Cosmos football game Saturday

Call them the Phoenix, because Springfield football will play again in 2012.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20121011/SPORTS03/710119930

Published October 11, 2012 in the Rutland Herald Solons, Cosmos to play Saturday afternoon By Anna Grearson staff writer Call them the Phoenix, because Springfield football will play again in 2012. The Cosmos, along with Montpelier, North Country and Woodstock, pulled off a rare four-team schedule switch for this weekend and will face fellow winless program Montpelier at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. Undefeated Woodstock (6-0 in league play, 6-0 overall) will host North Country (0-5 in league play, 0-6 overall) Friday night at 7 p.m. Montpelier was to have played Woodstock while North Country was going to pick up a forfeit win by virtue of Springfield cancelling its varsity season because of a lack of numbers. “Having a tough season this year, I think it was a great opportunity for both of our student-athletes to compete at an appropriate level,” Springfield athletic director Joe Brown said. “They’ve got permission from VPA to have seniors play at JV level,” Montpelier head coach John Murphy said. “It’s been a struggle all year, my seniors have been out with injuries, hopefully it will be a good, competitive game.” According to Vermont Principals’ Association associate executive director Bob Johnson, the four schools issued a proposal to the Vermont Interscholastic Football League — the governing body of Vermont high school football — and the executive committee voted on and approved the switch at the end of last week. The requested originated in Springfield, Johnson said. “With the situation we’re in, it’s been a good one,” Brown said. “We’ve made the best of it, things have fallen into place, and we’ve gotten a lot of support in the community and the surrounding area with other ADs trying to work with me to get a schedule put together that would be appropriate but that does not forget about the seniors.” Springfield has five seniors who have seen sporadic playing time. “Some games they haven’t been able to play, other schools wouldn’t allow it,” Brown said. “When they play it’s at a very limited role, with one or two out there or just playing defense. We haven’t put out all our seniors, we’re trying to get our younger players the experience and develop them.” Montpelier has also struggled with numbers and elected to forfeit a game against Poultney on Sept. 14 because only 17 players were healthy enough to start the game and three of those 17 would’ve played with injuries. The plight of both the Division III Solons and the Division II Cosmos got the ball rolling for the switch. “When we forfeited against Poultney, the Monday or Tuesday after the Woodstock athletic director called our AD inquiring about our prognosis,” Murphy said. “They had an opportunity for a league game against North Country. I’m a competitor, a fighter, I’m not going to give up, and I didn’t want to look ahead to Woodstock. But after the Winooski game (on Oct. 5), the same question arised, and I thought about it, talked to my coaches, and my scout went down to Woodstock again. They’re killing really good teams. They’re phenomenal right now. So I said we shouldn’t play them in the interest of morale for my team. Springfield was in the loop playing a JV program, they were excited to play a struggling team like us, they really wanted to play a varsity-level game.” Both games will count in the standings for three of the four teams. The result will not count for Springfield after already forfeiting the season. “Even though Springfield had to fold their season with a lack of numbers, I said to our guys, ‘Look around, we had 16 guys at practice (Monday).’ We can’t take them for granted. It’ll be a good experience for us to jump up a division. Some of the (Springfield) seniors played at the Division II level last year, and they’re going to bring that to this game. It’d be great to get a ‘W.’” Montpelier and Springfield were not scheduled to meet during the regular season, and Montpelier is taking the opportunity to work on its own game. “Not at all,” Murphy said when asked if his scout had seen Springfield this year. “My scout is great, he loves going to see what we’ve got coming up. But we’re excited to see what happens without a scout. We’re focused on us, we’re getting pumped up and ready for our game, executing what we have to do on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.” Springfield, too, is looking forward to the game after winning all but one of its JV games so far this season. The one loss was by one point to Bellows Falls. “They’re really excited, especially the seniors and juniors,” Brown said. “It’s been a huge hardship on our team... We’re a really young team, and I really want to praise the seniors for sacrificng their season and having the attitude they’ve had so far this season. I want to continue to work to try to find an opportunity for them to compete at a high level.” Springfield will play another struggling program, Fall Mountain Regional High School of Langdon, N.H., on Oct. 19 under the lights in Springfield. The Wildcats are in their second straight season of playing a JV schedule with upperclassmen on the roster. But Brown is hopeful the Cosmos will return to a varsity schedule in 2013. “That’s the plan,” he said. “If everyone comes out next year and we can have a good eighth grade class and pick up a few other kids, plus going to Division III could make more kids come out.”