My day in St. Johnsbury and the #vthsfootball championship games

     For the first time ever, I had the opportunity to be a part of a day-long extravaganza in high school sports.  Well, first time may be an understatement as I was at the baseball finals at Centennial Field back in June, but I wasn't going to miss out on this occasion.  I heard so many people talk about the experience of being at Rutland for championship Saturday in football, but never had a chance to get down there (work or transportation issues).  But this year, I knew I needed to get down there.

    I left my place at around 6:30AM yesterday, got to St. Johnsbury at 8AM and had breakfast at Anthony's Diner on Railroad Street.  The food there was delicious, and it definitely felt like an old-school diner experience.  After that, it was a walk down memory lane (as a grad of Lyndon State College) heading to Fairbanks Field for the 3 title games taking place.  Meeting so many people before and during the games (media, coaches, officials, administrators) was such an exciting experience and made it feel like an event.

    The Division 2 final between Rice and Fair Haven was first off.  The Knights got off to a great start with 2 long TD passes from Dallas St. Peter, but the Slaters responded with a prolific defensive game and a running game that could not be stopped.  The game was close throughout, but Fair Haven put it away late with a time-consuming final drive and an INT late to secure their first title since 2017.

    After that was the D3 final and it was all Woodstock from the opening kick.  The Wasps pulled away to a 65-14 win over Otter Valley to secure their 12th state title, tying the record for most in the sport (Hartford and Bellows Falls also have 12).  The 65 points were the most all time in a high school football championship game.

    Then came the main event:  The D1 title game, which featured CVU and Rutland.  The Redhawks have been the most dominant team in D1 post-Covid, making the title game for the 3rd time in 4 years and looking for their second title in this run.  Not only did they do just that, but it was another dominant performance for a team that has done just that during their undefeated season.

    Nolan Walpole shined all game long (even after suffering an ankle injury late in Q2) and Orion Yates was able to find his receivers all game long for an impressive 41-14 win that gave CVU their 6th state title in the fall season (Girls XC, Boys and Girls golf, Boys and Girls soccer).

    There have been talks as to whether or not this team is the best D1 team ever and it's tough to go against them.  The Redhawks outscored their opponents by nearly 400 points!  Some may say that 2009 Essex is up there as well and, while I knew most of the players on that team (2007 EHS alum), 2024 CVU has a run for that top spot after Saturday's performance.

    At the end of the day, the scores didn't matter to me.  It was being at St. Johnsbury, being part of something that was so special and meeting people who put their heart and soul into Vermont high school football.  Thanks to all of you who were nice enough to let me talk about the game.  Thank you to St. Johnsbury Academy for being an amazing host after 12 years at Rutland.  Thanks to the officials who did a great job during their games.  Thanks to the fans who were able to make this even more special (no matter how far they had to travel to get there).

    Thank you to everyone who made this day one I will never forget!  The fall sports season is over and winter is coming.

    You know what that means?  🎳

Instant Reaction: Rice ends decade-long title game drought, survives Lyndon 27-20.

     The 2024 Rice Memorial football team has had a somewhat easy schedule this year with half of their games against D3 schools (including their only loss vs. BFA-Fairfax).  Coming into the postseason, the odds were against them and, after surviving a scare from U-32 a week ago, it felt like Lyndon would take advantage of that schedule.

But as the old saying goes, the Green Knights survived and advanced.

Rice used a 4th quarter rally and pressure on the Vikings offense to stamp their ticket to the D2 final with a 27-20 win at Bill Landers Field Saturday.  It's the Knights' first title game appearance since 2014.

Rice got the ball to start the game and drove down the field with a couple of big runs from Eric Poso before Dallas St. Peter finished the drive for the TD.  After Lyndon were unable to do anything on their first drive, St. Peter would capitalize again, busting through the defense to make it 13-0 (PAT blocked after the second TD).

But before halftime, the Vikings would gain the momentum with a TD pass from Ethan Lussier to Logan Wheeler with 24 seconds left.  LI would then pull off the onside kick and Lussier would find Wyatt Mason who rumbled down the sidelines to give them the lead at halftime.

Neither team could garner much on offense in the 3rd quarter as Rice would pick off Lussier twice in the quarter.  Then, needing the drive of his HS career, St. Peter would deliver a pass to Isaias Lagasse for the go-ahead score.  Lussier would be picked again on the ensuing drive and St. Peter would connect with Poso to put the game out of reach.

The Vikings would score at the buzzer for the 27-20 final.

Rice (9-1) will face Fair Haven in the Division 2 final (a rematch of that 2014 title game), who knocked out Bellows Falls in the semifinals.  Lyndon's season ends at 6-4.