What would it be like if a chariot could take us back in time and the Connecticut Valley Football League (CVL) could be revived?
Most schools have transformed in the grid sport and are not at all what they use to be. Alphabetically, Hanover, Hartford, and Lebanon would now be the cream of the crop.
But I wonder how far (again alphabetically) Bellows Falls, Newport, and Windsor would be behind those powerful teams. Just referring to those six teams the CVL would be full of strong teams. Most years Stevens and Woodstock would fit in that second tier. Fall Mountain and Springfield had some very respectable CVL years. It was a fabulous league when it was here. Could it ever be what it once was again?
Fall Mountain hosted Newport Friday night in one of the few CVL get-togethers that actually still take place. Tiger Coach John Proper told this column recently that “Fall Mountain is one of the contenders in Division IV in New Hampshire” and they proved him partially correct by keeping the Tigers close for the first half 14-0.
There are two sides to most every story and this time around Proper tells us,”I felt we struggled at times, but they were responsible for some of that. I will tell you one thing, they were physical. They were ready for us to run the ball and played us tough.”
From the other sideline Orion Binney felt following the 35-0 loss, “we keep giving up too many big plays. If we could play a more disciplined game it would benefit us.” Binney also mentioned, “they were all over us defensively.” Binney’s team may have stopped the Tiger run game periodically and this made Proper call an infrequent pass play with Kyle Ashley hooking up with Karter Pollari on a 38-yard scoring strike for a 22-0 advantage which put a complete end to any Wildcat upset dreams. Ashley ran in the two point conversion on the way to a 35-0 victory on the road.
In the first half when the lads from Newport jumped out to their first half lead, Ashley tucked one under his arm on a 3-yard scoring run followed by a Tyler Gobin rushing two point conversion. Then Gobin raced into the end zone from 43 yards out to create the halftime margin. The final two Tiger touchdowns came in the final stanza on 3- and 2-yard runs from Pollari and Ashley respectively. Eric Wilkinson kicked an extra point.
Newport is off this coming weekend as the Farmington-Nute team did not actually play at all this season creating a Tiger off day. Fall Mountain has an important Saturday night contest at Newfound at 6:30 p.m.
Bellows Falls also stayed undefeated with a rare one-sided triumph over Fair Haven, 56-0.
This one caused great shock waves through parts of Vermont when somehow the score was posted on the new Vermont Principals Association website with Fair Haven the winner. Eagle Times sports photographer Doug McPhee, who attended the game, was inundated with social connections asking him how this ever happened, including two reach outs from media members.
Both teams used primarily junior varsity players in the second half after the Terriers left the gridiron at the half with a 49-0 advantage.
But Bob Lockerby’s Purple and White fully dominated the first half of play. Harrison Gleim tallied three touchdowns (41, 52 and 9 yards), Jed Lober had two (22 and 12 yards), Jeb Monier two (52 and 21 yards) and Caden Haskell a 10-yard run. Monier kicked six extra point conversions and Jamison Nystrom ran in a two point conversion.
Lockerby told us, “we played good football. We ran the ball well again, but in all fairness, Fair Haven was down a few players including Ramey, their strong quarterback so the final score may not be the real difference between these two teams.” The Falls look to keep their unbeaten record intact when they host Milton Friday evening at 7 p.m.
Windsor was credited with a 2-0 forfeit win over Missisquoi without having to take the field. when the northern team decided not to play because of low numbers causing a safety concern. Obviously the Yellow Jackets remain undefeated heading into a match-up with a Otter Valley squad, who is equally undefeated.This game at Brandon at 3 p.m. Saturday finds the Jacks averaging 38 points per game facing the Otters who rack up 34 each contest. Otter Valley’s defense yields 3 points a game and Greg Balch’s team gives up just eight themselves.
Balch wishes his team could have taken the field last Saturday, but held a practice instead making sure they didn’t miss another chance to better themselves. The Jacks know the coach feels any opportunity to spend time on the field is important and they went through their morning workout at the rise and shine time of 8 a.m.
In this meeting of unbeatens, Balch wants to make sure his charges don’t overlook this Otters team which he says after scouting them Saturday “has some big and strong players and some very good skill position players.” This one qualifies as a must road trip for Yellow Jacket fans.
The Springfield Cosmos evened up their season’s record at 2-2 with a 29-0 victory over Oxbow last weekend. Coach Todd Aiken said “it was good to get some momentum after coming out a little flat.”
There was no surprise the Cosmos may have taken a while to get their footing because they had several players not on the trip because of high numbers of students quarantining at Springfield High School. The school was actually closed Monday, but reopened today.
A Sam Presch to Tanner Gintof touchdown strike of 35 yards allowed the Green and White to grab a 7-0 first quarter lead. Chris Stearns booted the conversion. Chris Jeffers 41-yard run to paydirt upped the margin to 13-0 at intermission.
Second half scoring passes from Presch to Luke Stocker of 27 yards on a Presch scramble on a broken play and Gintof racing to the end zone on a 60-yard slant completion closed out the day’s touchdowns. There was also a Presch to Gintof extra point hook up in the final half.
Aiken admitted “the quarantine has taken its toll, but we will continue to try to find our rhythm for the next game. That game is a home Friday night affair against a very strong Bellows Free Academy of Fairfax team at 7 p.m.
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