Vermont finally snaps Shrine losing streak

CASTLETON – Vermont scored on its fourth play. New Hampshire fumbled the ball away on its second.

Vermont’s Ryan Alexander tossed five touchdown passes by halftime. New Hampshire punted five times through the opening two quarters.

It was all Vermont at the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl. When’s the last time those words were uttered?

Taking a sledgehammer to a 15-game losing streak to New Hampshire, the Green Mountain State rolled to a 50-2 victory at Castleton University’s Spartan Stadium on Saturday night.

It was the largest margin of victory in the game’s 63-year history.

Alexander, the star quarterback from Fair Haven, finished with 148 yards and five TDs through the air and ran for 63 more on the ground, while receivers Lucas Czarnecki (four catches, 82 yards, three TDs) and Connor Plante (5-46-2) proved daunting matchups as Vermont raced out to a 36-0 halftime lead and racked up 331 yards on offense to seize its first win since the 2000 shootout.

And the Green Mountain defense, thanks to a bevy of heavy hits and a disciplined approach, recorded five sacks, forced two fumbles and picked off three New Hampshire passes.

But losing streaks and records aside, Vermont put its focus on one simple truth: Both teams entered this year’s all-star game at 0-0.

“The 15 games before us had nothing to do with us, had nothing to do with them,” Alexander said. “We came out to compete and that’s what we did.

“We started our own streak.”

That mantra was echoed by Alexander’s teammates and his Fair Haven coach, Brian Grady, who last led Vermont to a Shrine win.

“I didn’t want these guys to feel pressure to end the streak,” said Grady, Vermont’s coach. “It was how about we focus on starting our own streak? That’s what we talked about — we talked about it all week, talked about it at halftime. You are not 0-15 vs. New Hampshire, you are 0-0. So, I guess, we did.”

Middlebury’s Nick Beauchamp: “You have one game, one chance to do it right.”

Vermont set a devastating, early tone.

Fair Haven’s Czarnecki returned the opening kickoff 39 yards to set up a short field for Vermont. After scrambling for 13 yards for a first down, Alexander lofted a 37-yard touchdown pass to Czarnecki down the Vermont sideline.

“It’s all about momentum, it’s all about drive,” Plante said. “That first touchdown, four plays in, we just had a mindset of that’s what we can do — and we stuck to it.

Grady: “The whole team erupted and I think we got a ton of confidence.”

Then on New Hampshire’s first drive, a ramped-up Vermont defense flashed its own quick-strike capabilities.

Milton’s Kyle Apgar, from the blindside, sacked New Hampshire quarterback Stephen Hedberg. Perhaps rattled, Hedberg’s wobbly exchange with his running back on the ensuing play was punched loose by Beauchamp for a Vermont recovery.

Vermont failed to reach the end zone — Rutland’s Andy Kenosh booted a 22-yard field goal — but the message had been sent: The Green Mountain State seniors were here to win.

“I think that set the tone and, after that, you have to maintain that,” Beauchamp said.

New Hampshire had a golden opportunity to slice into the lead when Nick Brothers blocked a Kenosh punt midway through the first quarter. But Vermont stonewalled a potential touchdown and New Hampshire then missed a chip shot field goal to come away with no points.

The opening quarter came to a close with an Alexander-led scoring drive.

The lefty gunslinger found Milton’s Ian Kandzior over the middle for a key first down on a third and 14 connection. Alexander then hit Plante for a big gain, scooted for a first-down run and capped the drive with a 7-yard TD strike to Rutland’s Cam Slade for a 16-0 advantage.

New Hampshire continued to back-pedal in the second quarter. A Kenosh 47-yard punt pinned New Hampshire at its 5-yard line. A drive failed to materialize — thanks to Hartford’s Justin Pero and Brattleboro’s Alex Harrison teaming up for a sack on a third-down pass — and Vermont pounced on offense again.

On third and 8 from the 14-yard line, Alexander floated a rainbow to his favorite Fair Haven target, Czarnecki, for a 14-yard score and 23-0 lead with 6:11 left in the second quarter.

On its next possession, Vermont converted a fourth-down play and then polished off an 8-play, 40-yard drive with Alexander finding Plante screeching across the end zone for a 10-yard TD.

Vermont slipped in another touchdown with 25.2 seconds left in the half — Colchester’s Dakota Navari set it up with a second straight long punt return — with Alexander and Plante hooking up again on an identical play call from 8 yards out.

“We went out with one goal and that’s to have fun and make a statement that Vermont can still compete with New Hampshire,” Alexander said.

Kenosh tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter — to Czarnecki for 11 yards; to Rutland teammate Austin O’Gorman for 34 yards — to balloon Vermont’s advantage to 50-0.

Although New Hampshire got on the scoreboard with a fourth-quarter safety, the Granite State went 0 for 3 in the red zone. New Hampshire, with many of its best players opting instead for their state’s East-West game from earlier this summer, hold the all-time series edge over Vermont 47-14-2.

While many expected Vermont to have a chance, Saturday’s rout was still a surprise.

“We didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, but from Day 1, it was to work hard and to sacrifice for the team,” Plante said.

Harrison (10 tackles, one sack), Beauchamp (eight tackles, .5 sack), Apgar (seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble) and Pero (six tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble) led Vermont’s defense. Bellows Falls’ Zach Streeter, Mount Mansfield’s Dominic Mosca and Brattleboro’s Taylor King each snagged interceptions.

New Hampshire had -44 net rushing yards and finished with 163 yards of total offense.

“As an offensive player, it is the most revealing thing when you know, no matter what, your defense is going to hold them to nothing,” Plante said. “It was clear from the first half on that our defense was going to dominate.”

This story was originally published on Aug. 6, 2016. Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aabrami5