By DAN BARILE
Eagle Times Correspondent
WESTMINSTER, Vt. — Lyndon Institute and Bellows Falls battled to the same 21-20 final score as last fall, but it was Lyndon who edged the Terriers this time around in Saturday’s season-opener at Hadley Field.
The Terriers got off to a promising start when Patrick Connors returned the opening kickoff 44 yards, but Lyndon’s defense came through with a fourth down stop to force a turnover on downs.
The Vikings struck quickly on offense, completing a 62-yard pass on the opening play of the drive. Jayden Smith punched the ball in from six yards out on the following play and the extra point went through the uprights to give Lyndon a 7-0 lead.
Bellows Falls responded with an eight-play 50-yard drive, culminating in a 4-yard touchdown run by Carson Clark. The extra point attempt was unsuccessful, giving Lyndon a 7-6 advantage with 1:27 remaining in the first quarter.
After forcing a punt, Bellows Falls took its first lead of the afternoon after driving 93 yards in 10 plays. Clark and freshman Jaden Bazin each had runs of 20-plus yards on the drive before quarterback Eli Allbee called his own number for a 1-yard score. Allbee successfully ran the ball again for the two-point conversion, giving the Terriers a 14-7 edge.
The Terriers lead was gone before halftime as Ethan Lussier connected with Logan Wheeler on a 43-yard touchdown pass. Lussier added the two-point try to give Lyndon a 15-14 lead with 1:31 left in the half.
Lyndon added to its lead on the opening drive of the second half when Wheeler raced to the endzone again on a 23-yard run. The Vikings two-point try was unsuccessful, keeping Bellows Falls within one score at 21-14.
Lyndon shocked the crowd on the ensuing play by recovering an onside kick. The Vikings were unable to capitalize on the recovery, but they continued to shave time off the clock before punting the ball to Bellows Falls with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter.
The score remained at 21-14 until Bellows Falls engineered a six-play, 75-yard drive late in the fourth quarter. Will Hallock’s 60-yard reception was the highlight of the drive before Connors ran the ball in from 4 yards out to cut the Vikings lead to one with 2:36 left in the game. Bellows Falls attempted to take the lead on a two-point try, but Lyndon intercepted the pass to maintain a 21-20 advantage.
Lyndon’s ground game proved to be too much in the final minutes as they ran for two first downs to run out the clock.
“If we executed six plays correctly we could have won by two touchdowns, but we got outplayed,” Head Coach Bob Lockerby said. “All the credit to Lyndon. They did what I do and controlled the clock and the ball. They did a better job of managing the game than we did, and that’s why we lost.”
Carson Clark led the Terriers on the ground with 10 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown, Patrick Conners was next with 13 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown, and Jaden Bazin added 52 yards on four carries.
“I think we have a good football team,” Lockerby said. “We just got beat by a team that outplayed us.”
Bellows Falls (0-1) travels to U-32 (1-0) this Friday for a 7 p.m. contest. U-32 opened the season with a 40-8 drubbing of defending state champion North Country.
