Staff Reports
NEWPORT — The second win by the Newport High football team in as many weeks has the surging Tigers on the brink of a return to postseason play. Newport took down visiting Laconia on Saturday, 14-6, to keep its playoff hopes alive.
“Coming into last week, we told them the season started right now. We needed all three wins (to end the season), and we won last week and now today,” Newport coach John Proper said. “We knew coming into the season that if we were competitive, we could be a playoff team.”
A win on Saturday at Epping-Newmarket will likely have the Tigers jumping up the No. 7 seed in the D-III playoffs, according to Proper. The strength of Saturday’s win over the Sachems was already enough to give Newport a tiebreaker edge over both Laconia and Somersworth; all three schools are now 3-5 on the season.
The Tigers received the ball to start the game and marched right down the field to take a 7-0 lead when quarterback Marius Edwards scored from 22 yards, and then kicked the extra point. Newport led, 7-6, at halftime. The Tigers’ other score came on a 20-yard Edwards pass to Tanner Proper in the fourth quarter.
Things got a bit too close for comfort in the final two minutes when a Newport penalty on the ensuing kickoff and a 40-yard pass by Laconia had the Sachems with a first down inside the Tigers’ 10-yard line. The Newport defense held, forcing a turnover on downs when Josh Sharron sacked the Laconia quarterback on fourth down.
Coach Proper credited the play of his defense, which has struggled at times this season with defending the pass. Newport played a better defensive game against Laconia, led by Sharron and Tanner Proper, who had a pair of sacks in the first half.
Poultney 40, Woodstock 28
POULTNEY, Vt. — The Blue Devils controlled play early and ended the Wasps’ season in the VPA Division III quarterfinals.
Woodstock, the defending D-III state champions, were hit hard by graduation after last season and finish this season at 0-9. The Wasps will graduate five starters, each a four-year varsity player: Zane Adams, Trevor White, Dan Lessard, Trevon Olmstead and Alden Shoemaker.
“The kids never lost their drive or motivation. They came out and worked hard with a good attitude, which is all I can ask for,” Woodstock coach Ramsey Worrell said. “I want to credit coach (Dave) Capman (of Poultney). They easily could have turned the score very lopsided, but they didn’t. He’s a good coach who’s been doing it the right way for a long time.”
Burr & Burton 61, Hartford 29
MANCHESTER, Vt. — The Bulldogs outpaced the visiting Hurricanes to end Hartford’s season in the VPA Division I quarterfinals.
Hartford (4-5) will lose four seniors: Zach Burek, Kyle Hamilton, Cody Chapman and Chris Phelps.
Otter Valley 39, Oxbow 26
BRANDON, Vt. — The Olympians came up just short against the Otters in the VPA Division IV quarterfinals.
Oxbow finishes at 3-6 and will lose a big group of seniors: Cooper Simmons, Cooper Smith, Hunter Locke, Harley Westcott, John Moore, Kevin Ricker, Jace Page and Trevor Moore.
Girls Soccer
Vergennes 6, Windsor 1
VERGENNES, Vt. — The No. 10 seed Yellowjackets couldn’t keep pace at No. 2 seed Vergennes in the VPA Division III quarterfinals.
Eilliot Rupp scored for Windsor (8-7-1) in the 51st minute with an assist to Evelyn Page. Keeper Adi Prior made 13 saves.
“Vergennes is just a really good team,” Windsor coach Jeff Bachey said. “Our passes seemed a half-step off, our first touch a little long. When you have a team as fast and strong as Vergennes, they’re going to exploit those kinds of things.”
Windsor will lose just two starters to graduation, Olivia Rockwood and Lexy Merrill.
The Yellowjackets started the season 5-2-1 before losing three straight to drop closer to .500 on the season.
KUA 1, New Hampton 0
MERIDEN — The Wildcats outshot New Hampton, 17-3, but only found the back of the net in the 73rd minute when Bella Parento headed home a Vanessa Mateko cross.
KUA (8-4-2) hosts Holderness on Wednesday.
Boys Soccer
Rivendell 9, Craftsbury 0
ORFORD — The Raptors were nothing short of dominant in a VPA Division IV quarterfinal shutout of the Chargers.
Rivendell (13-3-0) got two goals each from Johnny Vogelien, A.J. DeBois, Zach Gould and Ander AlbaErazo. Senior Nolan Yvon added a penalty-kick goal for the first score of his varsity career. Gould added three assists to finish with five points. DeBois, Johnny Vogelien, Derek Vogelien and Luke Senn all had single assists.
Keeper Owen Mansur made three saves for the Raptors, who will visit No. 1 seed Twin Valley on Tuesday.
Rivendell lost twice to the Wildcats during the regular season, including a 4-3 loss in overtime on Oct. 2 at Twin Valley.
Arlington 3, White River Valley 1
ARLINGTON, Vt. — The No. 6 seed Wildcats lost a tight battle at No. 3 seed Arlington in the VPA Division IV quarterfinals.
“Our goal at the start of the season was a championship. That means there’s a high probability of ending in disappointment, but I’m proud of the team for taking that risk,” WRV coach Alex Montano said.
The Wildcats led, 1-0, at halftime on the strength of a George Carr goal off a corner. WRV will lose Carr, Timber Russell, Zeb Perrault and Alex Kimball to graduation.
Stevens 2, Kingswood 0
WOLFEBORO, N.H. — Josh Thurber set up one goal and scored the other as the Cardinals (7-9-0) qualified for the NHIAA Division II tournament on the final day of the regular season.
Brennan Huntoon headed home a Thurber cross to get Stevens on the board. Later, after being pulled down at the top of the Kingswood box, Thurber buried a 22-yard free kick for the clincher.
The Cardinals’ defense had a standout game, allowing just one serious scoring threat, according to coach Jason Stone. Stevens will learn its playoff assignment on Monday.
Women’s Rugby
Dartmouth 41, Harvard 22
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Big Green won their fourth Ivy League Championship after pulling away from Harvard in the second half.
Kristin Bitter led Dartmouth with 16 points on one try, four conversions and a penalty kick. Idia Ihensekhien had 15 points on a career-best three tries.
The Big Green took the early lead on a Bitter penalty kick three minutes into the action. An Ihensekhien try and a Bitter conversion later in the half gave the Green a 10-7 lead at halftime.
Dartmouth broke a 17-17 tie in the second half with tries by Abby Schill and Ihensekhien, followed by a Bitter conversion. Becca Jane Rosko then added a try to give Dartmouth some breathing room and a 34-17 advantage.
Dartmouth will play in the NIRA semifinals on Nov. 9.
Women’s Soccer
Dartmouth 1, Columbia 1 (2OT)
HANOVER — The Big Green earned a draw to pick up their first Ivy League point of the season.
Columbia scored in the 14th minute and led, 1-0, at halftime. Dartmouth (9-5-1, 0-4-1 Ivy) answered with a Hayley Soriano goal in the 53rd minute to tie things up. The Big Green were outshot, 11-10, and each time had five corners in what was an evenly matched contest throughout.
Dartmouth plays at Harvard on Saturday.
Men’s Soccer
Dartmouth 0, Columbia 0
HANOVER — Goalkeeper Alex Budnik tossed a seven-save shutout to help the Big Green (5-6-2, 2-1-1) get a share of the points with the Lions at Burnham Field.
Michael Collodi recorded three saves for Columbia.
Dartmouth visits Harvard on Saturday.
College Field Hockey
Columbia 4, Dartmouth 3 (OT)
HANOVER — The Big Green lost a heartbreaker in overtime after Columbia rallied from a 3-1 deficit with five minutes to play to tie the score.
Dartmouth (3-11, 0-5 Ivy) answered an early Columbia goal with Katie Spanos’ seventh goal of the season. Holley Cromwell and Myah Pease added goals to give the Big Green a 3-1 lead. Dartmouth will visit both Harvard and Vermont next weekend.
Women’s Volleyball
Dartmouth 3, New Hampshire 1
HANOVER — The Big Green picked up a four set win over UNH (21-25, 25-20, 25-14 and 25-23).
Francesca Meldrum had eight kills, two aces, six blocks and four digs for Dartmouth (7-11). Elise Petit had nine kills, four blocks and 14 digs. Makenzie Arent had a double-double with 37 assists and 13 digs. Grace Wiczek had a team-high 12 kills.
Dartmouth will host both Yale and Brown next weekend.
Friday’s results
Scores that missed Saturday’s paper due to deadline. Find updates online at www.vnews.com.
FOOTBALL
Windsor 22, Springfield 12
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The fifth-seeded Yellowjackets (4-5) won their straight third game and avenged an earlier regular-season loss to the fourth-ranked Cosmos (5-4) to take their VPA Division III quarterfinal at Brown Memorial Field. Ben Gilbert had a TD run and TD interception return for Windsor, which will meet Poultney in the state semifinals next weekend.
Lebanon 45
Ilks.-Moultonborough 6
LEBANON — The Raiders (8-0) guaranteed no worse than a top-four spot in the upcoming NHIAA Division III state tournament with a dominant win at Henry Emerton Memorial Field.
Wade Rainey led the Lebanon attack with 200 rushing yards, including a pair of touchdowns. Phil Mellish had 100 receiving yards and one score. Calvin Bates also caught a touchdown pass. C.J. Childs and Nyeoti Punni each had scoring runs.
Lebanon built a 23-0 lead at the half. The Raiders can clinch the tournament top seed with a win over Campbell on Friday.
Mascoma 30, Raymond 13
RAYMOND, N.H. — The Royals (3-4) capped off their NHIAA Division IV season by upsetting the Rams, with seniors Tyler David and Sean Rostron scoring points in their final games.
David contributed a touchdown and Rostron had a pair of two-point conversions. Cooper Peavey scored two TDs, one on a run and the other on a Mike Evans pass. Evans added a TD run as well as a two-pointer.
“We took care of the ball,” second-year coach Kyle Colburn said. “It was nice. We had zero turnovers tonight. We were good in all facets of the game.”
Colburn graduates five: David, Rostron, Laurence Gibbs (who missed the season with an injury), Hawk Shawn and Raven Streeter.
John Stark 25, Hanover 7
HANOVER — Shaemus Murphy’s 75-yard touchdown run was all the Marauders (0-8) could manage at Merriman-Branch Field.
The visitors led by at least a score at every quarter break. Caleb Morse and Gabe Schroeder led Hanover in tackles. The Marauders close their season at Plymouth on Saturday.