By Adam Aucoin
Staff Writer
On Saturday, six teams will look to claim their spot atop the Vermont high school football mountain at Rutland High School’s Alumni Field.
It makes this a perfect time to look back on the history of the six programs, seeing how they’ve fared on the championship stage and the history they’re hoping to make.
A special shout out to vermontsportshistory.com, which has recaps of state championship games and playoff games throughout tournament history.
Essex
Essex has one of the better athletic histories in the state and the Hornets’ football team fits right into that narrative.
Saturday will be Essex’s 14th trip to the state championship game and the Hornets are six-time champions heading into the day. Essex has five titles in Division I with the other coming in Division II.
Their most recent championship was in 2009, beating Rutland to finish undefeated, but the game I’m focusing on here is the 1992 D-I title game against Mount Anthony.
The finish was as dramatic as you could imagine. The Hornets trailed the Patriots 14-6 with five minutes remaining, but got two touchdowns from Lij Quintyne, one rushing and the other receiving, to lock up a championship.
CVU
CVU succeeds in most every sport the state has to offer, but football is the one sport they are just now building a legacy for.
The Redhawks’ lone trip to a state championship game before Saturday was in 2009, where they fell to Colchester 22-14 in the D-II title game.
In that game, CVU grabbed a lead late in the first half, but two scores put the Lakers in the driver’s seat and they wouldn’t trail from there.
Konnor Fleming had 103 yards rushing in that game for CVU.
Bellows Falls
Saturday will be Bellows Falls’ 21st trip to a state championship game in program history and the Terriers’ fifth in the last six seasons.
Bellows Falls has triumphed 11 times with the last title coming in 2016 against Burr and Burton, a 20-14 Terrier win.
A few other Terrier championship wins came by a single score. One of those was their first tile in 1971, when Bellows Falls was taking on Montpelier.
The Terriers were on the brink of losing in the D-I final, trailing 13-8 in the fourth quarter. That’s when Gil Bennett took over and rushed the ball five straight times, finding the end zone for the game-wining score.
Mount Anthony
Before this fall, MAU had made it to the state championship game five times, but none of their current players were alive the last time they made it there.
Heck, I was only a month old when they were last there in 1994.
That year was a special one for the Patriots as they went undefeated at 11-0 to capture their second D-I title in program history, the other coming in 1975.
Current MAU coach Chad Gordon was a player on that 1994 team that shut down Middlebury 28-0 in the championship game.
Ryan LaCasse accounted for two of the Patriots’ scores, one via a TD catch and the other an interception return.
Windsor
Saturday will be Windsor’s 13th trip to the state championship game.
The most successful run in program history came in 2016 and 2017, where the Yellow Jackets went undefeated both seasons.
The 2016 D-III championship game ended up being a blow out, but Windsor’s unblemished record was challenged in the 2017 game.
The Yellow Jackets needed overtime to dispose of rival Woodstock.
Jake Tucker rushed in a touchdown in overtime and the championship was locked up with an interception by Dakota Page.
BFA-Fairfax/Lamoille
As a combined team, Fairfax/Lamoille has only been to the state championship game once before Saturday, that being a 2019 loss to Poultney.
The Bullets were playing from behind in that one and couldn’t muster enough offense to get over the hump.
As its own team, Fairfax made it to the state title game twice and captured the Division III trophy in 2014 against Otter Valley.
The running game was the story of that game for both sides. The Otters’ Carson Leary rushed for four touchdowns, but the Bullets had the duo of Matt Larose and Luke Langelier that put them over the top.
Larose and Langelier both rushed for well over 100 yards and had three touchdowns apiece.
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