The playoff ride ended for the Bellows Falls girls and the Twin Valley boys last Wednesday.
In a Division III girls' soccer semifinal in Bradford, the No. 6 Terriers lost to the No. 2 Oxbow Olympians, 6-1. Sara Dumont scored midway through the first half to tie the game at 1-1, but Oxbow then scored five unanswered goals to put the game away. Riley Johnson and Michaela Hodge scored 2 goals each to lead the Olympians, Felicia Downing and Emily Speck also scored.
In a Division IV boys' soccer semifinal in Sharon, the Wildcats lost to Sharon Academy, 2-1. Chris Farwell opened the scoring for Sharon in the 10th minute. Twin Valley's Colin Lozito later scored off a Dal Nesbitt feed to tie the game, which was ultimately decided on an “own” goal by Twin Valley in the 66th minute.
While both losses were disappointing for the teams and their supporters, if there was a state championship for resilience, Bellows Falls and Twin Valley would be the champs.
Bellows Falls was coming off a one-win season in 2010. There was little reason to believe that a team with many of the same players would turn around and win 11 games and advance to the semifinals this season. But they did, and made school history in the process as the first girls' soccer to host a playoff game and make it out of the first round. BF finished with a 11-4-1 record.
But the Terriers had it easy compared to Twin Valley.
Twin Valley saw their home field destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene, and soon after lost their back-up field in Whitingham. They got off to a 1-4-1 start, and lost their coach, Buddy Hayford, for three weeks due to an emergency appendectomy. Despite playing “home” games in Brattleboro, Bennington, and Arlington, the Wildcats bounced back to play their best soccer when it mattered most.
The Wildcats had even more trials in the final days of the season. One of their players, Trey Cunningham, was seriously injured in a car crash on the eve of the playoffs, and the freak storm on Oct. 30 that left more than a foot of snow in the Deerfield Valley left the team unable to practice outside before the Sharon game.
After all that, Twin Valley made it to the semifinals and finished with a 8-8-1 record. Given all the obstacles thrown at them, it was perhaps the best coaching job that Hayford has ever done in his long history at the school.
Terriers retain 'The Trophy'
• Will Bourne scored four second-half touchdowns as Bellows Falls broke open a close game to clobber the winless Springfield Cosmos, 41-0, on Thursday night.
BF led 7-0 at half, thanks to a 14-yard touchdown run by Cooper Long. The BF defense then cranked it up and held the Cosmos without a first down in the second half. Bourne did the rest, returning three Springfield punts for touchdowns of 70, 52, and 50 yards, respectively. Bourne also caught a 37-yard touchdown from quarterback Jeremy Kilburn, who had a 4-yard touchdown run of his own to complete the scoring.
The Terriers ended their first season in Division II with a 5-4 record, just missing the playoffs. But more important for the Terriers was beating the Cosmos and retaining possession of “The Trophy,” the enormous and nameless hunk of hardware that stays at the victor's school until the following year.
BF has a 50-43-4 lead in the series, which began in 1914 and is one of Vermont's longest running football rivalries.
Harris Hill dates announced
• The Harris Hill Ski Jump, the only Olympic-sized, 90-meter ski jumping hill in New England, will play host to its annual two-day ski jumping event in Brattleboro on Feb. 18 and 19.
The 2012 event will be the only domestic stop in a nine-event International Skiing Federation (FIS) competition schedule, and will also serve as the United States American Ski Jumping (USASJ) tournament finals.
These two major competitions, merged in with the annual Pepsi Challenge and Fred Harris Memorial Tournament, will draw the best male and female ski jumpers from across the globe to Brattleboro, including those fighting to earn a spot on their respective 2014 Winter Olympic teams.
In 2009, the jump was completely rebuilt in accordance with FIS specifications, and now Brattleboro is reaping the benefits. Harris Hill is back on the map as a place for world-class ski jumpers to compete. Competition each day will start at noon and will conclude by 4 p.m.
Tickets for the event will go on sale in January. Expected prices are as follows: advance purchase: $12 adults, $10 youths aged 6-12 years; at the gate: $15 adults, $12 youths. Age five and younger are always free. For more details on the event, visit www.HarrisHillSkiJump.com.
Ice skating lessons offered
• The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department will again offer ice skating lessons this year.
Classes for children (age 5 and up) begin on Saturday, Nov. 12, and continue until Dec. 10, There will be a second session of Saturday lessons from Jan. 21 to Feb. 18. Friday morning classes for adults will take place Jan. 6-Feb. 3.
The cost of children's lessons is $40 for Brattleboro residents, $55 for non-residents. Adults pay $40 if they are Brattleboro residents, and $60 if they are not. To reserve a space, call the Rec Dept. at 802-254-4808, or instructor Mollie Burke at 802-257-4844.
Mount Snow gets a jump on the ski season
• With four inches of snow arriving on Oct. 28, temperatures falling low enough make snow, and an epic storm on Oct. 29-30 that left another 15 inches of snow, Mount Snow in West Dover was able to tie Killington for being the first resort in Vermont to open for the 2011-12 season.
While Killington opened more of its terrain, Mount Snow concentrated on getting its snowboarding area, Launch Pad, ready for the earlybirds.
Mount Snow opened on Oct. 29, and sold 420 lift tickets at $10 a pop. All the proceeds, $4,200 in all, from opening day was donated to North Star Bowl in Wilmington, which was extensively damaged by flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene.
Nov. 19 is the tentative opening day for the rest of the mountain.
Stratton Mountain Resort celebrates 50th
• Stratton Mountain opens for its 50th season on Nov. 23, but the resort has already begun its golden anniversary year celebration, starting with the release of Hubert Schriebl's new book, Stratton: The First Fifty Years.
Schriebl is a well-known Stratton photographer who has spent decades recording life on the mountain. The book is a photographic history of the growth of the resort from 10 trails to its current 92. The limited edition book is $100 and is available at Stratton's 50th Anniversary Studio, located in in Stratton Village, between Sugar & Spice Cafe and the Life is Good store, across from North Face.
The studio will have a collection of Stratton photographs, posters and memorabilia on display throughout the 2010-11 ski and snowboarding season.
Magic Mountain offers 'White-Out' pass
• Another southern Vermont ski area celebrating a 50th anniversary this season is Magic Mountain in Londonderry, which first opened for top-to-bottom skiing in 1962. The owners have done their best to keep the original 1960s flavor of Magic -twisty narrow trails, steep expert runs, and off-piste tree skiing.
But Magic is offering a big birthday present to its patrons this season. It has introduced what it calls a “White-Out Pass,” which allows skiers and riders unlimited slope time over the peak holiday periods - Christmas/New Year's week, Martin Luther King Weekend and President's Week - for $249, if you buy before Nov. 27.
Most resorts in the Northeast have those dates as black-out dates, meaning that discount passes aren't honored, and skiers and riders pay a premium price for a lift ticket. It's good to see that Magic Mountain is taking the opposite tack.
Also, Magic is offering a $149 season pass for college students, and a $99 season pass for Vermont elementary and secondary school students. Go to www.magicmtn.com for more details.