Football can seem complicated, but at its heart is one very simple concept - a team's success depends on imposing your physical will on your opponent.
Running the football is usually the most effective way to do that and, in Vermont high school football, the teams that are successful are the teams that have a strong offensive line and running backs who can bludgeon their way through defenses.
The fifth-seeded Lyndon Vikings put on a clinic in this kind of old-school school football against the fourth-seeded Brattleboro Colonels in their first-round Division II playoff game on Oct. 29 at Natowich Field. The Vikings threw only two passes, and ran the ball for 355 yards in a dominating 44-26 victory.
Luke Dudas, who is 5-foot-9 and weighs 230 pounds, was the battering ram the Vikings used against the Colonels. He ran for 202 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns. Trevor Lussier ran for 96 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns, and Ashton Gould had 61 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown.
By contrast, the Colonels had little success moving the ball on the ground, gaining a total of 17 yards on 13 carries. The aerial game also had trouble early, as quarterback Devin Speno was intercepted twice. Speno finished with 18 of his 29 passes completed for 262 yards and three touchdowns. Tristan Evans (9 catches, 154 yards) and Willem Thurber (6 catches, 75 yards) were the main recipients.
Lyndon, which eked out a 21-20 win when these two teams faced each other in Week 2, was stopped on its opening drive, but Dudas scored on a 4-yard run in their second drive, and the Vikings got another touchdown on a 4-yard run by Lussier for a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Brattleboro got on the board early in the second quarter on a 18-yard touchdown catch by Thurber, but Gould scored on a two-yard run for a 21-7 lead for the Vikings. The Colonels responded with a 38-yard TD catch by Evans, but Zach Hale booted a 30-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings a 24-14 halftime lead.
Lyndon put the game away with long clock-eating drives in the second half that led to a pair of touchdowns by Dudas for a 38-14 lead with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter. The Colonels salvaged some pride with a couple of late touchdowns in the fourth quarter - a three-yard run by Cam Frost and a 1-yard touchdown catch by Aaron Petrie on the final play of the game.
After a 1-4 start, Brattleboro finished the season at 4-5. With only a handful of seniors graduating, nearly all of this season's roster will be back next season, and they should be in the playoff hunt again in 2022.
Terriers roll in playoff opener
• The reward for Lyndon's win over Brattleboro is a Division II semifinal game this Friday at 7 p.m. against a team that knows a thing or two about how to impose their will on an opponent - the top-seeded and undefeated Bellows Falls Terriers.
BF advanced to the semifinals with a 54-21 rout of eighth-seeded Fair Haven in a first-round playoff game on Oct. 29 at Hadley Field. The Terriers shut out the Slaters, 56-0, in Week 4, and were just about as dominant in this contest.
Jed Lober had four touchdown carries to lead the Terriers. Harrison Gleim added two touchdowns and Caden Haskell ran back an interception for score on defense, and got a rushing touchdown. Jeb Monier kicked three extra points.
The winner of the Lyndon-BF semifinal at Hadley Field will face the winner of Friday's Spaulding-Mount Anthony semifinal in the Division II championship game on Nov. 13 in Rutland.
Field hockey
• No top seed? No problem for defending Division I champs Bellows Falls. Despite going 14-0 in the regular season, they were nosed out by 13-0-1 South Burlington for the No. 1 seed in the tournament based on the strength of South Burlington's regular season schedule.
Of course, when you've won five state titles over the past six seasons, a little thing like having to play a first-round game instead of getting a few extra days of rest is no big deal.
Colchester made the trip down to Westminster on Oct. 29 and the Terriers took care of business with a 3-1 win.
The winning combination for the Terriers was Maya Waryas, who scored all three goals, and Sadie Scott, who set up each of those goals off penalty corners.
All of Waryas's goals were hard shots taken at the top of the circle. She got the first goal just two minutes into the game. Ryleigh Garrow scored for the Lakers at the five minute mark, but Waryas got another goal towards the end of the first quarter, and finished her hat trick with another blast with 5:44 left in the game. She took 11 shots in all.
In the semifinals on Nov. 2, the Terriers edged No. 3 Essex, 2-1, to advance to the championship game. We'll have the details in next week's column.
• Eighth-seeded Woodstock rolled to a 4-0 victory over ninth-seeded Brattleboro in a Division II first-round game on Oct. 27.
Hannah Gubbins had two goals and an assist to lead the Wasps, while Norah Harper had a goal and two assists and Natalie Parent also scored. Brattleboro goalie Brittney Wright made nine saves in the loss.
Girls' soccer
• Second-seeded Leland & Gray played No. 15 Winooski in the first round of Division III playoffs in Townshend on Oct. 28. Before this game, the Rebels all wore warm-up jerseys with the No. 12 on the back to honor the memory of former classmate Dylan Landers, who died from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash in May.
After this silent tribute to a classmate taken too soon, the Rebels went out and rolled to a 6-1 victory.
Abby Towle had two goals for the Rebels, and Abigail Emerson, Ansley Henderson, Mary Sanderson and Maggie Parker also scored. Things were a little dicey early, as the Rebels held a slim 2-1 lead at the half. But the Rebels shook off the early jitters and scored four times in the second half.
The Rebels had little time to savor the win, as they had to host 10th-seeded Thetford the following afternoon in a quarterfinal match. Towle scored a goal and assisted on the game-winning tally by Ansley Henderson in a 2-1 overtime victory.
Towle got her 24th goal of the season in the first half, then set up Henderson for the winning goal in overtime with a corner kick.
The 14-2 Rebels now will host No. 3 BFA-Fairfax in a semifinal game on Nov. 3.
• Top-seeded Stowe defeated No. 16 Bellows Falls, 6-0, in a Division III first-round game on Oct. 27. Olivia Gianni two goals and an assist for the winners and Ellie Ortiz, Iris Cloutier, Noelle Lyden, and Julia Biedermann each added a goal. BF goalkeeper Corina Mitchell made 12 saves.
• Peyton Guay scored the first goal and then assisted on Anna Cyr's two first-half goals as West Rutland went to beat Twin Valley, 4-0, in a Division IV first-round game on Oct. 27. Twin Valley goalkeeper Anna Bevilacqua made 15 saves.
Boys' soccer
• Tenth-seeded Brattleboro had one of the longest trips of any school in the playoffs this fall as they journeyed 160 miles north to Newport to face the seventh-seeded North Country Falcons in the first round of the Division I playoffs on Oct. 26.
But it was happy ride back for the Colonels as they knocked off the Falcons, 3-1. Emilio Ogden gave the Colonels a 1-0 lead, when scored off a pass from Jordy Allembert.
Ogden later scored on a free kick to put the Colonels ahead, 2-0. Tate Chamberlin got the Colonels' third goal, set up by Charlie Kinnersley. Goalkeeper Alex Baker had a strong game, including a save on a penalty kick.
Brattleboro then had another ride north, this time to South Burlington on Oct. 30 to face the second-seeded Wolves in the quarterfinals on Oct. 30. The Colonels lost, 5-1, as Sumner Nenninger and Adam Slamani each scored two goals for the Wolves. Max Naylor scored the Colonels' only goal. Baker made nine saves in goal in the loss.
• Caleb Dupuis scored three goals as the fifth-seeded Twin Valley Wildcats defeated No. 12 Danville, 5-1, in a Division IV first-round game on Oct. 27 at Hayford Field in Wilmington.
Dupuis's first goal came four minutes into the game off an Aidin Joyce throw-in, knocked in a crossing pass from Colin McHale in the 24th minute for his second tally, and finished the hat trick with a header early in the second half.
Twin Valley got two more goals in the second half. Luke Rizio scored off a Cody Magnant pass, and Joyce followed with an unassisted goal to make it 5-0. Danville's Nicco Siani spoiled the shutout by Wildcats goalkeeper Liam Wendel with a goal with 30 seconds left in the game.
In a quarterfinal match in Marshfield against the fourth-seeded Cabot-Twinfield co-op soccer team on Oct. 29, Twin Valley was shut out and lost, 2-0. Lucas Roberts scored in the 36th minute and Meles Gouge added another goal in the 56th minute for the Trojans. Twin Valley ended the season with a 9-7 record.
• The bus ride north was long for 11th-seeded Leland & Gray, as they traveled 132 miles to Hardwick to face sixth-seeded Hazen in a Division III first-round game on Oct. 26. It wasn't a fun ride back to Townshend as the Rebels lost, 7-1.
• Thirteenth-seeded Bellows Falls also had a long bus ride north to face fourth-seeded Vergennes in a Division III first-round on Oct. 26. The result was a 13-0 loss for the Terriers.
BF girls finish second in state cross-country meet
• Defending Division III champion Bellows Falls finished second to host team Thetford Academy in the state cross-country championships on Oct. 30. It was the first title for Thetford since 1996 as they finished with 27 points to BF's 46.
North Branch School's Estella Laird was the Division III girls' winner in 20 minutes, 8.51 seconds. BF's Stephanie Ager led the Terriers with a fourth place finish in 21:14.08. She was the only BF runner to place in the top 10.
• In the Division I meet, the Brattleboro boys finished 12th and the girls finished 11th.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 9 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Oct. 28 saw Stayin' Alive (32-13) have a 4-1 week to stay in first place. Pin Falls (25.5-19.5) also went 4-1 to hang onto second place. Rolling Stones (21.5-23.5) went 5-0 to move into third, just a half-game ahead of Trash-O-Matic, Old Farts, and Alley Katz (all 21-24), followed by Pin Setters (20-25) and Team Four (18-27).
Pat Bentrup had the women's high handicap game (243) and handicap series (665). Robert Rigby had the men's high handicap game (257), while Pete Cross had the high handicap series (704). Pin Setters had the high team handicap game (895), while Trash-O-Matic had the high handicap series (2,516).
In scratch scoring, Chuck Adams led the men with a 649 series, with games of 237, 221, and 191. Rigby had games of 257 and 202 as part of his 640 series. Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 552 series that features a 194 game.
Carole Frizzell had the high scratch game (179) and Carol Gloski had the high series (496) to lead the women. Gloski rolled a 178 game, Nancy Dalzell had games of 176 and 170, Josie Rigby had a 175 game and Bentrup had a 170 game.