A showdown between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks went on display in Foxboro last night, and in the end it was the five-time super bowl winner coming away with the victory as the New England Patriots topped the Green Bay Packers 31-17 in the first match up between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers since 2014.
The game was tied at 17 in the third quarter when the Packers' Aaron Jones fumbled a ball that was recovered by the Pats at their own 24, and those are the kind of errors Bill Belichick's teams feast upon. The biggest play of the ensuing drive was a bit of trickery with Brady throwing behind the line of scrimmage to wide receiver Julian Edelman, who played quarterback in college and proved it by throwing a perfect pass back across the field about a yard ahead to James White, who then had a full screen of blockers in front of him as he raced down the sideline, taking the ball down to the Green Bay two. White ran it in himself a short time later for a lead the Pats would not give up.
New England also got creative due to the losses of tight end Rob Gronkowski and rookie running back Sony Michel, both out with injuries. The Pats used wide receiver Codarelle Patterson at running back and he finished with 61 yards rushing and a touchdown, and Josh Gordon is starting to turn his career around, taking advantage of his trade from Cleveland by grabbing a Brady pass and shaking of a defender for a 55-yard touchdown, while finishing the night with an impressive 130 yards on five passes. Brady ended the night with 294 yards through the air and the TD to Gordon, while Rodgers threw for two scores but couldn't rally the Pack, who fall to 3-4-1 while the Pats improve to 7-2 and have now won six in a row.
The NY Rangers got two goals from Jimmy Vesey and a 39-save effort from Henrik Lundqvist and beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at Madison Square Garden last night.
CVU finished off a perfect wire to wire undefeated season, capturing the girl's division one high school soccer championship Saturday with a 1-0 win over Colchester. Catherine Gilwee tallied the only goal of the game with a header in the 47th minute, and the Redhawks clamped down on defense the rest of the way to finish the season with 17 wins and no losses and the state title.
Not to be outdone, the CVU boy's team also took the D-1 crown, rallying from a one goal first half deficit to beat St. Johnsbury 4-1. It's the 18th state title for the Redhawks and their first since 2012.
In Field Hockey, Bellows Falls can now can lay claim to state title in three different divisions. When the Terriers were a division three squad they won state championships in 2015 and 2016, captured another crown the following year when they moved up to division two, and completed the three division hat trick by defeating South Burlington 2-0 Saturday to grab the school's first division one state title.
Emma Lober had an outstanding game in goal for the Terriers, stopping 17 South Burlington shots on goal. Madison Streeter and Maya Waryas scored for Bellows Fall to finish off a perfect 17-0 season.
In college men's soccer, the UVM Catamounts were knocked out of the America East quarterfinals Saturday, falling to UMBC on penalty kicks after ending regulation play and overtime tied at one. Jonathan Bryant scored in regulation for UVM, who finish the season with a winning record of 11-7-1 but without a chance to advance further in the NCAA playoffs.
Finally, it's hard to believe this is only the first time he's won it, but Boston Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. has finally snagged a Gold Glove award for his astonishing prowess tracking down balls in Fenway Park and in ball parks around the league. His teammate Mookie Betts won the award for a third straight year as the best defensive right fielder in the game.
