Bourne to win: Terriers blank Cosmos

Heavily favored Bellows Falls needed a sensational second half effort from senior Will Bourne in order to pull away from Springfield and eventually roll to a 41-0 win the annual game for “The Trophy” Thursday night.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111104/SPORTS/711049910

Published November 4, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Bourne to win: Terriers blank Cosmos

By POODY WALSH
Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD — Heavily favored Bellows Falls needed a sensational second half effort from senior Will Bourne in order to pull away from Springfield and eventually roll to a 41-0 win the annual game for “The Trophy” Thursday night at Brown Field

The Bellows Falls lead at the half was just 7-0 and BF coach Bob Lockerby would later say, “I was real worried at the time. Jack (Springfield coach Cohun) had a good game plan, but I just think we wore them down.”

Bourne, a 145-pound senior, scored four times in the second half, three on punt returns of 67, 52 and 49, and another on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Jeremy Kilburn.

“Pound for pound, Bourne is the best player in the state,” Lockerby.said “He should be running back punts in the North-South game.”

The trophy will remain in Bellows Falls, which has a 49-42 edge in the series. It closes out the Terriers' season at 5-4 while Springfield ends up at 0-9.

Bourne was the first to admit that the punt returns were instrumental in the win, but that he had a lot of help.

“I just took off and ran for daylight. I didn't open those holes. My teammates did.”

While all three of the punt returns were eye-opening, the first one of 67yards was preceded by a Tyler Francoeur block that opened the sideline for the speedster. It also turned a tight 7-0 game to 13-0 and the Terriers just kept adding to it.

Lockerby thought his team might have come into the game with a little more confidence than he would have liked.

“But I think our running game got better as our passing game began to click. And of course there was the Will Bourne Show.”

The game was scoreless through most of the first half as the Cosmos played tough on defense. However, Cooper Long broke free from the 14 with 3:44 to go in the half and Bellows Falls finally got on the scoreboard. Then after Bourne's first punt return in the second half, the score got to 19-0 on a Kilburn keeper from the 4. That was followed by Bourne's 52-yard return and 10-yard pass for a score from Kilburn to Bourne. The final tally of the game was Bourne's third punt return for a TD.

“This is their championship game,” Lockerby said as the Terriers celebrated. “They deserve it.”