Vermont 7-on-7 football seemingly has a place

By Bill Murphy
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We are making the best of what we’ve got. At least the kids are getting to do something.”

“The game is interesting and the competitive part with the fans really into it, made for a great environment.”

“I think the kids really enjoyed it.”

“They have had fun from day one. We are all making the best of it.”

“During the action, the game seemed basically identical to me. It brought the same adrenalin rush.”

The quotes all come from Vermont area varsity football coaches after week one of this pandemic inspired 7-on-7 touch football competition. Keep in mind, although each coach was vested in what they said, they were just small snippets from short conversations in a world that finds only two New England states playing high school football. New Hampshire is playing real deal football with a few twists and turns and Vermont is playing a passing game touch form of the sport, but, then again, all these athletes are engaged in competitive enjoyable contests.

Most observers believe Vermont drew a very short stick playing a simplified version of the sport. Right now, in many ways, that verdict may be just entering the court room. Many of the other New England states hope to still play football eventually, but, most of the conversation has been focused around practices beginning in February and competition squeezed in during March and early April, before spring sports have their turn. Good luck with that, can you imagine what all area fields would look like with competition on a frozen or eventually spring time muddy field? And all that is only a maybe. In the big picture, Vermont gridders may be extremely lucky in many ways. However, those playing in New Hampshire are certainly the luckiest.

Punting back to the quotes, the first line came from Bellows Falls coach Bob Lockerby, whose team has not kicked off their season yet. He is a tried and true no nonsense footballer, who appreciates there is a semblance of the game to play, but, shucks darn, I want my football. If any team has been on the merry ground jumping on and off the past few weeks wondering when they will play a game, it’s the Terriers. They expected to open Friday night, but, when the Agency of Education didn’t clear the sport to compete until Thursday, Bellows Falls was left on the outside looking in.

You see, the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) ruled play could be commenced Saturday. There were several contests slated for Friday night in Vermont and all the others moved their match-ups to Saturday, except Woodstock at Bellows Falls. You see way back when schedules were put together, the Woodstock at Bellows Falls game was slated in the sunshine for Saturday afternoon. However, Woodstock called and said they would have to play the game Friday night. Bellows Falls obliged, but the late declaration saying play could not begin before Saturday, initially gave hopes of playing the game again and Bellows Falls placed a call to Woodstock, who said their situation had not changed and they could not play Saturday, thus both teams lost a game.

So Lockerby sat home last weekend with nothing to do. Usually on a weekend day when he doesn’t play, there is still work to be done. However, in the coronavirus world of limited fans and keeping traveling at a minimum, the veteran coach could not scout and has no way to prepare for his teams two games this week versus Hartford. There isn’t even any film exchange allowed in 2020 which has been an alternate or supplement to in person scouting in recent years. Since the new competition is of the touch variety, Vermont teams are playing games twice a week this year with home and home games against the same foe, during the same week. The Falls will host Hartford Wednesday at 5 p.m and travel to White River for a rematch Friday evening at 7 p.m.

The second and third line of quotes at this story’s outset came from the words of Springfield’s Todd Aiken. Most neutral followers would consider the Cosmos close loss 24-21 to Brattleboro a moral victory, but, after one week, it appears teams who were stronger physically anytime in the recent past, may not be the powerful teams they were, now in the revised game of football.. Teams who have always been known for depth and smash mouth football (Brattleboro, Hartford) may not translate to being the success they have been in the past. Springfield was the aggressor in Saturday’s game and played well throughout before they fell in the closing moments on a 27 yard field goal. Aiken felt the enthusiasm of the crowd at the Brown Field setting made the game all the more fun for everyone.

Aiken’s team took an early 7-0 lead on a Sam Presch tp Garet Twombly pass before Brattleboro equaled things at 7-7 before the opening stanza concluded. Springfield had the only score of the second quarter on a Presch to Luke Stocker pass for a 14-7 advantage at halftime. In 7-on-7 football, any kicks cannot be rushed or blocked and there is an option to go for a two point conversion from the 10 yard line.

The visiting Colonels tied the contest early in the third quarter at 14-14, but, the Green and White again proved to be the aggressor by striking immediately on a 70 yard scoring play on a connection between Presch and Riley Ward to up the count to 21-14. There are no kick-offs in 7-on-7 and a team takes over possession at their own 30 yard line. Quinton Andrews kicked all three Springfield conversions. The game stayed that way until the end of the third quarter with the Colonels, first tying things in the fourth, before winning the contest on the field goal in the final minute.

This week the Cosmos play Woodstock a couple of times. Aiken takes his team on the road to the Shire Town for a Tuesday evening affair and the Wasps travel back to Brown Field for a Friday night kick-off at 7 p.m. Aiken hopes his team continues to grow on the goals the team has set to accomplish. He noted of the opener, “they did a good job of taking care of the down and distances things we worked on.”

The Windsor football team became one of the talks of the state with their high scoring 57-36 conquest of Hartford last Saturday in Windsor. The short and quick Yellow Jackets stung early and often to put the Hurricanes away. Jacket coach Greg Balch, the author of the quotes in lines four and five of this article, shot out to a 24-0 advantage in the first quarter, held on to lead 37-15 at the half and coasted to the finish. Balch told the Eagle Times, “we have focused and worked very hard since practices began. We don’t have experience in 7-on-7 but, we have worked hard enough to have a good start to the season.”

Caden Lockwood was everywhere early and established he would make a difference. He scored Windsor’s first three touchdowns and contributed both on offense and defense. He was on the receiving end of a Jordan Place aerial for the first touchdown leading to a 8-0 advantage. Shortly later, he intercepted a Hartford pass and turned it into a pick six doubling the score. Before the first quarter ended, Place hooked up with him again. Lockwood would have a second interception in the game.

Balch used two quarterbacks in the game with Maison Fortin also completing scoring passes in the second and fourth periods. Windsor led 31-15 at the half with Logan Worrall catching a Fortin aerial to complete the first half scoring. Second half touchdowns for the winners were scored by Owen Rhoad, Austin Gould, Owen Abrahamsen and Jackson Davis. Windsor and Hartford don’t play on a regular basis any longer in the sport because the Hurricanes are a Division I school and Windsor competes in Division 3. Balch thinks Windsor last one a game in the series sometime in the late 90’s. He was part of a winning game for the Jacks over Hartford in 1989. The two teams had back to back close contests during his time in a Jacket uniform.

Windsor hosts Brattleboro on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and then the Green and Gold will travel to Brattleboro on Friday night for the return match.