Some teams you watch, and you know right away that they are a cut above everyone else. The Leland & Gray girls' soccer team falls into that category.
Last year, the Rebel girls lost in the Division III finals against Stowe. This year, Leland & Gray is the top seed in Division IV and is determined to win a state title that has eluded them since 1991.
Leland & Gray moved down to Division IV this year, situated among the smallest schools in the state. However, this is a division with some of the most successful girls' soccer programs in Vermont, such as Arlington, Proctor, and Mount St. Joseph. These schools are in this year's Final Four, as the Rebels entered this week just two wins away from that elusive state title.
The unbeaten Rebels definitely looked locked in and focused as they took care of the eighth-seeded Danville Bears, 4-0, in a quarterfinal match on Oct. 28 in Townshend.
Leland & Gray put plenty of shots on the Danville goal in the first half, but most hit the goalposts and crossbar. Their only goal in the first half came with 19:20 to play when an Abby Towle corner kick ricocheted off a Danville defender and got past goalkeeper Leah Klark.
While Danville held their own defensively against the Rebels, it was only a matter of time before the Rebels broke through. Towle got her second goal with 32:21 left in the second half on a point-blank shot, and Maggie Parker added another with 20:09 to play. She booted a beautiful corner kick that had just enough of a bend to sail into the far corner of the goal. Towle then got her third tally of the afternoon with 6:20 remaining.
Rebels goalkeeper Makaila Morse made just six saves and was not seriously tested thanks to the strong defense of her teammates. Klark finished with 19 saves.
“A 4-0 win in a quarterfinal game is a good, good win,” said Rebels coach Joe Towle. “We took care of business today, but we all know that it is just one step toward our goal. Yes, it's a cliche, but we are just taking it just 80 minutes at a time and not looking too far ahead.”
While Abby Towle has been the headliner of this deep and talented team with 23 goals and nine assists this season, she had plenty of help from Parker (eight goals and nine assists), Mary Sanderson (seven goals and four assists), and Mary McDonald and Abigail Emerson (six goals each).
At press time, the Rebels were set to host No. 5 Mount St. Joseph in a semifinal match on Nov. 1, while No. 2 Proctor hosts No. 6 Arlington. The winners will play for a state championship this Saturday at Applejack Stadium in Manchester.
Cross-country
• The Brattleboro girls finished eighth overall in Division I while the boys finished 11th in the state championship meet at Thetford Academy on Oct. 29.
Senior Ava Whitney led the Colonel girls with a 18th place finish in 22 minutes, 15.9 seconds, followed by teammates Tille Farwell, a ninth-grader (59th 24:42.2), junior Katherine Normandeau (101st, 24:49.7), senior Anna Cummings (165th, 28:36.1), and junior Genevieve Redmond (234th, 29:52.2). Also running for the Colonel girls were sophomore Meredith Lewis (30:00.9) and junior Karine Hayrapetyan (36:19.9).
The girls' race was won by Alice Kendall of Champlain Valley. The sophomore scorched the 5K course in 19:49, as the Redhawks placed four runners in the top 20 to reclaim the Division I state title after falling short in 2021. The school has won 13 of the last 14 Division I girls' titles.
The Brattleboro boys were led by senior Michael Slade, who was 54th in 20:43.1, and his teammates Miles Ackerman-Hovis, a junior (111th, 21:09.8), senior Brinley Woodcock (176th, 22:17.6), ninth-grader Jonas Ackerman-Hovis (248th, 23:48.3), and junior James Burke (321st, 24:21.3). Also running for the Colonel boys were Jack Webster-Rose (25:49) and sophomore Mitchel Tasca (25:55.5).
St. Johnsbury won the boys' Division I team title while Champlain Valley senior Matthew Servin was the individual winner in 16:36.7.
The Bellows Falls girls were seventh in Division III, led by ninth-grader Gillian Robb, who finished 21st in 27:15.7, followed by teammates Lilly Ware, a junior (44th, 27:38), ninth-grader Addie Bacon (68th, 27:49.6), and sophomore Skylar French (105th, 30:37.8). Also running for the Terriers were sophomore Chloe Benson (30:46.9), junior Denine French (33:59.2), and sophomore Kendall Roman (36:27.7).
White River Valley junior Anita Miller won the Division III girls' race in 20:42.6, while host team Thetford Academy won the state team title.
Field hockey
• Bellows Falls is trying to make it into the state finals for the eighth straight year, and it is not going to be easy.
In a Division I quarterfinal on Oct. 28 in Westminster, it took a big play in the last two seconds of overtime for the fourth-seeded Terriers to beat the fifth-seeded Colchester Lakers, 1-0.
Junior forward Sadie Scott, who scored 16 goals in the regular season, was the heroine in this game. She took a pass from Emma Bazin and got the game-winning goal.
BF's defense put them in position to win the game. Bazin, the team's second leading scorer with 14 goals, was tasked with shutting down Colchester's best player, Ryleigh Garrow.
Nola Sciacca, who had three steals, joined Bazin, Scott, Jules McDermid, Ava LaRoss, Ashlin Maxfield, and goalie Mary Wallace on the field for the 7-on-7 overtime period and held back a determined Colchester attack until the moment arrived for Scott to save the day.
At press time, the 12-2-1 Terriers faced top-seeded Champlain Valley in a semifinal match under the lights in Middlebury on Nov. 1.
Football
• Fourth-seeded Brattleboro demonstrated the truth of that old military proverb, “fortune favors the bold,” in its 21-14 win over fifth-seeded Colchester in a Division II quarterfinal on Oct. 28 at Natowich Field.
With the game tied 14-all and the ball at midfield on their opening drive of the second half, the Colonels were faced with fourth-and-5 yards to go for a first down. But instead of kicking the ball away, punter Tristan Evans decided to run. The fake punt resulted in a first down and led to a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Devin Speno to tight end James Davies for what turned out to be the game-winning score with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
“It was a hunch,” said Brattleboro coach Chad Pacheco, “but it was a great play made by a great athlete.”
Davies was playing in place of starting tight end Jackson Emery, who broke his right hand in practice the day before the game and was limited to defensive duty, albeit with a huge pink protective covering that looked like an oversize boxing glove on his broken hand.
“He was the unsung hero,” Pacheco said of Davies.
As for the rest of the game, it was a sloppy, penalty-filled affair where both teams derailed several scoring chances with ill-timed penalties. In between the tossing of penalty flags were a few outstanding plays.
Colchester running back Caleb Levasseur scored on a five-yard run on the Lakers' second drive of the first quarter, but Speno responded with a 50-yard strike to Cam Frost to tie the game early in the second quarter. Less than a minute later, Levasseur topped that play with a 68-yard streak up the sideline to give the Lakers a 14-7 lead.
Frost set up the tying score with a long kickoff return, followed by a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:59 left in the half. Twice, the Lakers were moving for a go-ahead score before halftime, but interceptions by Frost and Cam Cruz stopped the drives.
In the second half, after the Davies touchdown, Colchester again had two golden chances to tie the game, but they were thwarted by a pair of goal line stands by the Colonels' defense.
Besides the penalties, the other sour note was the difficulty that the Colonels had in stopping Levasseur and the Lakers' running attack. Stopping is something that will be absolutely necessary against the Colonels' next opponent, the Bellows Falls Terriers.
• The top-seeded and undefeated Terriers will host the Colonels this Friday at 7 p.m. at Hadley Field in a Division II semifinal that should be a fun one to watch.
The Terriers had no problem brushing aside the eighth-seeded Spaulding Crimson Tide in a 49-0 rout in a Division II quarterfinal on Oct. 28 at Hadley Field. BF took a 28-0 halftime lead as Jesse Darrell opened the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run. Caden Haskell rammed up the middle with 4-yard TD run to make it 14-0 before Walker James had the play of the night with a 65-yard dash to the end zone. Haskell got another touchdown on a 10-yard run to finish the first-half onslaught.
Haskell and James each ran for a touchdown in the second half, as did quarterback Jamison Nystrom, who was also a perfect 7-for-7 on extra point tries. The Terriers ran their winning streak to 20 games. BF's last loss in 11-man football came in 2019 when the Colonels beat them in the Division II state championship game.
Boys' soccer
• The best soccer rivalry in southern Vermont got a playoff rematch on Oct. 26 as the fifth-seeded Twin Valley Wildcats hosted 12th-seeded Leland & Gray in a Division IV first round game at Hayford Field in Wilmington.
The teams split the regular season series and played to a scoreless draw in the first half, but the Wildcats scored three goals in the second half and held on for a 3-0 shutout victory.
Junior Noah Dornburgh opened the second half with a rocket from midfield that beat Rebels goalkeeper Theo Kelloway for a 1-0 lead with 36:22 to play. A pair of eighth-graders teamed up on the second goal two minutes later as Brayden Brown followed up a shot by Niko Gerding and knocked in the rebound. Senior Caleb Dupuis then got a favorable carom on his shot off the far post to make it 3-0 with 17:21 left.
Twin Valley outshot the Rebels, 21-4, as Wildcats' goalkeeper Liam Wendell picked up his seventh shutout of the season. Leland & Gray's season ended with a 4-11 record and will lose Parker Richardson, Adler Pickering, Trevor Stillwagon, Connor McPhail, Wyatt Beattie, and Alex Parker-Jennings to graduation.
The Wildcats then headed north on Oct. 29, and lost their quarterfinal match to fourth-seeded Twinfield/Cabot, 1-0. The game's only goal was scored by Meles Gouge, who took a pass from Darshan Eddleman and cut through to the goal to beat Wendell and send his team to the semifinals.
Twin Valley finished with a 9-6-1 record, and the eight ninth-graders and three eighth-graders that were on this season's team picked up some valuable playing time that will come in handy for next season to step in for the four graduating seniors - Wendell, Dupuis, Cooper Adams, and Matt Hammond.
• Brattleboro, the 10th seed in Division I, lost to seventh-seeded St. Johnsbury, 4-1, in a first-round playoff game on Oct. 26. Jorge Trade and Gerardo Fernandez had a goal and an assist for the hosts, and Nick Reed and Aiden Brody also scored. Jordy Allembert got the only goal for the 6-8-1 Colonels, while goalkeeper Alex Baker made eight saves.
• Fifteenth-seeded Bellows Falls were flattened by No. 2 Stowe, 13-0, in a Division III first-round game. The hosts had 10 different goal scorers, including five players who scored their first varsity goal. The Terriers finished with a 0-15 record.
Girls' soccer
• It was supposed to be easy for Rutland in the opening round of the Division I playoffs on Oct. 25. They were the No. 5 seed with a 10-4 record and riding an eight-game winning streak and were hosting the No. 12 Brattleboro Colonels, who possessed a 2-12 record, had lost their last seven regular season games, and had been beaten by Rutland by 6-3 and 7-2 margins.
Instead, the Colonels almost pulled off an upset and forced Rutland to rally from an early deficit for a 3-2 win.
Brattleboro's Willow Romo delivered the wake-up call to Rutland when she connected on a direct kick from 25 yards out for a 1-0 lead. Rutland responded with three goals in the final 16 minutes of the first half from Brooke Schaffer, Bethany Solari, and Anna Moser.
While Rutland started out the second half with a 3-1 lead, the Colonels did not give up. In the 50th minute, Romo scored again, set up by Reese Croutworst. Colonels goalkeeper Honora Walsh, a ninth-grader called up to the varsity due to injuries, held Rutland scoreless in the second half and held her own against a vigorous Rutland attack.
The 2022 season might be done for the Colonels, but they have a lot of young players expected to return for 2023 to build upon this upset that almost happened.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 9 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League on Oct. 27 saw first place Keglers 4 (33-12) have a 5-0 week and now hold an eight-game lead over second place Split Happens (25-20) at the midway point of the season. Trash-O-Matic and The Strikers (both 24-21) are tied for third place, followed by Lucky 7 and Good Times (both 21-24), Old Farts (19-26), and Slow Movers (13-32).
Carol Gloski again had the women's high handicap game (238), while Pam Greenblott had the high handicap series (664), and Chuck Adams had the men's high handicap game (279) and series (738). The Strikers had the high team handicap game (923) and series (2,468).
In scratch scoring, Chuck Adams again led the men with a 738 series with games of 279, 267, and 192. Robert Rigby had a 540 series that featured games of 190 and 195. Marty Adams had a 520 series with a 180 game, and Skip Shine had a 500 series.
Greenblott had the women's high scratch series (481), while Gloski had the high scratch game (188). Greenblott also rolled a 181 game.