Redhawks Finish Regular Season with Crushing Win

By Joe Cribari

CVU’s varsity football Redhawks dismantled the U-32 High School Raiders in a decisive 33-0 victory Saturday in Hinesburg. It was a perfect end to the regular season. Supported by its enthusiastic fans and cheerleaders, this game was almost a continuation of the prior week’s victory in Milton; but with added intensity by the Redhawks. Offense, defense and special teams all executed well. Every player contributed.

A chilly, rainy day on a wet, muddy field, this was a game that gave Redhawks fans a lot to cheer about -- and a lot to cringe about. Konnor Fleming and Taylor Gingras took big, midair hits, thrown through the air, flipped and muddied – and sprung back up as if it were nothing. J.P. Benoit, while blocking on a wild second half punt return, flipped an opponent in midair in dramatic fashion, as Tyler Barnes advanced the ball to howls of approval from the Redhawks side of the field.

The Redhawks defense shut down and shut out an opponent for the second consecutive week. “Ten straight quarters,” came the correction from a proud Assistant Coach Kevin McCarthy, “Starting with the second half of the Colchester game.” “I challenged them to [shut out opponents], and they did it,” McCarthy said. “We had a great game plan, and it makes me proud to see them execute so well, with passion and excitement.”

The Raiders’ trouble began on their first possession, starting on their own six-yard line thanks to a beautiful 43-yard punt by Cameron Fitzgerald. U-32 went three and out. The ensuing Raiders punt was blocked and recovered in the end zone by none other than Fitzgerald. CVU went up 6-0 only 2:38 into the game. Another U-32 punt early in the second quarter that Ryan Fleming blocked and Ryan Beaudry recovered set up another Redhawks score. After handing off to J.P. Benoit on first down, quarterback-turned-lead-blocker Konnor Fleming plowed down and scattered aside defenders for 25 yards as J.P. ran unimpeded behind him for the touchdown.

Adding to the excitement was the tough tackling of sophomore Michael Fournier who, along with his fellow defensemen, helped make life miserable for U-32’s offense. Fitzgerald, Dale Conger, Dylan Raymond, Tyler Barnes, Konnor Fleming, Michael Fuller, Eric Palmer, Ian Solomon, Taylor Gingras, Matt Bauer, Joe Kaszubowski, Johnny Curtis, Brendan Davitt, Ryan Nakhleh, Derek Goodwin and Nick Meunier, to name a few, all got their hands dirty. Add to that list Ryan Fleming, whose interception with four minutes remaining secured the shut out for CVU.

The Redhawks defense had a lot of help from the offense. Anchored by that solid wall of a line, CVU’s offense moved the ball methodically, eating up the clock. Along with Fitzgerald’s and Benoit’s scores, CVU scored two one-yard touchdowns on the legs of Derek Goodwin. Tyler Barnes put the icing on late in the game on a 13-yard touchdown run. Tucker Kohlasch rounded out the scoring with three extra point kicks.

Barnes, Goodwin, Benoit, Jeff Palmer and Konnor Fleming all had success running the ball. Some of Konnor’s runs were option or bootleg plays; the senior quarterback slithered, wriggled and muscled his way around, over and through discouraged Raider defensemen. Barnes was an animal as usual, and it was his 40 yard run halfway through the first quarter that helped set up the Redhawks’ second score.

It was senior day for the Redhawks. The 12th Grade players and their parents were honored prior to kickoff, each player handing his mother a red rose and his father a red Gatorade. After the photos and Hinesburg Community School 7th grader Cooper Bouchard’s rendition of the National Anthem, the Redhawks got down to business.

CVU now heads into post-season play. The Redhawks host their first ever home playoff game next Saturday November 6, 2010 against the Rice Memorial High School Green Knights, who will be looking for a battle. CVU handed Rice its only loss of the season. It is one more game – one more step on the way to the ultimate prize the Redhawks hope to achieve - a State Championship.

“We’re getting better each week,” Coach McCarthy said. That momentum is tangible. The team is living the sentiment we have heard so often from Head Coach Jim Provost: “We didn’t come this far just to come this far.”

The senior players all deserve recognition for their leadership, athleticism, sportsmanship and contributions to the team every day. Although only 11 players take the field at a time, these young men are all part of the effort that has brought the football Redhawks to the respectable position they now hold at CVU and in the state of Vermont. We should be very proud of each of them and wish them success in their time remaining in high school and beyond. The senior players are: #8 Kyle Vatis, #10 Konnor Fleming, #11 Matt Bauer, #15 Jesse Duke, #18 Ian Solomon, #21 J.P. Benoit, #23 Jeffrey Palmer, #28 Derek Goodwin, #29 Nick Meunier, #30 Eric Palmer, #31 Alex Bonfigli, #32 Kevin Lambert, #40 John Curtis, #42 Evan Sturtevant, #54 Joe Kaszubowski, #55 Crawford Morris, #56 Cameron Fitzgerald, #57 Dale Conger, #58 T.J. Schmoker, #72 Michael Cribari, #79 Mike Fuller, #84 Ryan Nakhleh and #88 Taylor Gingras.