Redhawks Outlast North Country Falcons

By Joe Cribari

There’s no place like home. Suspense was the theme of the day as the Redhawks squeaked past the North Country Falcons 25-22 in Saturday’s home game.

Fueled by the return of Konnor Fleming at quarterback, CVU was able to come through with the win on a beautiful early fall day in Hinesburg. The fans were out in force once again, chanting, cheering and enjoying a great afternoon of football. These football Redhawks are for real and so are their fans.

Taylor Gingras caught the pass with 2:10 left in the game that put the Redhawks ahead for good. Fleming scrambled for the 2-point after touchdown conversion to top it off.

This was a better team than the one the Redhawks readily beat 21-14 last season on a frigid October night up in Newport. These 2010 Falcons came out fast, with a flock of quick, slippery runners led by Nick LeClair. These Falcons chewed up yardage to the frustration of the Redhawks defense.

The Redhawks defense, however, would not back down. Assistant Coach Kevin McCarthy described the Falcons as “one of the best option teams in the state.”

“We stepped up when we needed to. Drew Nick (linebacker) played phenomenally. Our defense gave the offense one more chance, and that was all we needed,” McCarthy said.

Along with Nick (who had a sack), defensive players Derek Goodwin, Eric Palmer, Ryan Nakhleh, Cameron Fitzgerald, Tyler Barnes, Ryan Fleming and his brother Konnor came through when they needed to.

The Redhawks scoring came on three beautiful pass plays by Fleming. Konnor’s first TD pass was to sophomore Ryan Beaudry in the 2nd quarter. Beaudry also made some plays on defense, having stopped one of the Falcons 2-point conversion attempts. Sophomore Tyler Barnes grabbed the next touchdown pass mid 4th quarter – Tyler made a spectacular dive at the post for this score. The final score (the ‘one more chance’) was a 50-yard pass play to Gingras late in the game. The remaining points were on Fleming’s 2-point conversion following the Gingras touchdown, a pair of point-after-touchdown kicks by Tucker Kohlasch, and a Kohlasch Field Goal from the 23 yard line as the clock ran out on the first half of play.

North Country’s three touchdowns came on the feet of Nick LeClair. Quarterback Tre Sanville scored one 2-point conversion on a keeper and one with a pass to Taylor Miller.

This was a hard fought, nail-biter. Fans were on the edge of their seats for much of the game as neither team gained a significant lead. When Dale Conger and the rest of the Redhawks defense stopped LeClair and the Falcons on a 4th and 2 with 3:53 remaining in the game, the excitement and tension peaked. The Redhawks were behind by 5 points. CVU’s offense returned to the field. The ball was snapped, the offensive line held, Konnor had time, Taylor made his hard fought run down field and pulled in that winning score.

It was not over yet. CVU was ahead now, but the margin was only 3 points. Tension and suspense pressed on everyone present. North Country had the ball one more time – one more chance for that option to work. With less than 1 minute to go, on a 1st and 10 on the CVU 38 yard line, the Falcons instead went to the air. Konnor Fleming picked off the pass and it was over for North Country.

The Redhawks are home again next week, facing the Mount Mansfield Cougars (1-2 overall; 0-2 DIV II) on Saturday September 25th at 1:00 P.M. CVU beat the Cougars in the semifinals last year. A pumped up Redhawks crowd may be the 12th man needed for this re-match.