By Griffin Waryas
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HARTFORD, Vt. — A dominant performance by the Hartford Hurricanes from start to finish led to their second win against Bellows Falls in the first week of the Season.
Two historically great Vermont high school football programs matched up for the second time early in this 7v7 football season, with Hartford coming out on top yet again. They attacked down the field, creating most of their offense on chunk plays and played suffocating defense.
The new format has the lineman playing two quarters, and skill players playing the other two. This has allowed the lineman to be put into situations they never thought imaginable. Hartford’s senior captain Jackon Balch certainly took advantage of this, hauling in deep pass after deep pass, and adding a touchdown to his superb night. For the skill players, it was Jacob Dwinell putting on the show. Dwinell was flying all over the field on both sides of the ball, making big catches on one end and breaking up deep balls on the other side of the ball.
For the Terriers, It was Patrick Barbour making an impact on both sides of the ball for the lineman. He had several nice catches and added two interceptions to his day. “Pat had a great day, both offensively and defensively,” said Terriers senior captain Logan Lisai.
On the skill player side of things, Jack Burke had a couple of picks as well but the Terrier skill group was never able to get much going on the offensive side of the ball. But when they did, it was Jeb Monier, making some nice grabs out of the backfield, and adding some run after catch yards.
“We have a lot of work to do offensively”, said Lisai. “Adjusting to the new rules has been extremely difficult, and this isn’t the sort of play style we are used to. But I think we will improve a lot over the course of the season”
When asked if it was difficult to find the motivation to play this year with no state title on the line, after coming up short in the title game less than twelve months ago, Lisai appears to be taking an optimistic look at things.
“Not having that major goal is obviously a bit discouraging, but my teammates and I are just happy we are being given the opportunity to have some sort of a season. Especially us seniors.”
Both teams should look to build on their performance, as they get into the bulk of their schedule in the coming weeks.
Griffin Waryas is currently a student University of Rhode Island and a guest correspondent.
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