Windsor
While the score was lopsided, it was no surprise. Missisquoi (0-5) is in just its second year of varsity competition and has been outscored 222-79 through Saturday. Meanwhile, the defending state champion Jacks are 4-0 and have scored 221 points while allowing 70.
Coach Balch said before the game that he and Missiquoi coach Eric Bushey agreed that if the game got out of hand a bit (and it was 44-6 at the half), they would use just the junior varsity and a running clock in the second half.
“They were good about everything,” Balch said.
Seth Balch is now the possessor of some gaudy statistics, having now passed for 11 touchdowns and run for five more.
He also was humble afterward, saying nice things about the opposition and deflecting the conversation away from himself.
“They’re a new team and were competitive for quite a while,” he said.
Balch’s senior teammate Ben Meagher, a stopper at defensive end, was just as diplomatic as his quarterback.
“They gave us a game,” he said. “We just went out and did what we’re supposed to do.”
The Thunderbirds, who had to make the long haul from Swanton, Vt., got in trouble on the opening kickoff, when they fumbled Windsor’s squib kick. Izaiah Smith recovered for the Jacks on the Missiquoi 49.
A Balch pass to Tucker on first down got 20 yards and five plays later Balch, tossed a four-yarder to Dakota Page for the score. Balch ran for the 2-point conversion and it was 8-0 just 68 seconds into the game.
Windsor kept getting the ball and kept scoring. It was Balch to Dakota Sanderson from 15 yards to make 14-0, and Balch to Page to run the score to 20-0 with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
Even though Missisquoi was never in the game, senior Hunter Tardy ran hard and twice had to be helped off the field. He had 106-yard game and a touchdown.
But what Missisquoi could not do was slow down the Windsor offense. Balch connected with Sanderson again from the 5 to make it 28-0.
Then it was a 60-yard pass-and-run play to Robbie Slocum, followed by a Smith score from the 6 to boost the lead to 44-0.
Tardy then gave the Thunderbirds something to put a little smile on their faces when he cut outside and scored from 49 yards out to end the second quarter.
With the clock running and the benches emptied, Windsor added three more scores in the second half. Max Clifford, who came on the field in the second period to play quarterback, scored on a sweep from the 3. Then it was Owen Abrahamson on a 51-yard scamper, and Connor Hart into the end zone from the 10.
Missisquoi got TDs in the second half from Matthew Sweet, Steven Britch and Ethan Kelleher.
Windsor goes to BFA-Fairfax next Saturday.