Cosmos, Terriers Renew Rivalry

By Tom Haley and Doug Macphee
THE RUTLAND HERALD
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. -This is the week. It’s here. A southern Vermont high school football game steeped in tradition. It is Bellows Falls and Springfield clashing for the 109th time.

Only Lyndon and St. Johnsbury have played more games against one another in Vermont. St. Johnsbury and the Vikings will meet in Lyndon on Oct. 22 for the 117th time.

Both series began in 1894.

Bellows Falls leads the series against the Cosmos, 60-45-3. The Hilltoppers hold the advantage against Lyndon, 67-43-6.

Nobody is expecting the Cosmos to close that gap on Bellows Falls this weekend at Springfield’s Brown Field. Likely, it won’t be a close game.

A reasonable guess might be something along the lines of last year’s score of 39-8.

The teams are also in different divisions with the Terriers the defending Division II state champions and the Cosmos in Division III.

Yet, the game is important. A big part of high school football is about history and traditions.

Man, did we lose something special in Rutland when the Rutland High-Mount St. Joseph Academy football rivalry got put up there on the shelf with the leather helmet.

Bellows Falls looks to be on course for a return to the Division II state championship game in Rutland on Nov. 12.

The Cosmos are showing signs of being able to resurrect a once successful program. They won convincingly against Poultney and a pretty good Oxbow team two weeks in a row.

Whenever the Cosmos and Terriers play on the gridiron, it is a special time.

And with the improvement the Cosmos have shown this season, along with the reports of healthy participation numbers in middle school and Pee Wee football, there might be a time in the near future when the rivalry becomes as exciting as it once was.

Doug MacPhee has seen about as many games in the rivalry as anyone and was the student manager for the Bellows Falls team that beat Springfield 19-7 in 1956.

MacPhee called that BF team “the best team in the old Southern Vermont League” that season.

Due to military service, MacPhee was watching his first BF-Springfield game in three years in 1966 and it was a memorable one. The Cosmos won 13-12.

Tom Lovett was the Bellows Falls coach that season and would later coach Springfield.

Springfield defeated Bis Bisbee’s Bellows Falls team 20-16 in 1998 to earn the No. 2 seed in the Division II playoffs. BF was the No. 3 seed and turned the tables on the Cosmos in Springfield the next weekend when it counted most.

It is stuff like this that makes rivalries great.

109th meeting between Bellows Falls and Springfield

Bellows Falls (Right Scores) 60 wins, Springfield (Left Scores) 45 wins, 3 ties

** indicates state champions

1894 60 0

1900 0 11

1901 0 6

1914 88 0

1917 39 0

1918 14 0

1919 13 0

1920 13 0

1921 Springfield forfeit

1922 0 72

1923 5 7

1924 6 12

1925 19 64**

1926 9 14

1927 3 39

1928 0 28

1929 6 27

1930 7 7

1931 18 6

1932 6 0

1933 0 39

1934 0 25

1935 0 13

1936 0 14

1937 0 7**

1938 0 14

1939 0 32

1940 0 0

1941 6 0

1942 0 0

1943 7 0

1944 75** 0

1945 12 18

1946 7 0

1947 0 7**

1948 0 6

1949 39 7

1950 6 0

1951 6 0

1952 13 19

1953 14 13

1954 13 19

1955 6 25

1956 19 7

1957 13 0

1958 6 13

1959 0 7

1960 14 26

1961 13 25

1962 0 20

1963 0 39

1964 26 6

1965 30 7

1966 12 13 1st Trophy game

1967 13 0

1968 6 39

1969 6 39

1970 48 14

1971 41** 0

1972 14 6

1973 12 6

1974 22 8

1975 14 0

1976 14 21

1977 6 28

1978 8 6

1979 48 0

1980 25 6

1981 42** 16

1982 18 12

1983 33 0

1984 41** 7

1985 22** 6

1986 44 14

1987 21 18

1988 14 0

1989 0 24

1990 26 7

1991 0 25

1992 6 8

1993 12** 14

1994 37** 6

1995 24 13

1996 26 6

1997 18 20

1998 16** 22

1999 22 12

2000 0 24

2001 35 7

2002 42** 6

2003 42** 26

2004 44 6

2005 60 42

2006 6 13

2007 24 32

2008 14 39**

2009 18 19

2010 43** 24

2011 41 0

2012 Springfield forfeit

2013 77 8

2014 42 7

2015 48 0

2016 42** 6 50th trophy anniversary

2017 45 6

2018 46 8

2019 18 8

2020 7 vs 7 not counted Covid year

2021 39** 8