Sports report – Sept. 17, 2020

It’s September and time for practices to start
Cross-country runners, soccer and field hockey players, the new-style football teams all broke the practice ice recently. To look at CVU’s array of fields and the athletes preparing their skills on each one, a person may have thought nothing was affected by the pandemic. According to Redhawk Athletic Director, Dan Shepardson, between 400 and 500 CVU students were participating. According to an interview with the Burlington Free Press, Dan said he felt it was great having them “out here getting some exercise, seeing their friends and being socially involved.”

There are some noticeable differences, however. Facemasks are prevalent on players and coaches. A major change came as the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) adopted a 7-on-7 touch format for football. This reduces the squad size by 4 players and does not allow tackling or running plays—only passing—with all linemen eligible as receivers but not blockers. The regular season will begin later this month without a scheduled post-season tournament.

Eleven- and 12-year-old Little League baseball is all Colchester
Fourteen years seems like a long time to wait, but that is what happened to Colchester’s 11/12-year-old Little League Baseball team. They finally came back to the top of the heap by beating St. Johnsbury 9-2 for the state title. St. Jay, on the other hand, was a finalist for the first time in 35 years.

The New England Regional Tournament and the Little League World Series have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.