Sports

The journey ahead

By Bill Murphy
Thanksgiving weekend is a crossroads period for area high school basketball coaches. The calendar structures a long weekend and coaches have a chance to both take time to devote possibly some extra moments to important aspects of their life, but, also need to make sure things are in place for their upcoming hoop season, which begins on Monday and will prove to be quite a time consumer for them over the next quarter of the year.

For Windsor girls basketball coach Kabray Rockwood life was already moving fast before the holiday. He was putting the pieces in place for the following Monday, but, on Thanksgiving Weekend, he might have reflected on a few words out of a Robert Frost poem, because he had “miles to go before I sleep.”

The history of basketball in Windsor is special.Two decades ago, Kabray had heard about it, but at that time, he only saw the annals as stories he had heard tell. In fact, the actuality that Rockwood became a part of this story at all is amazing in itself.

The Jacks coach never really became a basketball player until high school. He refers to himself as a baseball player growing up. His dad was career navy and Kabray attended high school in Guam, where thanks to some special attention shown to him by the schools’ Athletic Director, he actually became a strong hoop player in his locale.

But, he still didn’t possess the skills necessary for play at a higher level.

That is until his dad was transferred to Rhode Island following high school graduation and Kabray wasn’t one bit excited “about a cross country drive in a very small truck where I would have been cramped in the back all summer.”

Instead the option was to spend the summer in Chelsea, Vermont, with his grandparents, an experience which led him to further competition in basketball and eventually to his wife and the introduction to a Vermont basketball town for the ages.

Kabray met Chris Mayhew on a playground basketball court in Chelsea and not only did they bond but Mayhew helped polish Rockwood’s skills and the two enjoyed competing together throughout their years at St. Joseph’s College in Rutland, Vermont.

During his sophomore year he met a young lady from Windsor, a town he had never heard of, in religion class, “who caught my eye.” Over time they eventually became a couple and married, but the second step started when they went to the movies on a casual double date, in which the casual date wasn’t even with each other, but with each spending the evening with the other half of the date.

Which brings us back to Thanksgiving weekend with Kabray and Erin Rockwood.Once Erin and Kabray grew close, he was spoon fed over time many of the heroic tales of Windsor basketball. Erin was actually Erin Farnsworth, a member of one of Windsor’s prominent basketball families. and she not only played at Windsor, but, at Mount St. Joseph’s Academy as well and she began coaching the sport before Kabray did.

Area high school basketball fans are should be aware of Kabray and Erin’s daughter Olivia, who not only stood out as a Yellow Jacket, but now competes at the Division I level at the University of Maine and could end up being this reporting areas’ first hoop standout to ever compete in a NCAA Basketball Tournament as an important part of their team.

While most of us were enjoying a leisurely weekend of a family celebration surrounded by a traditional dinner and those wonderful leftovers, back in November, the Rockwoods were on the road following Olivia and her team to games at Army and Princeton scrambling to put things together with miles to go before they slept. Somewhere along the way they did have a holiday dinner, (unfortunately without Olivia) Kabray remembers “at some Mexican restaurant.”

It Has been clear since the beginning of the winter sports season that the Windsor Lady Yellow Jackets were a special group.They raced out to a 7-0 start outscoring their opponents 436-194 and were in the opinion of many ready to run the table for the winter. Then sports enthusiasts woke up on the morning of Jan. 7 and learned that these very Jackets had been beaten by a 1-6 Division I Brattleboro team 41-35.

People wondered if the reported score was incorrect. Brattleboro was Division I but they weren’t a competitive team. They had been outscored by 175 points in their first six outings and their one victory was over Division III Leland & Gray 32-27.

Welcome to the world of COVID basketball. The Yellow Jackets had only six players listed in the scorebook that night missing the majority of their central cast. The Green and Gold had played hard, competed and lost, but the setting wasn’t anything near normal. That should be easy for all to understand.

Rockwood’s team may have been down to six lines in the scorebook for that Brattleboro game but the Jacks overall roster lists thirteen players who all at times share the Green and Gold Pride. Their focus is presently straight ahead on the hopes of capturing their next three games and the State Title Prize that would come with it.

Windsor is back in action this evening at 6 versus a Vergennes team, which cut short Windsor’s championship aspirations one winter ago with a 38-31 victory over Rockwood’s team in the semi-finals. The two teams are meeting one round earlier this time around.

The Jacks five senior starters certainly still have memories of that day. Elliot Rupp (13.3 points per game, 5 assists) , Reese Perry (14.3 points per game)/ (15.2 rebounds) Peyton Richardson (10.3 points per game, team-leading 70 steals) all average double figures in scoring. The team defense is one of its strengths with the other two starters Holly Putnam (labeled “a great defender” by Rockwood and Karen Kapuscinski, not only being noticed by her coach on that side of the ball, but gains praise for “what she does for us when she runs the floor.”

To chase or win a title, depth is important and there are plenty of contributions from this teams’ eight player bench. The bench is primarily a unit which gets junior varsity time, in addition to their regular varsity appearances.

There are two juniors Skylar Thibodeau and Stella Atwood, two sophomores Sydney Perry and Amber Simonds and four freshmen Audrey Rupp, Brianna Barton, Gabby Gilbert and Sophia Rockwood, who all contribute that way. Perry, Rockwood and Rupp are the three of that group to add the most offensive firepower. Of that group Sydney Perry is the biggest help on the boards.

Going back to the Brattleboro defeat, the team won their next couple of contests by another lopsided 131-64 count and were back on the swing of things at 9-1 and apparently back on course. But then they lost and this time Covid wasn’t in the picture.

Lake Region, Windsor’s longtime state title rival defeated Kabray Rockwood’s team 51-42 on the road and let one and all know for sure Windsor was not going to just march their way to the Vermont Division III girls basketball title.

Rockwood’s team jumped on the bus, took the long trip home, went back to practice and their schedule and won their eight remaining games outscoring their foes 433-253 and are now ready for their quest for the title. Noteworthy games in that final stretch were a revenge victory over Brattleboro 51-26 and a big 53-48 triumph of Division II No. 3 seeded Fair Haven on the road to complete their resume.

The top seeded Jacks are certainly a gem of a team and could well carry home this winters’ championship trophy. But, there will be other top contenders at this party. There is a tournament history between Windsor and No. 3 seeded Lake Region which goes all the way back over a decade. Beginning in 2009 the two schools have made an impressive combined eleven appearances in the twelve title games played.

Lake Region defeated the Jacks for the title in 2009 66-51. Payback was strong as the next two winters the two rivals fought their way back to the ship with the Jacks capturing back to back titles 50-45 and 49-38.

The tournament rivalry cooled for the next eight years as Lake Region’s size increased and they competed in Division II where they captured no titles but did advance to two title games. During that period, Windsor appeared in two more title games squaring off versus Thetford both times.

The Panthers prevailed in 2017 in an incredible battle to the end encounter 53-52. The Pride of Windsor raised its head in 2019, just like they had back after the defeat to Lake Region in 2009 capturing the top prize from the Panthers 51-34.

Rockwood was an assistant on those two teams to Bruce Mackay. Since he became the head coach a season ago, the Jacks have dropped three games. They have already avenged the Brattleboro loss and last postseason nemesis Vergennes now sits in the wings tomorrow night. A win Saturday would leave Lake Region’s earlier victory this season as the only defeat Rockwood hasn’t paid back. As you know, the two could meet in the finals.

And then the Vergennes game was supposed to have been last night, except Friday’s now moved the contest to tomorrow at 6 p.m. and kept Kabray Rockwood from attending Olivia Rockwood’s UMaine game at 1 p.m. tomorrow. The family will catch that one on television and then head to Maine to see Olivia in another another contest Sunday at 1 p.m.

For Kabray and his family this will be another chance to see their talented family gem in action. Before finishing the interview with Kabray this scribe threw what we thought was a difficult question at him: which side of the family did Olivia get her talent from?

The present Windsor girls coach didn’t flinch at all, replying, “that’s easy, the shooting comes from the Farnsworth side and the rest is from me. The Farnsworths could shoot the lights out.”

Regardless of the answer, the family is on the road again and with their basketball journey, there are miles to go before they sleep.

Avatar photo

As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.