Redhawks score touchdown to start first game, go on to shut out Hartford
The Champlain Valley Union football team started the 2024 season the way it wanted to, and it only took them two plays to do it.
On Saturday, Aug. 31, against visiting Hartford, Nolan Walpole took a handoff from Orion Yates and scampered 51 yards for a touchdown.
The season was less than a minute old, and the Redhawks had a 7-0 lead over the Hurricanes.
Yates, a sophomore, was starting his first game behind center, and he was already at the helm with a lead. It didn’t appear that Yates was suffering from any butterflies, but if he had been, this start was a good way to settle his nerves.
Nolan Walpole scored twice in Champlain Valley’s season-opening win over Hartford High.
Walpole added another touchdown at the end of the half.
With 28 seconds remaining in the game, Alex Jovell kicked a 25-yard field goal to complete CVU’s 17-0 shutout of the Hurricanes.
Afterward, Yates appeared confident but not cocky, taking responsibility for some communication mishaps.
“It was on me,” he said. “That will all be fixed. That’s what we’re going to practice on.”
He felt the Redhawks had an almost even mix of running to passing plays and is confident of his team’s abilities with either throwing or rushing the ball.
Coach Rahn Fleming said Hartford was as good and strong as the Redhawks had expected.
“Hartford’s a doggone good football team. They’re big; they’re strong; they’re blue collar,” he said.
Fleming was proud of the way his team handled themselves against the team that came in second in the state last year. Hartford fell to state champions Burr and Burton by a touchdown in the title game.
“We just stayed in the middle of the ring and traded punches on defense,” Fleming said. “It was pretty good for week one.”
The coach was proud of the way his team played in the trenches and gave credit for Walpole’s first score to his offensive line, singling out seniors Caleb Scrodin, Josh Quad and Sean Kennedy as the ones who really scored that touchdown by opening a hole in Harftord’s line.
Fleming also had props for Quad for recovering a Hurricane fumble to end the game.
Redhawks’ coaches praised the defensive play of Lucas Almena-Lee. Especially during the first half, it seemed as if the linebacker’s name was being called out by the announcer on almost every tackle.
The Redhawks also won the game on special teams. Its kicking and long snapping outshone Hartford’s.
Assistant coach in charge of special teams Sam Fontaine commended his Redhawks’ play on special teams. He credited that to the players practicing kicking without having to be encouraged to do so.
Fontaine said the Redhawks didn’t make many mental errors, adding, “So, mission accomplished. Now, on to Essex.”
That game will be at 7 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 6, at Essex High. It will be a good bellwether of how strong the Redhawks might be this year. Essex took a 49-13 win over St. Johnsbury on Friday night to open its season.
Essex could be considered CVU’s biggest rival, particularly in recent years. Last year, the Redhawks deftly handled the Hornets in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, laying a 45-0 shellacking on Essex.
In 2022, Champlain Valley knocked Essex out of the semifinals 49-24 on the way to the Redhawks’ sole state title, a 24-19 win over Middlebury.
In the 2021 state championship, Essex downed the Redhawks 21-19 to win the state Division 1 tournament.