Varsity Insider

First meet of the year was yesterday. Although, as usual, only a small collection of teams ventured to Williams College in Massachusetts.

Most schools that competed were from the south, but scouring the results briefly it appears Essex, Rice and St. Johnsbury also sent a small contingent.

Here are the results.

Next meet at UVM this Saturday.

Second year Burlington High football coach Brennan Carney has the Seahorses off to a 3-1 start this year after taking over a struggling program in 2008 that went winless.

Carney, a former three-sport standout at South Burlington, now has to prepare for Friday night when he hosts his old coach Joe McDonald. McDonald was in the top row of the Rice grandstand scouting on Saturday in the 21-0 win over the Green Knights.

Carney, who turned a winless Spaulding program in his first season into state champions the following year, said  BHS needs to take its next step after beating an inspired Rice squad.

“Other guys have to step up. It just can’t be Cooper (Wile) all the time. Andrew (Cane) played really well for us. Andrew is a good player. He is playing great and doing a lot of different things for us. We have a lot of guys that have to play a little better, a little crisper and we’ll be a better team,” said Carney after the win at Rice.

Kick-off at the D.G. Weaver Athletic Complex has been bumped to 7:30 Friday night because BHS is hosting Rutland in boys soccer at 4 p.m. on the turf field.

Rice Memorial soccer coach St. Ambroise Azagoh-Kouadio, better known as just ”Azzie,” picked up his 100th win when the Green Knights beat Mount Abraham, 7-1, at Bristol on Tuesday.

Azzie, who is starting his 11th season,  has helped direct the Rice girls to a 100-61-4 record during that time.

He almost didn’t make it to this season after some “miscommunication” between the athletic office and the principal last spring.  One week after telling the players the school said it wanted to go “in a new direction,”  Azzie learned he would be retained.

Rice is off to a 3-1 start this year, including a 2-0 win over state Division I runner-up Essex.  We’re not sure how many active coaches in girls soccer are ahead of Azzie, but certainly he has a little way to go to catch Bill O’Neil of Essex.  O’Neil, who coaches three varsity sports, is 330-125-42  in his soccer career.

Who is in between O’Neil and Azzie?   Any ideas?

Jim Provost update
Former Rice Memorial football coach Jim Provost slipped back into South Burlington with his Champlain Valley Union football team on Saturday and took away a 33-8 win in Division II play.

Provost, who stepped down in 1999,  didn’t leave without offering some nice words of praise for new Rice football coach Neil Brodeau, one of his former players.

“I could not be happier that this program is in his hands,” said Provost, a former all-league center and member of the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame.

“He’s still  –  and I’ve said this to a lot of people – he’s still maybe the best football player I coached up here, really. He was a very good player. He’s even a greater person. These kids are lucky to have him and believe me he will do a good job. Wins or losses, who knows? But he will do it the right way.”

Nice words of praise for Brodeur, a 1985 graduate and three-year varsity player.

Jim Provost is in his second year at the helm of the Champlain Valley Union football program. He has the Redhawks off to a 1-0 start after last week’s win over Burr and Burton.

Now, in week 2, Provost brings his squad to familiar territory: Rice Memorial. Provost collected two Division II football titles during his 20 years — 14 as head coach — at the South Burlington school. He stepped away after the 1999 season, only to return to the sidelines in 2008 at CVU.

“It will be weird being on (visitors’ sideline), looking towards the bleachers instead of the baseball outfield,” Provost said.

And with the 1989 team being honored on the 20th anniversary of its championship, Saturday’s game has heightened meaning for Provost.

“The novelty isn’t lost on the kids and it’s certainty not lost on the coaches,” Provost said. “It’s a business trip and the whole going back and homecoming … maybe that will mean something after, but once we kickoff, I think it’s going to go away.”

Provost was quick to say that despite his long history with Rice, he bleeds red and white now.

“It’s not a homecoming for me. (CVU) is my home now.”

Note: Burlington coach Brennan Carney is also making a homecoming visit. The BHS coach’s previous stop was Spaulding where he led the Crimson Tide to the 2007 Div. II crown. The Seahorses travel to Barre for a 1 p.m. game today.

Eight more athletes will be added to the Cathedral/Rice Memorial High School Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday. This year’s honorees with the year they graduated:

Michael LeFebvre, 1966 — football, track and baseball
Gregory P. Clairmont, 1975 — baseball
Robert Waterman, 1977 — football, hockey, baseball and track
Michael Rozzi, 1978 — golf and hockey
Kristin Gladu Cieplicki, 1983 — basketball
Sara LaWare, 1998 — soccer and basketball
Kyle LaVigne, 1999 — soccer, baseball and basketball
Jamie Merchant, 1999 — soccer, basketball and baseball.

The induction dinner is scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday at the Burlington Waterfront Courtyard Marriott.