On a beautiful late September day at Alumni Field, everything seemed normal. There were stretching lines, receiving drills being run and a palpable sense of excitement in the air. Football was on the docket.
SHARON — The first goal came hard for West Rutland but once Anna Cyr got the first one in the second half, things got easier and the Golden Horde rolled to a 5-0 victory over Sharon Academy in a girls soccer season opener.
POULTNEY — Both teams left the field with something to hang their hat on following Saturday's girls soccer opener. Proctor got the victory with a seven-goal outburst led by Maggie McKearin and Jenna Davine. Poultney served notice that it was done being pushed around by anyone.
The present and the future of Otter Valley golf looks bright.
There’s something different in the air when the Proctor and Arlington girls soccer teams meet.
Pickleball has been called the fastest growing sport in America and the explosion has not missed Rutland County.
Wallingford’s Robert Moffitt was sailing along, crushing the obstacles on the course with thousands of eyes watching him in living rooms across the country. He was competing on the show American Ninja Warrior on NBC television.
Saturday will be a festive day in Vermont. Lovers of high school athletics will be in a state of euphoria.
This weekend, Devil’s Bowl Speedway crowns its track champions, with drivers trying to put their stamp on the new decade in local racing.
The Connecticut River flows just over 400 miles through four states. It also is the dividing line between two very different brands of football in this COVID fall.
Johnny Bruno is tearing up the track at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. His 45-point lead in the Limited Sportsman division is insurmountable. He only needs to start Saturday’s race to guarantee himself a second straight track title in the division.
After months of uncertainty, Vermont high school athletes finally have something certain in their life.
High school sports might mot be dead in Ludlow in spite of the closing of the town’s high school.
WEST HAVEN — Monkton’s Kaidin White made history as the youngest feature winner in Devil’s Bowl Speedway history at age 11 years, 2 months, 2 days on Saturday.
CASTLETON — Castleton’s Spartan Arena, home to the University’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams, has served as an alternate care site for Rutland Regional Medical Center over the past several months. The space allowed for medical attention for more than 100 patients.
Plans are getting altered and postponed for college students in these COVID times. Many freshmen are putting off their first college year, waiting to go to campus in 2021 when they hope times will be closer to the “old normal.”
CASTLETON — Castleton University women’s ice hockey head coach Mike Venezia announced his resignation from the position Friday following two seasons at the helm of the Spartans’ bench.
Southern Vermont League athletes have been at practice since Sept. 8, thinking they would likely begin playing games beginning on the week of Sept. 21.
The Southern Vermont League was expected to start competition next week, but that plan has been put on hold.
When the Castleton University softball team holds its fall golf tournament on Oct. 4 at Milestone Golf Club in nearby Hampton, New York, each of the nine holes will be decorated in a blaze of oranges, yellows, reds and golds.
Things are happening at St. Michael’s College on the athletic landscape. High-powered coaches have been brought in, positions have been made full-time, recruiting has intensified and the Purple Knights seem to have things in place to begin a climb back toward the glory years.
NORTH CLARENDON — When the Mill River football team mapped out its 2020 season before the pandemic, an added emphasis on the run was something near the top of its list. Time to scrap those plans.
Longtime Rutland High School football coach Mike Norman lived the life of a lineman. He slugged it out in the trenches during some of Norwich University’s best seasons as an offensive lineman, plying his craft well enough to earn a spot on the Kodak Little All-America Team.
NORTH CLARENDON — The Mill River boys and girls soccer teams have tasted success in the past.
Otter Valley got to field hockey’s biggest stage last year, falling 1-0 to Mount Abraham in the Division II state championship game.
It was a cool, late October night at Fair Haven when the 2019 season ended for the Springfield girls soccer team in a tough 2-0 quarterfinal loss. The Cosmos could not solve standout Fair Haven goalkeeper Emma Ezzo and they came off the field at game’s end with plenty of hurt etched on their faces.
BRANDON — Don't be misled by the Otter Valley boys soccer team's 2-12 regular season record last year. The Otters were leading eventual Division III state champion Green Mountain late in their first-round playoff game. The Otters were coming together in late October.
There’ll be a new man leading the charge on the Rutland boys soccer sidelines this fall.
BRANDON — Ah, autumn. It is a season of hillsides combusting into a fiery landscape of red, gold and orange, pumpkins strewn across a field and the popping of the pads.
CHESTER — A new head coach, the same high expectations.
WEST HAVEN — Canadian sensation Mat Williamson has made a habit of winning the biggest and richest dirt Modified races in the country, and he put another notch in his belt at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Saturday.
Fair Haven cross country coach Randy Shutters completed his cancer treatments on June of 2018. The prognosis did not sound good.
FAIR HAVEN — While many teams across the state have to alter a lot of what they do to compete in 7-on-7 football this fall, Fair Haven isn’t phased.
WEST RUTLAND — The West Rutland boys and girls soccer teams have their sights set on the top.
There is not a lot of history to Mount St. Joseph soccer. Neither the boys or girls team has ever made it to a state final although the girls have reached six semifinals.
CASTLETON — The Castleton University softball program will be hosting its second annual fall golf tournament, hosted by Milestone Golf Club in Hampton, New York, on Sunday, October 4.
Springfield football coach Todd Aiken is hoping his Cosmos will bring some excitement to Brown Field this season. He’s certain they will create tons of excitement in the years following this one.
FAIR HAVEN — The Fair Haven girls soccer team could almost taste the Division II state championship game last fall.
The American-Canadian Tour will head to the biggest auto racing stage in New England on Friday and Saturday.
The Proctor soccer teams can’t escape the shadow of that impressive history. The boys have won 19 state crowns, tying them with CVU for most in the state. The girls have won eight state titles but, most impressively, they have made it all the way to the last nine state championship games.
MANCHESTER — Lakeside Golf Club’s Gary Shover may not have been as sharp on the golf course as he was on Tuesday, but his effort on Wednesday was plenty enough to win.
Those growing pains are letting up.
Poultney is scheduled to open the season where it left off. The Blue Devils are back on Sept. 25 at Rutland High’s Alumni Field, the same venue where the Devils danced in celebration of a Division III state championship in November after beating BFA-Fairfax/Lamoille 17-8.
BRANDON — There are new coaches at Otter Valley with Tammi Blanchard at the helm of the girls soccer team and Jodie Keith taking the reins of the varsity field hockey program. But the newest aspect of this fall is the dreaded mask necessitated by COVID-19 protocol.
WEST RUTLAND — Normally by this time in September, high school sports are well underway and teams are finding their footing in the early portion of their season.
Some thoughts on the 7 vs. 7 high school football format that we will be watching this season:
WEST HAVEN — Demetrios Drellos, of Queensbury, N.Y., had won twice this season coming into Sunday, but his third trip to victory lane could be the sweetest.
Rip Van Winkle slept for 20 years. Nine weeks was too long for Poultney’s David Hughes. He missed the 2015 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl.
BARRE — Bobby Therrien saved his best for last to win Sunday’s Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road.
BARRE — Bobby Therrien saved his best for last to win Sunday’s Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road.
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