The Brattleboro Colonels boys' soccer team needed better luck and a win last Friday when they faced Mill River at Sawyer Field. Despite second-half lapses the Colonels got what they needed with a 3-2 win.
Brattleboro controlled the flow of play in the first half but only had one goal to show for it when Sam Ogenoff scored from inside the penalty area late in the half.
The Colonels added two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half from Ian Fulton-Black and Brennan Zolnoski. But Patrick Mumford and Arthur Conover struck for goals and suddenly the Colonels were battling to hang on for the win.
A couple of big saves by goalkeeper Brian McCarthy in the final minutes saved the day for the 2-4 Colonels.
“It was a nice win but I think they understand now that they need to play hard for the full 80 minutes and that one or two dangerous plays can break open a game,” said Colonels coach Paul Sather.
Sather said he thought his defensive backs did a good job controlling Mumford, who was held to a single shot in the first half but managed to get five shots on goal in the second half. McCarthy finished with eight saves.
“We just needed a win,” said Sather.
Boys' soccer
• Owen McDonald scored one goal in each half as Leland & Gray blanked Green Mountain, 2-0, in Townshend on Sept. 15. The Rebels outshot the Chieftains, 12-1, and Nick Morrow made one save for the shutout.
McDonald then scored two more goals on Sept. 18 in a 3-0 home win over Springfield. He also assisted on the first goal of the game: a strike by Corey Nystrom.
Once again, Morrow needed to make only one save to pick up another shutout as the Rebels finished the week with a 5-1 record.
• Toby Will scored three goals and assisted on two others as Twin Valley crushed Windsor, 8-0, on Sept. 16 in Wilmington. Justin Hicks, TJ Felisko, Morrow Barnard, Nick Nielsen, and Javier Matteo also scored for the undefeated Twin Valley.
The Wildcats took a 7-0 lead at the half. Goalkeeper Sam Molner didn't need to face a shot. His understudy, Kyle Murdoch, claimed four saves in the second half.
Girls' soccer
• Sophomore forward Devin Millerick helped a shorthanded Brattleboro team rally past Hartford, 2-1, in a Sept. 16 match.
After Brattleboro defender Breanna Sheehan was given a red card and sent off in the 31st minute for using her hand to stop a shot on goal by Hartford's Kyra Wood, teammate Rachel Seaver converted the penalty kick for a 1-0 lead.
Faced with having to play the next 49 minutes with only 10 players, Millerick and the Colonels rose to the occasion. Millerick got the equalizer in the 48th minute off a lead pass from Maddy Derosia, and then scored the game winner in the 56th minute off a cross by Anna Burch.
The Colonels battled Rutland to a 1-1 tie last Saturday. Both goals came off penalty kicks. Derosia converted her chance in the 55th minute; Rutland's Brooke Woodward scored the equalizer in the 69th minute. Brattleboro finished the week with a 3-2-1 record.
• After four losses to start the season, Bellows Falls battled Fair Haven to a 2-2 tie in double overtime on Sept. 16. The Terriers got goals from Keri Ticino and Chelsea Wilder.
• Leland & Gray scored three unanswered goals to open the match and held on for a 5-3 road victory over Twin Valley on Sept. 15.
Skyler Nupp, Giannina Gaspero-Beckstrom, and Ashley Bates each scored in the first half for the Rebels before Twin Valley's Caitlin Hunt, assisted by Tayler Courchesne, picked up a goal and cut the lead to 3-1 at the half.
Gaspero-Beckstrom and Haley Buffum scored in the second half for the Rebels. Natalie Herrick and Courchesne each got a goal for the Wildcats. Rebels goalkeeper Jordan Gouger made nine saves to get the win.
The Rebels followed that effort with a 4-0 home win over Fair Haven. Charly Sperling and Haley Buffum scored in the first half, each assisted by Gaspero-Beckstrom. Nupp and Emily Reilly added insurance goals in the second half. Gouger made seven saves as Leland & Gray ended the week at 5-1.
• Twin Valley went into its Sept. 18 game at Bellows Falls with only 12 players, two of whom were injured late in the first half, leaving the Wildcats to play the final 44 minutes of the game with 10 players. Despite being a player short for that long a stretch, TV still beat the Terriers, 2-0.
Hunt and Kassidy Walkowiak scored; goalkeeper Brianna Rafus made nine saves.
Football
• Hartford's Tyler Searles ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns as the Hurricanes defeated Brattleboro, 20-6, at Natowich Field last Friday night.
Searles scored on a five-yard run in the first quarter and added an eight-yard touchdown run in the fourth. Teammate John Beliecki ran for 68 yards on 12 carries.
Both Brattleboro and Hartford had three turnovers in the first half. Hartford held on to a slender 7-0 lead going into the second half, and looked like it might be reeling after Brattleboro's Jack Ochukpue scored on a 60-yard run with 7:01 left in the third quarter. But Dylan DeJordy missed the extra point and the Colonels missed a chance to tie.
Hartford soon responded as quarterback Bryce Landon threw a 10-yard TD pass to Codi Smith to make it 14-6 with 3:30 left in third after Hunter Perkins' second extra point of the night.
Searles capped off a long, clock-eating drive in the final quarter with his touchdown with 1:08 left in the game to clinch it for the 2-2 Hurricanes.
Despite Ochukpue led the Colonels' offense with 102 yards on 11 carries, but Brattleboro continued to struggle to score points, failing to convert on three fourth-down plays.
Taylor King finished with 71 yards on 11 carries, while quarterback Tyler McKenney was 4-for-10 for 75 yards, including passes of 12 and 23 yards to Tanner Freeman.
The 1-3 Colonels host St. Johnsbury at Natowich Field this Friday night at 7.
• Bellows Falls traveled to Newport last Friday night and crushed North Country, 41-13.
North Country hadn't played the previous week due to roughly half the team coming down with hand, foot, and mouth disease, a highly contagious viral illness that swept through the school.
The Terriers led 21-7 at the half, with rushing touchdowns by Austin Stack and Chad Illingworth, and were not challenged by the Falcons in the second half.
Now 3-1, Bellows Falls hosts Burr & Burton at Hadley Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Field hockey
• Bellows Falls needed overtime to beat Burr & Burton, 2-1, in Manchester on Sept. 15. Cassidy Santorelli got both goals, including the game-winner at 1:43 of overtime.
The Terriers had a much easier time of it against Brattleboro, with a 2-0 win over the Colonels at Tenney Field on Sept. 18. The Colonels did give BF a tough game at the start, as their defense foiled five straight penalty corners before Sara Wells deflected an Averie Lowe shot to score with 18:33 left in the first half.
Santorelli scored nine minutes later off a centering pass by Leia Robinson, and the BF defense made the two goals stand up. Colonels goalie Hannah Wilson made seven saves in the second half to keep her team in the game. BF goalie Quinn Lawrence earned her fourth shutout of the season for the 6-0 Terriers.
Cross-countr
• The Brattleboro cross-country teams got an early test to see where they are this season at a five-meet at Mount Anthony on Sept. 16. Despite many of their runners posting their fastest times this season, both the boys' and girls' teams came in fifth overall.
Stratton Mountain won the meet with 48 points. Following were Burr & Burton with 60 points, Rutland with 64 points, MAU with 68 points, and Brattleboro with 98 points.
Brattleboro's Ryan Gilligan pulled away from Andy Barlow of MAU in the final half miles to cover the hilly 2.95-mile course in 17 minutes, 58 seconds for the win.
Also scoring for Brattleboro was Jonah Koch, who came in 18th in his first varsity race, then Tyler Clement in 25th, Colin Costa-Walsh in 26th, and Josh Meachen in 28th.
On the girls' side, Stratton Mountain won easily with 17 points, followed by Rutland with 50 points, MAU with 80 points, Burr & Burton with 90 points, and Brattleboro with 131 points.
Becca Freeman led the Colonel girls with a 15th place finish in 23:58, followed by Catey Yost in 21st, Gwen Harris in 37th, Jazmin Smith in 48th, and Katie Reynolds in 49th.
• Bellows Falls' Willie Moore (16 minutes, 44 seconds) finished second behind Sharon Academy's Chris Gish, who won the boys' race in a record time of 16:15 over the 2.95-mile course at the Russ Pickering Invitational in Westminister last Friday.
Gilligan (17:04) placed third to lead the Colonel boys. Following were Tyler Clement (ninth in 18:19), Colin Costa-Walsh (18th in 19:15), Dan Burdo (23rd in 19:40), and Josh Meachen (25th in 19:45).
Rounding out the Terriers' top five were Cody Tallent (eighth in 17:54), Jackson Purdy (22nd in 19:37), Nic Potter (26th in 19:49), and Cam Joy (36th in 21:28).
Stratton Mountain School swept both events, scoring 24 points in the boys' race and 17 in the girls' race. Brattleboro placed third in both races, while the Bellows Falls boys wound up fourth.
SMS's Katherine Ogden won the girls' race in 18:49. Brattleboro's top five were Caty Yost (22:32), Gwen Harris (22:35), Katie Reynolds (26:51), Annie Takacs (26:55), and Jazmin Smith (28:14). Tess Kinney of Bellows Falls finished at 27:07.
Putney Rowing Club hosts annual regatta
• On Sunday, Sept. 28, the Putney Rowing Club hosts the 33rd annual Green Mountain Head Regatta, a three-mile stakes race on the Connecticut River.
In long, narrow boats known as shells, participants row 1 {1/2}miles upstream from the Dummerston boat landing, negotiate a turn around buoys, then power back to the finish. Racers range in age from teens to octogenarians.
This event is the brainchild of brothers Peter and George Heller. Founded in 1981, the regatta is organized and supported by the Putney Rowing Club, The Putney School, and the Brattleboro Outing Club's RowBOC.
Viewers can watch the race from the Dummerston landing or further up the course at the Putney boat landing. First-place winners take home maple syrup; second- and third-place winners score apples and cider.