Woodstock stays undefeated, tops Springfield

The Wasps boys have size, speed, depth, shooters and play tough defense. It’s what they don’t have that motivates them.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150117/SPORTS02/701179893

Published January 17, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Woodstock stays undefeated, tops Springfield By BOB FREDETTE STAFF WRITER WOODSTOCK — The Wasps boys have size, speed, depth, shooters and play tough defense. It’s what they don’t have that motivates them. Woodstock is stalking another trip to the Barre Auditorium these frigid winter evenings and Friday’s 58-28 Marble Valley League victory over Springfield was just another step in the road. Woodstock remained perfect at 11-0 and heads the race to the top seed in Division II after last season ended with a semifinals loss to Lyndon in Barre. “We’re really doing a good job at staying focused at practice,” Connor Fegard said after scoring 12 points to lead a balanced Wasp effort. “Everyone knows we want to get back to the Aud and do something special this year.” Kurt Ryder and Dylan McDonough added 10 points each, and Hunter McDonough added eight more for Woodstock. The Wasps rolled along to their second win over the Cosmos, who are mired in a five-game losing string and took the floor without one of their leaders, Justin Gomez. That made things tougher against a Woodstock team that made every Springfield foray inside an adventure and ran the floor with confidence. It was 18-7 after a period and 32-12 at the half. The only highlight for the 3-7 Cosmos before the break was Ed Shambo’s court-length 3-pointer that beat the first-period buzzer. Josh Rivers led Springfield with eight points. Woodstock’s bigs — Fegard, Chris Townley and Nehemiah Wood — played a big role in upsetting the Cosmos’ plans with several blocks in the first half and 17 of the Cosmos’ 33 turnovers unleashed the Wasps running game. When they weren’t getting rainbow-jumper scoring from Fegard or back-to-back 3s from Dylan McDonough, they were racking up 12 first-half points in transition. The Cosmos are stuck in the middle of a tough stretch but coach Tim MacDowell said they’re keeping their heads up. “I think we just have to be more consistent,” he said. “I thought our effort was better tonight than it was at Oxbow but (Woodstock is) a great team.” This Woodstock group has been together for some time and at one point coach Jeff Thomas took some players to Barre because they didn’t even know the Aud existed. They were a one-and-done playoff team two years ago and last year won two tournament games to climb the hill with their uniforms in tow. This year they want to climb the hill twice. “It’s kind of bugging us,” Thomas said. “We’d like to go a little further this year and that’s what keeps us motivated.” They know where the Aud is now and are keeping their eye on the prize.