley and St. Johnsbury.
• It was a rougher season debut for the Leland & Gray Rebels as they lost their tourney opener to Arlington, 33-18, and then lost the consolation game to Burr & Burton, 52-25.
Against Arlington, the Rebels struggled on offense but still managed to keep it a close game, trailing 10-6 after the first quarter and 22-14 at halftime. Both teams struggled to score in the second half, but the Eagles outscored the Rebels, 13-4, to seal the victory.
Taylor Wilkins led the Eagles with 11 points. Abigail Emerson finished with six points for the 0-2 Rebels.
BF girls win opener over Mill River
• Bellows Falls made quick work of a shorthanded Mill River team as the Terriers cruised to a 55-14 win at Holland Gymnasium on Dec. 14. What made this game interesting was that the Terriers didn't shoot particularly well from the free throw line (12 for 31) or the field (18 for 59), and still managed to score 55 points.
"We were getting good looks [at the basket], but the shots weren't falling," said BF coach James Pecsok.
BF's defense was not slumping, however, and it prevented Mill River from generating much offense as the Terriers forced many turnovers and missed shots. By halftime, the Terriers built up a 24-5 lead and were not seriously threatened after that.
Mill River, which had only seven players dressed for this game, was held to nine points in the second half, all coming in the third quarter. Grace St. Pierre had a pair of third-quarter three-pointers and finished with six points to lead Mill River.
Sophomore point guard Abby Nystrom scored 20 points and had seven steals with only one turnover to lead the Terriers. Cadance James added 10 points, Laura Kamel scored eight points and had nine rebounds, Olivia Hallock also scored eight points, and Nola Sciacca had five points and eight rebounds.
Boys' basketball
• Twin Valley opened its season with a 53-46 loss to Twinfield/Cabot in the first round of the Bob Abrahamson Tournament in Proctor on Dec. 13. The Wildcats then faced Poultney in the tournament's consolation game on Dec. 14, and won 63-39. Sophomore Brayden Brown led Twin Valley with 34 points.
• St. Johnsbury rolled over Brattleboro, 71-36, in the Bears' season opener on Dec. 13. Rex Hauser led the hosts with 32 points, Kerrick Medose added 12 points.
Bears stay put, BF moves to Division III for 2025 football season
• The Vermont Interscholastic Football League (VIFL) last week announced its divisional and league alignment for the 2025 high school football season. After a meeting with Vermont Principals' Association's Football Committee, both agreed on a new divisional realignment plan, which uses each school's male student enrollment as the primary factor for divisional placement.
Under the new plan, all three of the state's divisions will consist of 10 teams.
Division I is going from 11 to 10 teams for the upcoming season with Hartford shifting down to Division II. It will now consist of BFA-St. Albans, Brattleboro, Burr & Burton, Champlain Valley, Essex, Middlebury, Mount Anthony, Rutland, Burlington/South Burlington, and St. Johnsbury. Middlebury, which would be a mid-sized Division II school using the male enrollment criteria, petitioned to remain in Division I.
In addition to Hartford dropping down to Division II, two other Division II teams - Bellows Falls and Mount Abraham - are shifting to Division III. Division II now consists of Colchester, Fair Haven, Hartford, Lyndon Institute, Milton, Mount Mansfield, North Country, Rice, Spaulding and U-32.
Despite a male enrollment count that would make it the eighth-largest football-playing school, Colchester remains in Division II, due to Middlebury's move up to Division I. The current Division II champion, Fair Haven, petitioned to remain in Division II due to its male enrollment making it the 23rd-largest football-playing school.
The new Division III lineup now consists of BFA-Fairfax/Lamoille, Bellows Falls, Mill River, Missisquoi Valley, Mount Abraham, Otter Valley, Poultney, Springfield, Windsor, and Woodstock. Oxbow, which did not have enough players to field a team this past season, is not included in the 2025 alignment.
Bellows Falls has gone between Division II and Division III in the 1980s and 1990s, but had been in Division II for more than a decade despite being one of the smaller schools in that division. In that time, the Terriers have not had a losing record and have won a pair of state championships.
• The playoff format remains the same for 2025, with the top eight teams in each division advancing to the playoffs. The league alignment, which was established ahead of the 2023 season, is also the same for Brattleboro and Bellows Falls.
Brattleboro will play in the Southern Vermont League with Burr & Burton, Hartford, Middlebury, Mount Anthony, and Rutland. Bellows Falls will play in the Mountain League with Fair Haven, Lyndon, Mount Mansfield, and North Country. Each team will play the other teams in their league with three non-league games scheduled to fill out the eight-week regular season schedule.
• The first day of Vermont high school football practices in 2025 will be Aug. 11, with the first scrimmage opportunity on Aug. 22 and the last opportunity on Aug. 30.
The first scheduled games of the 2025 regular season will be on Sept. 4, 5, and 6. The season will conclude on Saturday, Nov. 15, when South Burlington High School hosts the football state championships for all three divisions.
More on Willem Thurber
• I reached out to Willem Thurber, the BUHS and Deerfield Academy standout who will be playing football as a tight end for the University of Virginia (UVA) next fall, to get his thoughts about the journey from a dairy farm in West Brattleboro to a commitment to play Division I college ball.
His remarks came too late to make it into last week's roundup, but I wanted to share what he said in his email to The Commons in this week's roundup.
I asked Thurber about why he chose Virginia. "I decided on UVA because I really enjoyed their campus, it is beautiful and they just added brand new football facilities," he replied. "I also love the coaching staff. The coach who recruited me, Des Kitchings, is the offensive coordinator as well as the tight end coach, and I like how he involves tight ends into his offense. And they recruited me hard."
Thurber said he also likes UVA because "it's a great mix between high-level ACC [Atlantic Coast Conference] football, but also is a very good academic school. And I thought that it would be a great fit for me."
BUHS and Deerfield Academy "prepared me well," said Thurber, but he said he knows "it will definitely be a big jump. But in the New England prep league, we play a very competitive schedule with a bunch of other Division I players. [BUHS head coach Chad] Pacheco was able to prepare me for the jump between Vermont high school football to prep league. And [Deerfield head coach] Brian Barbato has been helping me prepare for the jump to Division 1 college football."
Thurber said both schools instilled "a hard work ethic and taught me how to face adversity and made me a better person and player overall."
As for the remainder of the school year in Deerfield, Thurber said he will be playing both basketball and baseball and, upon graduation this spring, he will be enrolling at UVA in early June.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 14 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Dec. 11 saw Number 3 (50-20) have a 1-4 week, but remain in first place. Pin Heads (41-29) went 5-0 to move into second place, followed by Lucky Strikes and Slo Movers (both 38-32), Spare Change (35-35), Candi Men (34-36), Jerry's Team (33-37), Wunderkind (30.5-39.5), Rick's Picks (27.5-42.5), and Aging Teens (23-47).
Diane Cooke had the women's high handicap game (233) and series (656), while Kevin Napaver had the men's high handicap game (263) and series (736). Rick's Picks had the high team handicap game (893), while Pin Heads had the high handicap series (2,559).
Napaver had the men's high scratch series (736) with games of 263, 237, and 236, while Robert Rigby had a 562 series with games of 216 and 201. Mike Pavlovich had a 560 series with games of 203 and 183, and Peter Deyo had a 550 series with games of 202 and 181. Chuck Adams and Rick Westcott each had a 516 series, while Rick Pietro had a 514 series. Wayne Randall had a 505 series with a 201 game, and Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 502 series. Notable games for the men included Jerry Dunham (199), Fred Ashworth (193), Al Dascomb and Marty Adams (183), Charlie Marchant (182), and Norm Corliss (180).
Nancy Dalzell had the women's high scratch series (487), while Cooke had the high scratch game (170). Those with notable games included Carol Gloski (168) and Dalzell (166).
Randolph T. Holhut , deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at [email protected].
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.