As February begins, coaches start to take a closer look at the state rankings and potential playoff seats. This week, we have some great matchups to look at. First up is a Division IV game in Danville as the Bears take on Richford in boys action. Richford came into the game ranked sixth in the state, and Danville was ranked eighth. The game looked like it should be a good match-up on paper, and it did not disappoint. At the end of the first, the score was 12-11 in favor of the Bears. Both teams played tough man defense, and both teams had their moments of good defense and offensive runs. By the half, it was all knotted up at 27 points each. Danville outscored Richford in the third 15-7, after Richford got into some foul trouble, and that was all the daylight Danville needed as they improved their record to 7-6 with a 59-46 win. High scorers for Danville were Landon Fournier, 16 points and 7 rebounds, and Sebastian Eldred, who finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds.

On Thursday night, the BMU boys traveled to Oxbow. Oxbow is ranked tenth in Vermont's Division III, and the Bucks are thirteenth in Division IV. Oxbow won the tap, and everything else went their way from that point on. At the half, Oxbow led 41-17. BMU suffered from turnovers early in the game, which, combined with the much quicker Oxbow slipping by BMU’s man defense. At the final buzzer, it was Oxbow 55, BMU 34. Blue Mountains' high scorer was Landon Houle with nine second-half points. Oxbow’s Jayden Huntoon led all scorers with 12, and Kobin Ellsworth was the player of the game with 10 points and some feisty defense.

In a Friday night New Hampshire showdown, the Littleton Crusaders traveled west down Route 302 to take on Woodsville in a boy/girl double-header. The Lady Engineers defeated Littleton earlier in the year giving them one of only two losses this season. Littleton came into the game with a plan to shut Mikayla Walker down, they played a box and one type of defense and held Walker to just three points in this game. Katie Houston stepped up big finishing with 17 points. The engineers kept it close and at the end of the third quarter the score was 35-32 Littleton. Littleton had a good fourth and, in the end, won it 43-38. Likewise, the boys game was competitive. Littleton had only one loss on the season and was ranked first in Division IV, but Woodsville played a strong first half and went into the locker room down by 4 points (28-32). Littleton played a strong fourth quarter, holding Woodsville to only 1 point in that quarter, and the Crusaders went home with a 52-37 win. Ryan Walker led all scorers with 19 points.
That’s this week’s Inside the Huddle with Robin Wozny. Thanks to Walker Motor Sales, a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram dealership—learn more at walkermotor.net.


Robin Wozny

Have a story?