Champlain Valley continues season-opening win streak

CVU 40, Colchester 6
The Champlain Valley Redhawks have started their season in a way that is the stuff football dreams are made of, at least for those on their side of the field. The Redhawks have scored on their first plays in three straight games.

Getting an early lead in a game makes it much easier for coaches, fans and players to sleep at night.

On Friday, Sept. 13, the Lakers received the opening kickoff and shortly after CVU intercepted. It was the first of three interceptions CVU had on the Lakers’ first three possessions.

On the Redhawks’ first play of the game, Nolan Walpole raced 58 yards for a touchdown with just over a minute lapsed in the game.

It was the first of six touchdowns the Redhawks would score in the game to Colchester’s one.

After its opening score and another interception, on the first play of CVU’s second possession, sophomore quarterback Orion Yates hit senior Jacob Armstrong, who was wide open. Armstrong ran it in from 49 yards out for a second CVU touchdown.

On its ensuing possession, Colchester gave up the ball with another interception, and the Redhawks capitalized, scoring again. With just over three minutes left in the first quarter, CVU was up 21-0.

In the second quarter, the Redhawks scoring onslaught cooled a bit, but their defense never wavered.

The Lakers finally got on the board early in the second, but missed the extra point. Champlain Valley scored again with less than four minutes left in the third to make the score 27-6.

The Lakers couldn’t manage to put up any more points in the game. About a minute and a half into the fourth quarter senior, Billy Bates made an athletic catch in a crowd of defenders to add another CVU touchdown.

With just about a minute remaining in the game, senior Daniel Tuiqere ran it in from 17 yards out for the final 40-6 score.

After the game, junior Stuart Allard of Charlotte and sophomore John Saladino were pleased with how well their team started and less thrilled with how they slowed down offensively in the second quarter.

“Our goal is to keep the foot on the gas the whole game. We can’t be letting up like that,” Saladino said. He was also pleased with his 1-yard run for a touchdown.

“Going into the third and fourth, our defense and offense both stepped up,” said Allard. He nabbed one of CVU’s interceptions.

After the game, coach Rahn Fleming said he had “mad respect for Colchester,” and the character that coach Tom Perry teaches his kids to play with.

With just minutes left in the game and the Lakers way behind, the Colchester players could still be heard exhorting each other to keep trying. Although the game was clearly out of reach, they sounded like they really believed there was a way they could come back and win.

The matchup was between the No. 1 Division 1 and the No. 1 Division 2 teams in the state, but CVU had more size and “physicality” than the Lakers, Fleming said. “It was a little bit of a mismatch on the rosters that didn’t show on the ball field.”

Despite the three wins, Rutland, which is also unbeaten, was moved to No. 1, and CVU moved to second in the state rankings.

Yates finished with three touchdown passes. Armstrong had two touchdown receptions, one the 49 yarder.

Playing on both sides of the ball, Bates had an interception and a touchdown catch, and Dylan Terricciano had an interception.

CVU 52, Essex 13
Champlain Valley Union High’s game at Essex High this past Friday, Sept. 6, didn’t start the way its season opener against Hartford went the weekend before.

This time the Redhawks didn’t score right off the bat to start the game. This time it took CVU seven plays and about three and half minutes to get on the scoreboard. After that it was Katy, bar the door.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Redhawks marched the ball down the field with alternating passing and running plays that resulted in three first downs in a row.

After the third first down, the Hornets managed to stop the Redhawks to set up CVU’s first fourth down. The Redhawks decided to go for it. However, Essex was called for an offside penalty, and the Redhawks had another first down.

On the ensuing play, Yates lofted an 18-yard pass to Terricciano, giving CVU a 7-0 lead.

With a flair for understatement, on the sideline coach Rahn Fleming opined: “That was a pretty good opening drive.”

As the stands filled prior to the game starting, TV crews were promoting the upcoming game live. Two announcers from one of the stations were having an on-air discussion about whether the CVU-Essex matchup was the game of the night or the game of the week, eventually agreeing that it was going to be quite a contest.
It didn’t turn out to be the kind of a game they were predicting, as Champlain Valley rolled to a 33-0 lead by halftime. In the second half, Essex managed two scores, but unfortunately for the Hornets, the Redhawks were still scoring, coasting to a 52-13 win and a No. 1 ranking in Division 1.

On the CVU sidelines, the players could be heard muttering about the newspaper poll where eight of 10 sports prognosticators picked Essex to win this game, possibly swayed more by the Hornets’ 49-13 dismantling of St. Johnsbury than the Redhawks’ opening weekend 17-0 shutout of Hartford.

On Essex’s first possession of the game, it fumbled, and CVU senior Lucas Almena-Lee recovered on the 20-yard line. The Redhawks proceeded to march the ball down the field, converting on a pair of fourth downs. On the second fourth-down attempt, Yates found Dylan Frere for a 1-yard scoring pass with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.

Starting on the 10-yard line on its second possession of the game, Essex felt the heat of CVU’s vaunted defense, losing ground on successive plays. On third down, Allard led a pack of defenders in tackling running back Ethan Hemingway in the end zone for a touchback and putting CVU up 16-0 with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter.
That wasn’t it for the Redhawks’ offense in the opening frame. With 1:28 remaining in the first, Yates found Bates for a 24-yard scoring pass that made the score 23-0.

A little over three minutes into the second quarter, CVU was stopped at the 7-yard line and opted to try for a field goal. Alex Jovell delivered, kicking it home for a 26-0 lead.

Fleming is amazed at how well his sophomore kicker has been doing and has come up with a nickname to celebrate Jovell’s dependability with the ball on his foot, saying, “I didn’t even know he could kick a football, and now he’s ‘Captain Reliable.’”

At the 4:39 mark, Yates connected with senior George Taylor. After another successful Jovell extra point, CVU had the 33-0 lead that the team took into halftime.

Three minutes into the third, Terricciano notched his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 2-yard run.
Essex finally got on the board, but missed the extra point to make the score 39-6. If the Hornets got any optimism from that score, it was short-lived because Bates returned the kickoff for a TD, and the Redhawks were ahead 46-6.

After another touchdown and a missed extra point, the Redhawks were ahead 52-6, but the Hornets did manage another touchdown for the final 52-13 margin.

In his second start behind center, Yates was even more poised than in the season opener, throwing touchdown passes to four different receivers. And he also shone on defense. Playing at outside linebacker, he knocked the ball back on a sack, putting Essex within the 10-yard line.

Before Yates got to CVU, Fleming noticed his size. Because of his stature, Yates had always played line in youth football.

Fleming said, “I remember looking at him and going, ‘You ever throw a football?’ He grinned from ear to ear and goes, ‘I’ve always wanted to.’ I said, ‘Let’s get you throwing the ball.’”

After this conversation, assistant coach Chris Destito took Yates under his wing and worked with him on quarterback drills for the last part of the summer before he got to high school.

The one downside to CVU’s play was the number of penalties the team committed.

“I told the team, ‘We were our own worst enemies,’” Fleming said. “We’re not going to be able to get away with that in a more competitive game.”

The team is working on “wrapping ferocity in discipline. Ferocity comes naturally. That comes from the kids’ hearts,” the coach said. “The discipline we have to teach.”