By DAN BARILE
Eagle Times Correspondent
CASTLETON, Vt. — Sanborn’s Austin Ingersoll scored three long touchdowns for the Granite State, but it was Vermont’s balanced attack that allowed the Green Mountain boys to come away with a 26-21 victory during the 71st Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl at Vermont State University Castleton.
Vermont entered the fourth quarter with a 13-7 advantage, but that lead quickly disappeared when Ingersoll scored two touchdowns in an 11 second span.
Ingersoll tied the game after intercepting a pass from Ollie Cheer and taking it 53 yards for the score. On the ensuing play, New Hampshire caught Vermont, and almost everyone in attendance off-guard by recovering an onside kick. It took New Hampshire just one play to find paydirt again when Ingersoll ran 47 yards to the endzone.
Suddenly trailing by eight, Vermont responded with a quick touchdown of its own. Mount Abraham’s Jamison Couture scored on a 5-yard run, but the two-point conversion failed, leaving Vermont down by two with 9:37 to go.
After a crucial defensive stop by Vermont, Burr & Burton quarterback Jack McCoy engineered another successful drive, culminating in a seven-yard touchdown pass to Mill River’s Mason Boudreau with just over three minutes left. On the following drive, the Vermont defense forced another turnover on downs, to help secure their second straight victory.
McCoy led Vermont with 191 yards passing and two touchdowns and 49 yards rushing. Ingersoll tallied 133 yards on the ground and three total touchdowns for New Hampshire.
Locally, Newport’s Logan Ash played a major role for New Hampshire, being named as one of the captains for the Granite State and seeing significant playing time on the defensive line.
“To be named captain meant that I had to take on a leadership role and had to put in hard work and represent not only myself, but my teammates, my town, and New Hampshire as a whole,” Ash said. “I loved the experience even though we lost. We created a family within the team [when] just months ago some of us were [playing for] rival teams.”
Ash also raised more money for the Shriners Hospital than any other New Hampshire player.
“It meant that kids would be able to benefit off of the money I was able to raise and to know that the small town of Newport supports them as well,” Ash said. Ash will remain in the community, working for JCB Designscapes in Newport.
Bellows Falls also featured a couple of players who played prominent roles in the game. Jesse Darrell started at cornerback for Vermont, and Walker James returned kicks and caught a pass while playing wide receiver. Darrell is planning to attend Pace University and James is headed to East Carolina University.
Other local players selected to the game included Windsor’s Corey Lockwood and Brody Osgood, Stevens’ Tank Christian, and Fall Mountain’s Murray Spaulding. Both Yellow Jackets alums are staying in Vermont with Lockwood going to VTSU Castleton and Osgood attending VTSU Randolph. Christian is staying nearby at New England College and Spaulding is off to Utica University.
Despite back-to-back victories for Vermont, New Hampshire holds a 50-18-2 advantage in the series.
