Vermont Chapter Honors the Green Mountain State's Best and Brightest

BY TOM HALEY
Staff Writer, the Rutland Herald

CASTLETON - When CVU head football coach Jim Provost found out that his team was being moved up from Division III to Division II for the 2009 high school season, he felt as though his Redhawks were facing fourth-and-20 on their own 10-yard line while trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we would be overwhelmed," Provost said. "We didn't set the world on fire in Division III."

Yet, there was Provost accepting the award for Vermont Coach of the Year on Sunday night at the Vermont Chapter of the National Football Foundation's annual banquet held at Castleton State College. It was the culmination of a special run that saw his team win the state high school championship in November.

He went from thinking that his team might be overwhelmed to believing they could be pretty good after they defeated Middlebury in the fourth game of the season.

"Middlebury had just moved down from Division I to Division II and to me they are still Middlebury," Provost at the conclusion of the banquet. "That was when I thought we could be good."

It was quite a night for CVU as offensive/defensive end Matt Long received the Pride of Vermont Award that is given each year by Rene LaBerge, President of the Dolphins Foundation.

Long was chosen as the overall winner of the honor regardless of division. The Division I recipient was Essex's Max Librizzi and the Division III recipient Windsor's Gavin Callahan, both quarterbacks.

There were also inductees into the Vermont Chapter Hall of Game from each of the state's four college football programs. Milton's Randy Babineau was the first honoree from the new Castleton State College program. The program's inaugural captain caught 23 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and ran the ball 41 times for 154 yards and a touchdown.

Jamie Millard, who completed his career at Middlebury College with 3,333 yards of total offense, was inducted after setting a school record his senior year with 64 receptions. He had more than 100 yards receiving in five games this fall.

The inductee from Norwich was Reza Afsamanesh. Leading the Cadets in in sacks and tackles for a loss, he earned All-New England and All-ECAC honors in 2009.

Doug Deluca was the inductee from the University of Vermont club team. He was the person who brought football back to the campus, having started the process as a freshman in 2006.
Mill River Union High School lineman Alex Newton was the recipient of the Most Courageous Athlete Award. He missed all of eighth grade due to Hodgkins Lymphoma and has worked hard in the offseason to regain the strength he lost while fighting the disease. Mill River coach Art Peterson called him the team's best offensive lineman and he received Division III honorable mention status.

Norwich University's Karen McGrath received the Distinguished American Award. She is the Vice President of Enrollment and Communications.
During her speech she spoke of the importance of family and drew the parallel between football and family, talking about how football team members get one another through the difficult times.
Rice Memorial Athletic Director John Varichione received the Contribution to Amateur Athletics Award.

The Vermont Youth Football Achievement Award went to Tony Arcovitch, a youth football coach.
Arcovitch told of losing his father when he was in the fifth grade and how important Rene LaBerge, then his youth football coach, was in his life at the time.

"Rene was there for me and I was going to be there for somebody else," Arcovitch said in explaining his decision to be a youth football coach.

Steve Audette received the Official of the Year Award. The six high school football players inducted into the Hall of Game Scholar-Athlete class were Mount Anthony's Keegan Corbett, Middlebury's Jimmy Danyow, Spaulding's Tim Durham, Windsor's Brian Holloway, CVU's Matt Long and Essex's Evan McCrea.

The honorees, high school football players who also distinguished themselves in the areas of football, scholarship and community service were introduced.

They were Mount St. Joseph's Louis Altobell, Fair Haven's Evan Amery, Springfield's Brandon Boyle, Rutland's David Boynton, Burr and Burton Academy's James Buss IV, Mount Mansfield's Ben Dolan, Colchester's Sean Eustace, Burlington's Luke Gallagher, Winooski's Gary Grant, North Country's Emile Hartman, Rice's Devon Hathaway, U-32's Elias LaCount, South Burlington's Ryan Lunny, BFA-St. Albans' Will Manning, Otter Valley's Joey Massores, Oxbow's Braden Mello, Poultney's John Olsen, BFA-Fairfax's Kyle Redding and Woodstock's Sam Stockwell.