-It would have been unthinkable back in the days when Jayne Barber prowled the sidelines in the 1980s and 1990s that a Bellows Falls field hockey team would have eighth-graders on the roster.
But field hockey participation keeps declining in Vermont. Girls can play soccer or run cross country instead. They can work at an after-school job. Or they just do something else with their time. This means that even a successful field hockey program like Bellows Falls is having to scramble to fill the ranks.
BF varsity coach Bethany Coursen, who also has to coach the junior varsity this season, said she isn't happy about the situation, but she will make it work. Brattleboro is in the same position, except they can't use eighth-graders to play varsity sports. Bears coach Erin Cooke has 22 players between the varsity and JV teams, but said nearly half of the roster are playing for both teams.
The reality of playing with smaller, less experienced rosters made the meeting of the Terriers and the Bears on Sept. 3 at Sawyer Field an unusual one. While BF ultimately prevailed, 4-1,
Brattleboro held their own in the first half before the Terriers turned it on and scored three goals in the second half. The Terriers' only goal in the first half was scored by senior forward Veronica Moore with 5:39 left in the first quarter. Brattleboro had their chances in the first half, but couldn't break through as BF goalie Brook Parker had a pair of saves.
The momentum shifted in BF's favor in the second half with six penalty corners to just one for the Bears. Moore gave the Terriers some breathing room with a pair of goals in the third quarter. Her first came with 6:39 to play, and the other was scored with 2:06 left.
The teams traded goals late in the fourth quarter as BF sophomore forward Avery Maxfield scored from Moore in the first minute, and Brattleboro's Suha Rifaiy scored from Destiny Thibeault with 2:31 left in the game. Bears goalie Ericka Fletcher finished with 11 saves, while Parker had three saves in the win.
The next games for these two teams, both on the road on Sept. 6, were much closer. Brattleboro lost to Burr & Burton, 1-0, as Fiona Corbett broke a scoreless tie with 27 seconds left. The visiting Bears got a stellar effort in goal by Fletcher, who made 18 saves. Maxfield scored both goals for the Terriers as they beat U-32, 2-1, to improve to 2-0. The Bears ended week at 0-3.
Football
• Brattleboro traveled to St. Johnsbury on Sept. 5 to face the Hilltoppers in the season opener, and the Bears came away with a 54-7 loss.
This one was decided early. On the opening kickoff, St. Johnsbury's Davis Palmieri bulled his way up the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. Hilltoppers quarterback Maddox McFarland then threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Saibou to make it 14-0. Saibou then intercepted a Sean Cozza pass to set up another scoring drive capped off by a McFarland 7-yard run. A missed extra point made it 20-0 with 17 seconds left in the first quarter.
After the fast start by St. Johnsbury in the first quarter, the game settled into a slog for the second quarter as the Bears' defense combined with mistakes by the Hilltoppers held them to just one touchdown. Bears defensive back Kmar Hall stopped one scoring drive with an interception of a McFarland pass in the end zone with 5:18 in the half, but Saibou got his second interception of the night on the ensuing Bears drive with 3:41 left.
Owen Marcotte took over for the remainder of the half and engineered a scoring drive, throwing a 12-yard TD pass to Davis Palmieri and a two-point conversion pass to Henry Semp for a 28-0 lead heading into halftime. The Bears struggled to get something going on offense, as the St. Johnsbury defense kept Brattleboro deep in its end of the field in the first half. Not once did the Bears cross the 50-yard line.
St. Johnsbury kept on rolling in the second half with a 1-yard TD run by Kohl Guinard. A missed extra point made it 34-0 with 9:44 left in the third quarter. A 12-yard TD run by Vincent Palmieri with another missed point after kick pushed the lead to 40-0 before Brattleboro spoiled the shutout bid with a 5-yard touchdown run by Donnevhan Hall with 2:51 left in the third. Hunter Roth's extra point made it 40-7.
Third-string quarterback Andre Maiz Hermosillo took over the Hilltoppers' offense and threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Liam Bresnahan with 1:33 left in the third. The extra point was good for a 47-7 lead, and the remainder of the game was played with a running clock under the mercy rule. The Hilltoppers got their final touchdown with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard run by Kingston Carey.
Cozza went 10 for 29 for 150 yards of passing. Kmar Hall had four catches for 78 yards, one of the bright spots in a discouraging game for the Bears. Now 0-1, Brattleboro hosts Middlebury at Natowich Field this Friday at 7 in the home opener.
• Bellows Falls announced its return to Division III with authority, shutting out the Windsor Yellowjackets, 44-0, in the Terriers' opener on Sept. 6 at Hadley Field.
This was as lopsided a football game as you'll ever see. Windsor did not get a first down until the final play of the game. Bellows Falls scored on every possession until the next-to-last play of the game, when Windsor recovered a fumble. BF had 464 yards of total offense to Windsor's 22, as the BF defense absolutely smothered the Jacks' offense.
BF set the tone with their first play of the game, a 68-yard touchdown run by Jaden Bazin. He ran in a two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead. On the next BF drive, Patrick Connors had a 42-yard touchdown run and Cam Perry's extra point made it 15-0. In the second quarter, BF finished a long drive with a 5-yard TD run by quarterback Declan Lisai. The extra point kick was no good but the lead grew to 21-0. He added another touchdown on a 5-yard run on the next drive, and Bazin ran in the two-point conversion for a 29-0 halftime lead.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, BF again marched down the field with Connors scoring on a 12-yard run and Lisai throwing a two-point conversion pass to Andrew Goyette to make it 37-0. The rest of the game was played under the mercy rule with a running clock and the reserves getting some playing time. Bryar Barnett got the final BF touchdown on a 3-yard run, with Perry converting the extra point kick.
Connors finished with 185 yards on 11 carries while Bazin had 122 yards on five carries. The 1-0 Terriers host U-32 this Friday at 7 p.m.
Cross country
• She was wearing a different uniform and running for a different school, but the result was the same. Desi Broadley, the defending Division III state girls' cross country champion, transferred from Bellows Falls to Green Mountain Union High School for the 2025–26 school year.
Undefeated last year against Division III competition, Broadley started her junior season on Sept. 2 by running on her former home course in Westminster in a multi-team meet. She won the 5K girls' race in a personal best time of 19 minutes, 30 seconds, well ahead of Madelyn Harris of Burr & Burton, who was second in 22:03.
The 5K boys' race had a similarly dominant performance as Brattleboro's Nico Conathan-Leach won the boys race in 16:40, with Oliver Emery of Thetford Academy finishing second in 18:04. Other Brattleboro finishers included Willow Sharma (fifth, 18:24), Liam Conathan-Leach (eighth, 19:33), Jonas Ackerman-Hovis (ninth, 19:46), Jackson Farriera (11th, 20:15), Charlie Vaughan (13th, 21:12), Conor McColgan (14th, 21:33), and Walker Korb (15th, 21:38).
Brattleboro won the boys meet with 34 points, Burr & Burton was second with 41, and Thetford Academy was third with 49. Neither Brattleboro nor Bellows Falls fielded a girls' team in the meet. Bellows Falls had only three runners in the boys' race. Jacob Kissell finished 24th in 23:10, while Louis Sunflower and Calvin Sargent finished 35th and 36th at 28:31 and 28:51, respectively.
Next up for BF and Brattleboro is a multi-team meet at Thetford Academy on Sept. 9.
Girls' soccer
• Brattleboro got through a challenging week to finish with a 2-2 record. Last week began with a 7-0 romp by the Bears over Pioneer Valley on Sept. 2 at Natowich Field. Reese Croutworst had three goals and an assist. Sadie Cheslawski had a pair of goals, and Leanna Rago-Marker and Jaden Denny also scored. Denny had a pair of assists, and Maeve Bald also got an assist. Goalkeeper Naima Harris made seven saves in the victory.
The Lady Patriot Tournament in Bennington proved to be much tougher for the Bears. Mount Greylock beat Brattleboro, 2-1, on Sept. 4, but the Bears knocked off Burr & Burton, 3-2, in the consolation game on Sept. 6.
• Gracie Patterson scored four goals to lead Bellows Falls to a 5-1 victory over the Poultney Blue Devils on Sept. 5 in Westminster. Abigail Nystrom had the other goal for the 2-0 Terriers.
• Twin Valley lost to Poultney, 5-2, on Sept. 3 in Wilmington. Poultney scored three times in the first half for a 3-0 lead at the break. Carla Sprague and Scarlett Cimino both scored for the Wildcats to cut the lead to 3-2 in the second half before Poultney scored twice to clinch the win. Twin Valley ended the week at 1-1.
• Springfield shut out Leland & Gray, 4-0, on Sept. 2 in Townshend. The Cosmos scored a pair of goals in the first half, and two more in the second half as Harper Palmer, Kaia Gray, Addelyn Snide, and Claire Gomez all scored. Goalkeeper Tate Simoneau made four saves to earn the win.
Boys' soccer
• Brattleboro finished last week with a 2-0 record after defeating Woodstock, 6-1, in the Bears' home opener on Sept. 4.
Brattleboro completely controlled play as junior midfielder Oscar Dawson scored three goals in the first half, two of them off penalty kicks. Sophomore Colby Robinson and junior Lucas Yunga Korn also scored in the first half as the Bears took a 5-0 lead before Woodstock got its only goal with 14.3 seconds left in the half as Sam Bowden scored. Senior Gordie Kalill scored the final Bears goal early in the second half.
Next up for the Bears is the John James Tournament in Bennington. They'll face Mount Greylock in the opening round on Sept. 11.
• The Otter Valley Otters held Twin Valley scoreless for the first 17 minutes of their Sept 5 game in Wilmington. The Wildcats then erupted for five goals to close out the first half, and cruised to a 10-1 victory.
Carson McHale scored five goals, two of them in the first half. Alex Sullivan, Tucker Magnant, and Jordan Denny also scored as Twin Valley took a 5-0 lead. In the second half, McHale added two goals in the first 11 minutes, sandwiched around Ezra Satz's unassisted goal for the Otters. Nick Gerding and Chris Eckert then scored before McHale got his fifth goal with 13 minutes to play.
Brayden Brown set up four of the Wildcats' goals. Sullivan had a pair of assists and Rucker Magnant, Max Nido, Denny, and Gerding were also credited with assists. Twin Valley outshot the Otters, 26-5, as Kaelyn Lackey and Davis Cole shared the goaltending duties.
Earlier in the week, Twin Valley shut out Mill River, 6-0, in North Clarendon on Sept. 2. Brown had three goals in the victory. McHale and Chris Eckert also scored to go along with an own goal by Mill River. Lackey and Cole combined for 11 saves in goal. Twin Valley finished the week with a 3-0 record.
• Leland & Gray opened their season with a pair of losses. On Sept. 3 in Townshend, the Rebels lost to Grace Christian School. 2-1. On Sept. 5, the Rebels were shut out by Sharon Academy, 3-0.
Senior bowling roundup
• The fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl began on Sep. 4 with Stayin' Alive and Ricochet (both 5-0) in first place. Plus One, Innocent Bystanders, and Strikers (all 4-1) are tied for second, followed by Lucky 7, SOS, and Wayne's World (all 1-4), and Strike Away and Slo Movers (both 0-5).
Doris Lake had the women's high handicap game (239) and series (648), while Dick Cooke had the men's high handicap game (258) and series (686). Stayin' Alive had the high team handicap game (875) and series (2,516).
Kevin Napaver had the men's high scratch series (663), with games of 231, 225, and 203, while Milt Sherman had a 571 series with games of 203 and 195. Robert Rigby had a 558 series with a 205 game, Jerry Dunham had a 549 series with games of 200 and 187, Gary Montgomery had a 541 series with a 203 game, Peter Deyo had a 532 series, and Rick Westcott had a 518 series with games of 184 and 182.
Carol Gloski had the women's high scratch series (481), with games of 179 and 177. Nancy Dalzell had a 169 game, Vicki Butynski had a 159 game, and Debbie Rittenhour rolled a 155.
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.