Sports

Long-standing rivalry

By Bill Murphy
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High school sports are well known for their rivalry games. Every Thanksgiving, teams in Massachusetts and several other states, line up on the gridiron and compete in contests, many of which have been continuing tradition for well over fifty years. For the most part, Vermont has had very few Thanksgiving games. BUT, the Green Mountain state still has some storied grid rivalries, which challenge match-up longevity with their counterparts all over the country. St. Johnsbury and Lyndon Institute have the longest standing football rivalry in Vermont having met 115 times. The latest count has the two schools credited with the eighth longest standing series in the country. In these parts, Bellows Falls-Springfield football is in the discussion.

Nobody reading this, saw the first game in the series. Chances are it all began in 1900. Several sage football fanatics have attempted to put together how many games have been played between these two neighboring long standing rivals. To the best pursuit of records, Bellows Falls and Springfield have met on the gridiron 103 times. Some will argue that number should be 104. The 103 doesn’t count Bellows Falls’ 6-0 forfeit win in 2012 when Springfield cut their varsity football season short due to safety concerns of a small roster. The current tally favors the Terriers over the Cosmos 56-44-3. The two met last night in Springfield as this paper was headed to press. They will meet again Friday night at 7 p.m. in Bellows Falls. Since the Vermont Principals Association won’t crown a champion this season, the 7 on 7 touch games won’t be added to the traditional totals. However, don’t tell players on either team this game doesn’t count. They will likely tell you something quite different.

Both schools have enjoyed streaks of winning in the series. Bellows Falls has won every game since 2009 when the Cosmos eked out a 19-18 victory. The Green and White had won the year before 39-14 on their way to their most current state football championship. Springfield actually won four in a row in that stretch. The year before the Cosmos started that last winning streak in the series, one of the most intriguing games in the rivalry took place. A record number of points were scored as the Terriers prevailed 60-42 in 2005. There have been mammoth blowouts on both sides: Bellows Falls 88-0 (1914), 75-0 (1944) and 77-8 (2013) and for Springfield 72-0 (1922). One of the oddest streaks came between the years 1932 and 1944 when an incredible thirteen games in a row ended with shutouts. with Springfield winning seven of those, Bellows Falls victorious in four with two 0-0 ties mixed in. In fact, Bellows Falls’ 6-0 triumph in 1941 was the only points scored in the rivalry from 1940-1942.

Both teams fell twice a week ago. Springfield lost two games to a talented Windsor squad 42-0 and 65-7. The Yellow Jackets have been rolling along much of the season and stand 6-1. They play winless Woodstock twice this week at home on Wednesday at 4 and then in Woodstock Friday night at 7. Last week in the shutout victory, Austin Gauld scored two more touchdowns and was joined by teammates Ben Gilbert, Owen Abrahamsen, Logan Worrell and Kaleb Swett in the end zone. Swett converted on all six extra point kicks. In the other victory last week, Jordan Place tallied three touchdown receptions, and Caden Lockwood had two and was joined in the TD parade by Dalton Clifford, John Cook, Swett and Gauld. Swett added nine points after in this contest.

Windsor coach Greg Balch knows teams are looking at the accomplishments of his team, but, is guarding his charges against any possible overconfidence. “The clock moves quickly in these games and it gives a team who makes plays a chance to gain momentum. I still think almost every game should be considered a toss-up,” he told us.” Looking ahead a week, Windsor will meet Springfield again in the first round of the play-offs. Cosmos coach Todd Aiken isn’t looking ahead to that game with two Bellows Falls games on the docket this week, but, he certainly knows the Yellow Jacket team he witnessed was quite special. “Their lineman have incredible speed. I didn’t think we came to play in the first game, but, that wasn’t the case the second time because we played much better, especially in the second half. They really impressed me,” Aiken noted.

If St. J-Lyndon is the eighth longest standing rivalry in the U.S., where does Bellows Falls-Springfield fall?. Are they in the top 25, 50 or 100? Looking from here, we don’t know how to figure it out, but, it is certainly something very special. Bellows Falls coach Bob Lockerby was excited about the upcoming match-up. The Terriers have yet to find the win column, but, seem to be getting better every week. The Terriers were in both games with Brattleboro last week until the very end, but, bowed in both encounters 26-21 and 24-20. “We are definitely getting better. I told my guys this is a big week. Everyone always said in the old days, if yiu could only win one game, it had to be Springfield. We are hoping to get over the hump,” Lockerby said.

In the first Brattleboro game, Grady Lockerby threw touchdown passes to Jeb Monier, Logan Lisai and Harrison Gleim, while hooking up with Monier and Max Hooke in the second game, and John Terry tossed a six pointer to Dominic Kendall. Monier kicked the extra points. Now it’s Terriers and Cosmos and although the numbers won’t be preserved for history, it means loads to these two teams.

The roller coaster of a pandemic

Went to bed Monday night excited about the announcement by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association that there would be Winter Sports in New Hampshire for high school athletes. The NHIAA rolled back the scheduling parameters so area schools could once again play regional schedules and not meet certain in class requirements. This news was expected, but, impressed with how early it was announced.

Then woke up Tuesday morning to a text telling me that WCAX was reporting that Central Vermont coronavirus hockey cluster grows to 30 cases. The enthusiasm of Monday’s NHIAA announcement had been drained out of me.

Set out Tuesday to find out how this could happen. If the state of Vermont wouldn’t allow the VPA to play tackle football or even play volleyball indoors, how could they be playing hockey inside buildings anywhere in Vermont? Who allowed this to happen? This didn’t seemingly add up. In addition, this party assumed, such a happening would be the end of any consideration of winter sports for high schoolers this winter in Vermont.

This led to a telephone crusade. Once again, how could this happen? Several phone calls made somewhat of a smile return before the day ended. First of all, someone in authority confirmed there was a gap that somehow allowed this to happen. Evidently someone decided they were going to play hockey and they played. The activity evidently didn’t receive anyones approval. You could say it skated under the states radar.

More good news came when it was passed on during the investigation, that Governor Phil Scott has mentioned more than once in his coronavirus briefings, that he hopes to see a winter sports season in Vermont. This scribe won’t guarantee such a fate, but, compared to where things seemed early this morning, this was considered progress.

And just think, we didn’t even need to buy a ticket to go on this roller coaster ride.

The undefeated still in place

Last week it was reported that two unbeatens, who were originally scheduled to play each other before the pandemic shortened their schedules, had sucess in their season finales and both finished undefeated. Bellows Falls and Windsor received the number one field hockey seeds in Divisions’ I and III respectively and will host quarterfinal games at 3:30 on Friday.

Bellows Falls’ Bethany Coursen’s Terriers will meet the winner of Wednesday’s Rutland at Burlington play-in game. Coursen was “disappointed we didn’t play our final game with Burr & Burton. It would have been a good tune-up.”’ Windsor’s Jody Wood looks at Friday’s contest as a new beginning. She says, “being able to play on the homefield is a huge advantage. We are now 0-0 again and our goal is to end 3-0 in the post season.”

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