By Christopher Shaban
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Vermont officials announced on Tuesday that fall sports will be allowed to open for competition starting on Saturday Sept. 26.
“We wanted to give our student-athletes an extra weekend for their season,” said Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French at a news conference Tuesday. Schools will be moving to Stage 3 after delaying for a week the scheduled start.
“We are a go for Saturday at home vs. Hartford! The team has been working hard and is very excited to play a local rival and we are excited to compete against someone in a different color jersey,” said Windsor football coach Greg Balch. “We have a great mix of older and younger players and everyone has adapted well to the new rules of 7-on-7 football.”
On the soccer side, there is excitement from everyone.
“The girls have been working really hard the last two weeks not knowing if they would get to play games,” said Windsor’s Jeff Bachy. “After today’s announcement, the girls have that excitement back and worked a bit harder in practice. We spent some time goal setting at the start of the season and now we can work towards them. We are all excited!”
Carolyn Hamilton could be more excited for her team.
“Any games are a gift that we will not take for granted, we just finished up an intra-squad scrimmage tonight and we’re looking good, we’re ready.” The Chieftains host powerhouse Brattleboro on Monday for a 4:30 p.m. contest.
“The local schedule is a blessing for us as it will match us with some outstanding teams” said Hamilton, a sentiment Balch echoed earlier this year. “The CVL was an exciting time and this schedule is similar to that”.
With the nod, Windsor will be hosting Hartford, Bellows Falls will entertain Woodstock with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.
There will be restrictions for attendance at some games so be sure to check with the schools.
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