Rutland
What Hartford didn’t have was roster depth, forcing Trombly to rely on his talented group of starters. That was the formula. Add in the emergence of some previously unknown quantities and a little bit of luck with the injury bug and, Trombly figured, the Hurricanes could be bound for something big.
Hartford capped off an undefeated season in Vermont high school play with a 24-14 win over No. 2 St. Johnsbury in the VPA Division I championship game on Saturday night at Rutland High’s Alumni Field. The Hurricanes won their first state title since 2012 and first under third-year head coach Trombly, who has been involved with the program in some capacity for 15 years.
“Looking back to August, this has been a special group,” Trombly said. “We had a lot of experience coming back from last year. This was a group that was different than a lot of the ones we’ve had. They were so cohesive. They enjoyed playing together. They enjoyed being together, on and off the field. They played for each other. To win this big one here, you have to have kids that play for each other. These kids, they truly do.”
Tyler Hamilton, Hunter Perkins and Kody Rhodes all scored first-half touchdowns to give Hartford (10-0 league, 10-1 overall) all the points it needed. For Rhodes, Hartford’s key back for most of the season, the undefeated tag still hadn’t sunken in after Saturday’s finale.
“We played hard, played to our potential,” Rhodes said after the game. “We all bonded well. It was tight-knit family. That was what set us apart.”
For others, like senior offensive lineman Matthew Lucke, Saturday’s championship was a long time coming for a group of seniors that had been playing football together since most of them can remember.
“I’m really excited,” Lucke said. “It’s all we’ve worked for since … I started playing in seventh grade, but some of these kids have been playing since second grade. … We all just love playing with each other.”
The Hurricanes were powered by four fumble recoveries in the first half that kept St. Johnsbury’s dynamic quarterback tandem, Collin Urie and Jake Cady, largely inert. Of the Hilltoppers’ six possessions in the first two quarters, four ended in turnovers while the other two ended in punts, with fumbles on both the first play and the last play of the half.
Hartford was able to capitalize on St. Johnsbury’s early mistakes, needing only four plays to score on its second drive of the game, with Rhodes converting from short yardage. Perkins scored two drives later in the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown.
The Hurricanes ended the half with a 17-play march covering 5 minutes, 43 seconds, which ended on a touchdown throw from quarterback Gavin Farnsworth to Hamilton in one-on-one coverage, leaving St. Johnsbury with just 12 seconds to respond before halftime.
Hartford made all three of its 2-point conversions in the first half.
The Hilltoppers stopped the bleeding in the third quarter and came out with a vengeance in the fourth, scoring on back-to-back drives to cut the lead to 10 points. But St. Johnsbury coach Richard Alercio pointed to one third-quarter possession as the turning point, when St. Johnsbury had five chances to score from Hartford’s 3-yard line, but came up empty.
“It was just mistakes,” Alercio said. “We put the ball on the ground four times in the first half, gave them a short field. I don’t think there were anything we did at any certain time that was bad other than turn the ball over. We don’t turn the ball over, it’s a different game.”
Hamilton ended the threat by intercepting a throw by Urie. In the end, Hartford’s defense was able to hold on.
“We were a little bit conservative in the second half,” Trombly said. “We wanted to kind of grind it out and run the clock so they couldn’t get the ball back. They played great defense, put us in a pickle and made us rely on the pass to keep them out of it. They made it tight; they made it interesting.”
The Hurricanes will lose 16 athletes to graduation before next season, including starting quarterback Farnsworth, running backs Brett MacLaren and Justin Koloski, and offensive linemen Lucke and Khant Thu. The run game should return somewhat intact with Rhodes, Hamilton and Perkins all seniors and speedy Nick Porter returning as a junior.
But Trombly knows it’ll be hard to replace the cohesiveness of this year’s squad, something that was in place since preseason training. No nonsense, Trombly said; no drama and no distractions this season. It gave Hartford a chance to hold its focus on the ultimate goal.
“We were far from healthy,” Trombly said. “We probably had four or five starters that had been injured for the last three weeks now. Gavin (Farnsworth) has a torn meniscus. Brett (MacLaren) has a separated AC joint in his shoulder. (Lineman) Brian Moran has a bad back and a bad foot. Tyler Hamilton has a bad foot. I think, come game time, these guys just want to play. We’ve been fortunate enough that they’re Hartford kids. They’ve got that tradition of being tough kids.
“I don’t really see it as mine,” he added on putting his stamp on the program with his first state title. “This group of seniors we had was really special. This is theirs. … This was their ultimate goal. I’m just lucky enough to be along for the ride.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.