VT HS football: Colchester's Perry hits coaching milestone; CVU embarks on title defense
As part of our annual kickoff to the Vermont high school football season, the Free Press headed out to the first day of preseason practices.
This season, in myriad of alterations, we checked-in with two playoff teams from a year ago in Colchester and Champlain Valley. Both programs are in the newly minted Metro League, while CVU remains in Division I and Colchester in D-II.
"I'm excited for this group," Colchester coach Tom Perry said. "These seniors like to work hard. Nobody likes to coast, nobody likes to hang out. They just want to come here and go to work."
For a closer look at how Day 1 went for Champlain Valley and Colchester, read on.
Coach Perry crosses two decades with Colchester
Colchester football took the practice field early on the Opening Day of Vermont high school football.
The Lakers strapped up helmets at 9 a.m. on Monday as their longtime leader, Tom Perry, enters his 20th season leading the program.
“It's great, it just means I'm still having fun,” Perry, who also coaches the Laker baseball team. “We introduced our coaches to the parents last night and half of us have all been here the same 20 (years). Everybody stayed, that speaks to how much fun it is, that speaks to the joy that we have doing it and trying to build a little success here over the years.”
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Colchester has a handful of alums on the coaching staff this season, including 2019 graduate and Free Press’ all-state return man Bailey Olson.
“They cared about the experience, they enjoyed a whole bunch of it,” Perry said. “And now they want to be here with us.
“All of these memories that we all had, if we played sports in high school, it means something to them. So, we're really looking forward to having these guys back.”
Colchester has a roster in the mid-50s, similar to last season, to start the year after losing about a dozen seniors. Returning to the roster is last year’s starting quarterback Jordan Lavoie.
“It's kind of a catch-22 because if you have a ton (of players), especially younger ones, you’ve got to find a way to get them on the field,” Perry said. “We'd like to have 40 on the varsity roster, that'd be great, but it's not realistic for us.”
As the state’s schedule battles the official shortage, Colchester opens the season on Thursday, Aug. 31 at U-32. Thursday night games will be commonplace this fall as teams will be flexible with the new schedule.
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Earlier this summer Vermont Football Officials Association northern commissioner Bryan Fortier said in an email to the Free Press that the north had eight confirmed new officials with four retiring this past winter. Fortier said he was “very excited about this year's crop of new officials.”
“We definitely embrace the idea that we're gonna play on some Thursdays,” Perry said. “The kids know the schedule already.”
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Colchester is the only D-II team in the Metro League that consists of BFA-St. Albans, Burlington/South Burlington, Champlain Valley, Essex and St. Johnsbury. If any losses occur against a higher division this year, the lower-ranked teams will still be awarded points toward playoffs for those games.
“It's gonna be fun,” Perry said. “We’ve told the guys, everybody has seen our schedule and I said we are looking at this now as an opportunity.”
CVU prepares for program's first title defense
With warm-ups already underway Monday afternoon, Rahn Fleming remained stuck in the parking lot, handing out helmets to a batch of newcomers. Nine additional players showed up — a pleasant surprise — to give the Redhawks more than 60 faces for the first day of preseason.
"You win a state championship and everybody wants to be a part of it," said CVU's fifth-year head coach who steered the Redhawks to the school's first state title last fall.
Fleming's comment was part tongue-in-cheek. But there's a quiet confidence for a program that has a chance to reload and chase another Division I title. CVU brings back around 20 veterans, including quarterback Ollie Cheer, and must find a way to replace a strong senior class and several stars who left for prep school.
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"Every time you rest on your laurels, I guarantee you are going to fall down, so we are going to get after it. It's a brand new year, brand new team," Fleming said. "There's a target on our back. It’s a topic of conversation, it’s a regular reminder from the coaches, but I don’t think they need it."
Said Cheer: "We are trying to get to the same place and same game as last year. There is always pressure, but our expectation is state champion."
Top receiving threat Alex Provost, the Free Press Player of the Year, graduated, and Jack Sumner, Vermont's Gatorade award winner, Charlie Taylor and Lucien Griffin transferred out of the Hinesburg school. But Cheer, who shined under center in 2022 after incumbent starter Max Destito suffered a season-ending injury, has full belief this year's receiving group can get the job done.
"We have six really good receivers and our depth at the receiving position has gotten a lot better."
Fleming also raved about CVU's returning secondary and a core group of linemen and linebackers.
"What we did last year is in the rearview mirror. This is our year now," Fleming said.
For the first day, Cheer was just happy football was back.
"It’s fiery, man. It was a long wait since the end of the season," Cheer said. "We are super-excited to get on the field and put our helmets on and get going."
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Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter: @ByJacobRousseau.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: VT HS football: Perry crosses milestone; CVU embarks on title defense
