PAGE 8C — Addison Independent, Thursday, September 10, 2015
MOUNT ABRAHAM UNION HIGH SCHOOL Football team makes move up to Division II By ANDY KIRKALDY BRISTOL — The Mount Abraham/Vergennes collective football team will have a new challenge under a new, but certainly not unknown, head coach this fall. The Eagles will be playing in Division II, a move mostly dictated by program numbers and student count in the two schools that feed the team, but also by their consistent success in D-III — the Eagles have made the playoffs in each of the past several seasons. The coach is Lee Hodsden, a program assistant and Eagle JV coach for several years who also served as the interim head coach late last year, when the Eagles went 4-4 in the regular season and earned D-III’s No. 6 seed. Hodsden oversaw the team’s road playoff upset of No. 3 Mill River, and the semifinal loss that followed in which the Eagles held eventual champion BFA-Fairfax to 14 points. Hodsden acknowledged in the preseason that graduation claimed some solid players and that the move to D-II will not be easy. But he is excited about his team. “It’s going to be a big challenge. But we have great athletes from both schools, and they’ll be up for the challenge,” he said. “We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere. That’s the way I look at it.” Hodsden is also happy about the turnout this fall, and about a reconfigured coaching staff that includes former program assistant Gary Russell and former Eagle standouts Eric Hartman, Matt Paul, Eric Jipner and
Justin Tierney. would also get carries. “It’s been an awesome preseason,” “We have a lot of good running he said. “We’ve got 47 kids on the backs,” he said. roster, and they come out with a lot At quarterback, junior Coleman of enthusiasm. We’ve got a great Russell appeared a week before the coaching staff.” opener vs. Burlington to A former standout “We’re going have won a preseason running back at Bellows to run the ball duel with classmate Falls and in college, Wyatt Gracie for the right between Hodsden makes no sejob, but Hodsden said cret about his preferred the tackles. the competition might offensive approach: It’s We’ve got a big be ongoing. nothing fancy. “He’ll be the main offensive line. “We’re going to run We’re going to guy, but they’ll both get the ball right between try to run the reps,” he said. the tackles. We’ve got a The projected starters big offensive line. We’re ball, and run along the offensive line going to try to run the the ball to set are senior and captain ball, and run the ball to up the pass.” Matt Mullin at center, set up the pass,” he said. — Coach Hodsden senior Jack Eisenhower Senior halfback and and junior Kyle Pearsall captain Ryan Paquin, senior slot at guard, and senior Broc Clark and back and captain Jeb Hodsden and junior Josh Roscoe at tackle. sophomore fullback Casey Kimball Senior Bradley Sturtevant tops the will start in the backfield, but Hods- depth chart at tight end, while three den said senior Anthony Warner and players will rotate at split end, jujunior Devon Kimball would be niors Treyvon Smith, Peyton Keith among a deep group of backs who and Dylan Bradford.
Hodsden plans most of the time to use a defense with four down linemen, four linebackers, two cornerbacks and a safety, although he might switch to a 5-2-4 alignment at some times. He described the base 4-4-3 as “an aggressive, pursuit-style defense. Pursue and punish, that’s our motto.” In that defense, senior Isaac Record and junior Aaron Fanning are the top defensive ends, with Clark and Eisenhower backing them up. Hodsden plans to rotate Mullin, Roscoe and Sturtevant as the primary defensive tackles, with junior Cole Putnam in the mix. Gracie and Paquin will start at middle linebacker, with juniors Eli Paquin and Wyatt Gendreau among their backups. Warner, Hodsden and Devon Kimball will rotate at outside linebacker. Senior Matt George and Smith are projected as the top corners and Keith as the safety, with Bradford, senior Tyler Cousino and junior Josh Hardy among those providing depth.
Mount Abraham Union High School Varsity Football Date Opponent/Event Time 9/4 @ Bellows Falls 7 p.m. 9/12 Fair Haven 1 p.m. 9/19 North Country 1 p.m. 9/26 @ Lyndon Institute 1 p.m. 10/3 Burr & Burton 1 p.m. 10/10 Otter Valley 1 p.m. 10/17 @ Mt. Mansfield 1 p.m. 10/24 Milton 1 p.m.
Mount Abraham Union High School Varsity Football Team Coach: Lee Hodsden Name Grade Broc Clark 12 Justin Connor 12 Tyler Cousino 12 Jack Eisenhower 12 Matt George 12 Jeb Hodsden 12 Matt Mullin 12 Ryan Paquin 12 Isaac Record 12 Andre Rinaldi 12 Anthony Robideau 12 Bradley Sturtevant 12 Anthony Warner 12 Dylan Bradford 11 Aaron Fanning 11 Wyatt Gendreau 11 Wyatt Gracie 11 Josh Hardy 11 Peyton Keith 11 Devon Kimball 11 Mitchell Palmer 11 Eli Paquin 11 Kyle Pearsall 11 Cole Putnam 11 Josh Roscoe 11 Coleman Russell 11 Trevon Smith 11 Kyle Beatty 10 Derek Jackson 10 Jon Jennings 10 Casey Kimball 10 Ben Murray 10 Tim Pecor 10 Chandler Robideau 10 Mason Wood 10
Mt. Abe Cross Country Date Opponent/Event Time 9/2 @ Red Rocks (SB Class Races) 4 p.m. 9/5 Essex Invitational 10:30 a.m. 9/8 @ Spaulding 4 p.m. 9/12 Burlington Invitational 9:30 a.m. 9/15 @ Colchester 4 p.m. 9/19 @ U-32 TBA 9/26 Randolph Invit’l (Three Stallion) TBA 9/29 @ BFA-St. Albans 4 p.m. 10/3 @ Thetford Invitational TBA 10/6 @ BFA-Fairfax Relays 3:45 p.m. 10/17 @ Harwood Invitational TBA 10/24 NVAC Champs. @ Missisquoi TBA 10/31 State Championships TBA
Mt. Abe Cross Country Team Coaches: Vicki Wright and Brent Crum Name Grade Lyn Ackert-Smith 12 Eliot Brett 12 Laura Sundstrom 12 Harmony Taggart 12 Will Aldrich 11 Jude Bunch 11 Patrick Davison 11 Peter Foley 11 Anna Iliff 11 Delaynah Leavitt 11 Andrew Raymond 11 Aine Alexander 10 Madeline Bernoudy 10 Brian Cousineau 10 Isaac Giles 10 Allyson Hoff 10 Aidan May 10 Whitney Thompson 10 Mitchell Tierney 10 Ross Carr 9 Gary Conant 9 Cora Funke 9 Claire Holloway 9 Patrick Marcotullio 9 Roman Mayer 9 Vhairi McMurray 9 Oliver Roy 9
Hodsden believes the Eagles will be competitive, and is certain about a few other things. “I just want the kids to have a good experience playing football, and as a coach I want to have a positive impact on their lives, like the coaches in my life,” Hodsden said. “Because that’s what sports are all about. That’s why I do it, not for the wins and losses. Like I said, I like to win as much as the next person, but it’s more about playing the game, playing it the right way, and the score will take care of itself.”
Eagle cross country sees veterans back
By ANDY KIRKALDY BRISTOL — The Mount Abraham girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams finished fifth and eighth, respectively, at the Division II meet a year ago, but each team returns three of its five scorers and five of its seven varsity runners from that day. “We lost some pretty strong runners from last year, but we have some pretty strong runners returning to fill some spaces,” said Co-Coach Brent Crum, who once again will work with Co-Coach Vicki Wright to run the program. On the girls’ side, sophomore Ally Hoff, junior Delaynah Leavitt and senior Laura Sundstrom all scored for the Eagles at the state meet in Thetford, and senior Harmony Taggart also ran at the championship meet. Crum expects Hoff and Leavitt to lead the way again. “Delaynah Leavitt has been running really strong with Ally Hoff. In our speed work those are the two girls who have been coming in neck and neck,” he said. “Their very friendly rivalry will really help both of them excel to run some PRs this year.” Crum said Taggart was emerging as a leader in the preseason. “(She) has shown really strong leadership skills on the team,” he
said. “I really think Harmony is going to turn out to be a strong leader this year.” While it was early to say who else might end up running for the sevenmember varsity team, Crum said he was eyeing hard-working freshmen Claire Holloway and Cora Funke. “We have so many 9th- and 10thgrade girls who are kind of new to the sport, but definitely have the potential to step up,” he said. Returning state-meet scorers for the Eagle boys are junior Jude Bunch, senior Lyn Ackert-Smith and junior Andrew Raymond, while junior Peter Foley and sophomore Aidan May also ran at Thetford. Senior Eliot Brett ran well last fall, Crum said, but missed the state meet, and is looking good along with his fellow veterans. “My two 12th-graders, Lyn AckertSmith and Eliot Brett, are running pretty quickly this year,” Crum said. “I’m also looking for some pretty strong performances out of some of my juniors, like Jude Bunch, Peter Foley and Andrew Raymond, who ran some good times in track and were part of our varsity squad last year.” Crum noted May ran over the summer, and said freshmen and middle-
school team veterans Roman Mayer and Ross Carr made a good preseason impression. “We also have some freshmen, who were really fast last year as 8thgraders, who so far in some of our speed workouts have been pushing some of our upperclassmen,” he said. “I really hand it to the work ethic of those two freshmen.” Crum noted the Eagle team is still young overall, and will probably this year focus on long-term goals. “We have a great group of kids
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coming out. As always on our team, I think that improvement throughout the year will be really important for us to focus on, and bringing up some of our younger runners to reach their full potential and possibly fill some of our varsity spots over the next couple of years,” he said. “We’re always focusing on those goals, setting those goals and achieving those goals, and teaching running athleticism and a healthy lifestyle. That is always important to us on this team.”
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