The High Five: Purple Knights still riding high

Every week, Mitch Wertlieb shares the top moments of the last week in Vermont sports in the High Five. This week, we recap high school football action, update the latest on the St. Michael's women's soccer undefeated season, and discover why a beloved community skating rink in Barre won't be operating this winter.

The New England Patriots scored a huge win over the rival Buffalo Bills in upstate New York Sunday. Pats quarterback Drake Maye, who already had six interceptions on the season, committed two turnovers but also threw three touchdowns to lead New England to a 29-26 win that evens their record at 2-2. The big play was a pass to wide receiver Eftin Chism, who made a spectacular one-handed catch in the end zone with less than two minutes to go.

The Atlanta Dream, a team that has yet to win a title, defeated one of the league’s original franchises the NY Liberty 92-82 in game one of the WNBA eastern conference semi-finals. The Dream were led by Jordin Canada, who only scored 5 points in the first half but added 20 to that total in the second frame to give the Dream a 1-0 edge heading into game 2 tomorrow night in Atlanta. The Golden State Valkyries are in just their second WNBA season, but got the jump on the defending champion Las Vegas Aces with a game one victory. The Valkyries emerged victorious 70-61 behind a game high 25 points from Golden State’s Gabby Wilson. Game 2 is tomorrow night in San Francisco.

The Tampa Bay Rays took Game 1 from the New York Yankees, 1-0, after a near-historic pitching performance by Tampa’s Drew Rasmussen. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning that was broken up by Austin Wells, who doubled with two outs but was thrown out at third trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Rasmussen set a Rays post-season franchise strikeout record with 10 in the game. Cam Schlittler takes the hill for the Yankees in Game 2 tonight against Freddy Peralta for the Rays.

Tough Game 1 loss for the San Diego Padres in their series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Swinging Friars were left bewildered after Ty France hit what would have been a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth with the Padres down a run and one man on. France hit a towering moon shot that would have been a home run, but it hit a railing at the American Family Field roof in Milwaukee and was sent downward into the glove of Milwaukee outfielder Jackson Chourio for the inning ending out, and the Brewers won game one 3-2. Milwaukee also took Game 2, with Jackson Chourio again making the winning play. The outfielder hit a game-winning, walk-off two-run single to give the Brew Crew a 4-3 win and a commanding 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 in San Diego.

Elsewhere, the Atlanta Braves evened their series against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at a game apiece after a 3-2 win. Best of all for Atlanta, they were able to rest their ace Chris Sale, who will start Game 3 in Atlanta. The Chicago White Sox are ahead one game to none over the Cleveland Guardians heading into Game 2 tonight in Cleveland.

Ranked 24th nationally in Division II women’s soccer, the St. Michael’s Purple Knights continued their amazing season Saturday, staying undefeated at 7-0-2 after topping Pace University 3-2 on senior day in Colchester. Jules Peterson had the game winner for St. Mike’s in the 80th minute to break a 2-2 deadlock. Sarah Gormley also tallied for the Knights, her fourth goal of the season, and Scarlett Brookes now has six goals on the year after also finding the back of the net. Next up is a road tilt against Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday.

Sad news out of Barre. The B.O.R. arena, a community skating rink that hosts everything from the Spaulding High School hockey team to the Barre figure skating club, is likely going to be shut down for the winter as city officials say the rink’s 52-year-old refrigeration system failed a critical test and is beyond repair. There’s major structural damage to the rink that was built in the 1970s, and WCAX reports fixing the floor alone could cost around $2 million. The city is now weighing whether to repair the rink or build a brand new facility. Meanwhile, local teams are splitting practice time between rinks in Waterbury, Norwich and Montpelier, but that will be tough to continue doing once the high school season starts and more school teams are clamoring for ice time. Spaulding seniors on the hockey team won’t be able to play the final season of their high school careers on home ice.

Big comeback win for the Essex Hornets as they rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit Saturday to defeat CVU 20-17. Niko Nann scored the go-ahead touchdown for Essex on a 40-yard run to the house. For the second straight week, St. Johnsbury running back Kingston Carey rushed for more than 100 yards, helping the Hilltoppers to a 35-14 victory against Colchester. Carey also excelled as a receiver, scoring three touchdowns on catches as the Hilltoppers stay undefeated at 5-0 on the season. Burr and Burton are still undefeated as well after a 54-7 rout of Brattleboro on Saturday.

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.