Redhawks sting Hornets to start football season 2-0 and ranked No. 1
Champlain Valley Union High’s game at Essex High this past Friday, Sept. 6, didn’t start the way its season opener against Hartford went the weekend before.
This time the Redhawks didn’t score right off the bat to start the game. This time it took CVU seven plays and about three and half minutes to get on the scoreboard. After that it was Katy, bar the door.
After receiving the opening kickoff, the Redhawks marched the ball down the field with alternating passing and running plays that resulted in three first downs in a row.
Champlain Valley dominated Essex High this past Friday, taking a 52-13 win and setting up a matchup of unbeatens at Colchester at 4 p.m. this coming Friday.
After the third first down, the Hornets managed to stop the Redhawks to set up CVU’s first fourth down. The Redhawks decided to go for it. However, Essex was called for an offside penalty, and the Redhawks had another first down.
On the ensuing play, sophomore quarterback Orion Yates lofted an 18-yard pass to Dylan Terricciano, giving CVU a 7-0 lead.
“That was a pretty good opening drive,” opined coach Rahn Fleming on the sideline, with a flair for understatement.
As the stands filled prior to the game’s start, TV crews were promoting the upcoming game live. Two announcers from one station were having an on-air discussion about whether the CVU-Essex matchup was the game of the night or the game of the week, eventually agreeing that it was going to be quite a contest.
It didn’t turn out to be the kind of a game they were predicting, as Champlain Valley rolled to a 33-0 lead by halftime. In the second half, Essex managed two scores, but unfortunately for the Hornets, the Redhawks were still scoring, coasting to a 52-13 win and a No. 1 ranking in Division 1.
On the CVU sidelines, the players could be heard muttering about a newspaper poll where eight of 10 sports prognosticators picked Essex to win this game, possibly swayed more by the Hornets’ 49-13 dismantling of St. Johnsbury than the Redhawks’ opening weekend 17-0 shutout of Hartford.
This Friday, Champlain Valley travels to No. 1 ranked in Division 2 Colchester High which is also 2-0. Please note: Initially planned as an evening matchup, this game’s starting time has been moved to 4 p.m. because of the threat of mosquitos carrying eastern equine encephalitis, which are more prevalent after 6 p.m.
On Essex’s first possession of the game, it fumbled, and CVU senior Lucas Almena-Lee recovered on the 20-yard line. The Redhawks proceeded to march the ball down the field, converting on a pair of fourth downs. On the second fourth-down attempt, Yates found Dylan Frere for a 1-yard scoring pass with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.
Starting on the 10-yard line on its second possession of the game, Essex felt the heat of CVU’s vaunted defense, losing ground on successive plays. On third down, junior Stuart Allard of Charlotte led a pack of defenders in tackling running back Ethan Hemingway in the end zone for a touchback and putting CVU up 16-0 with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter.
That wasn’t it for the Redhawks’ offense in the opening frame. With 1:28 remaining in the first, Yates found Billy Bates for a 24-yard scoring pass that made the score 23-0.
A little over three minutes into the second quarter, CVU was stopped at the 7-yard line and opted to try for a field goal. Alex Jovell delivered, kicking it home for a 26-0 lead.
Fleming is amazed at how well his sophomore kicker has been doing and has come up with a nickname to celebrate Jovell’s dependability with the ball on his foot, saying, “I didn’t even know he could kick a football, and now he’s ‘Captain Reliable.’”
At the 4:39 mark, Yates connected with senior George Taylor. After another successful Jovell extra point, CVU had the 33-0 lead that the team took into halftime.
Three minutes into the third, Terricciano notched his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 2-yard run.
Essex finally got on the board, but missed the extra point to make the score 39-6. If the Hornets got any optimism from that score, it was short-lived because Bates returned the kickoff for a TD, and the Redhawks were ahead 46-6.
After another touchdown and a missed extra point, the Redhawks were on top 52-6, but the Hornets did manage another touchdown for the final 52-13 margin.
In his second start behind center, Yates was even more poised than in the season opener, throwing touchdown passes to four different receivers. And he also shone on defense. Playing at outside linebacker, he knocked the ball back on a sack, putting Essex within the 10-yard line.
Fleming said that before Yates got to CVU, he noticed his size. Because of his stature, Yates had always played offensive line in youth football.
“I remember looking at him and going, ‘You ever throw a football?’ He grinned from ear to ear and goes, ‘I’ve always wanted to.’ I said, ‘Let’s get you throwing the ball,’” Fleming said.
After this conversation, assistant coach Chris Destito took Yates under his wing and worked with him on quarterback drills for the last part of the summer before he got to high school.
The one downside to CVU’s play was the number of penalties the team committed.
“I told the team, ‘We were our own worst enemy,” Fleming said. “We’re not going to be able to get away with that in a more competitive game.”
The team is working on “wrapping ferocity in discipline. Ferocity comes naturally. That comes from the kids’ hearts,” the coach said. “The discipline we have to teach.”