WESTMINSTER, Vt.- Bellows Falls football, after winning the D-2 championship in 2016 and falling short in the 2017 championship game, is trying to get back to that level of play. And, if Friday night’s 30-8 win over Spaulding was any indication, they’re on the right track.
After allowing Spaulding to march down the field and chew most of the first quarter clock, Bellows Falls blocked their field goal attempt from the six yard-line, stalling the Spaulding momentum.
“They came to play football,” said BF head coach Bob Lockerby. “They had us on our heels and were driving it right down our throats.” The blocked FG allowed the Terriers to not only make up for their defensive lapses early, but hit the ground running with a surge.
On a drive that started at the 7:34 mark in the second, BF marched 55 yards to put their first score on the board; a ten yard TD run from Jed Lober to the left side. Extra-point was good to make it 7-0 Terriers with 3:46 left in the half.
Spaulding started to beat themselves late in the second quarter, as penalties and lack of offense backed them up to their own three yard-line. A shotgun snap over the head of quarterback Jackson Pierson led to a safety with five seconds left in the half, putting BF up 9-0 heading to the second half.
To start the second half, BF mimicked what Spaulding was able to do to start the first, marching all the way down the field. But, BF was able to finish off the drive. Julian Christiansen capped off the over-six-minute-drive with a six-yard touchdown run, putting BF up 16-0.
After a Spaulding turnover on downs, BF was right back to it. Taking over at their own 21, the Terriers were able to drive 79 yards in under 3:30. In a drive capped off by a one-yard TD by Christiansen, QB Griffin Waryas found Noah Rawling in the flat for a 23-yard gain and Brady Clark found running room around the right end for a 25-yard gain.
On their next possession, BF scored again on a rushing touchdown from Lober, this time from 19 yards out, and Bellows Falls took over a game that was tight for most of the first half, leading 30-0.
“In the first half, I’ll give it to them, they owned the clock… they owned the game even though we had the lead,” said Lockerby. “I think they were hungrier to play football than we were in the first half. At halftime, the boys had no emotion. So I challenged them in the second half, I told someone to step up and be a leader. Successes come easy for [most of] them. They’ve never not been to the state finals.
“The guys that helped us get there are no longer here… it’s time for somebody else to step up to help us get there. To get a win and give our guys experience is good. We are young outside of our offensive line… our backfield is really young.”
Spaulding’s Pierson was able to score on a QB keeper with 44 seconds remaining, and with a good two-point conversion, the final came to 30-8.
For BF, Lober had 11 rushes for 94 yards and 2 TDs, Clark had 12 rushes for 76 yards, Christiansen had 5 for 26 and 2 TDs, and Vancor had 6 rushes for 36 yards and a catch for 15 before leaving the game. Waryas completed five passes for 80 yards at quarterback. Dylan Clark led the way on defense with 6 tackles, 2 for loss, and 1.5 sacks.
Bellows Falls’ running back McGregor Vancor went down in the second half with an apparent knee injury after being rolled up on by a Spaulding defender. He left on a cart after willing himself to the sideline immediately after the injury. “Right now our hearts our heavy for McGregor,” said Lockerby after the game.
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