Sports honors: Champion banners hoisted; board salutes Coach Kerrigan
February 17, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout
Harwood Union sports fans cheered on special ceremonies recently as state championship banners were raised to hang in the Corliss Griffith Gymnasium commemorating last fall’s Division II Boys Soccer title win and the school’s Bass Fishing team’s first state championship.
The Varsity Boys Soccer team members gathered before a packed gym on Friday, Feb. 9, for their banner ceremony in between JV and Varsity Boys Basketball games. Team captains unfurled and hung the banner for a team photo before it was hoisted.
The boys clinched the state championship on Nov. 4 in a 1-0 overtime victory over Rice Memorial High School in the final match played in Hartford. The nail-biter went down to the wire until sophomore Brycen Scharf lodged the game-winning goal.
The game was the second of two Harwood finals played at Hartford’s Maxfield Outdoor Sports Complex that day. Harwood Varsity Girls Soccer finished as runner-up, 2-1, to Milton High School in their title matchup. The double-header Division II title games drew a large crowd of fans from the Harwood Mad River Valley and Waterbury communities.
The 2023-24 banner marking the boys’ win is the seventh state title for Harwood Boys Soccer program. The other state championships were in 2018, 2007, 1987, 1984, 1983 and 1976. Coach Joe Yalicki played on the 2007 team that took home the banner.
Bass Fishing team marks first championship
Harwood’s 2023-24 Bass Fishing team and coaches celebrated their banner added to the school gym on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Photo courtesy of Kim Durand
Bass Fishing is Vermont’s newest varsity sport and Harwood snagged its first state title last fall.
The team hoisted its banner in the Harwood gym on Tuesday, Feb. 13, with a crowd gathered for Harwood JV and Varsity Girls Basketball games.
Team members and their coaches above, left to right: Wyatt Babic, Ryan Lacey, Tyler Bravin, Sid Ritzinger, Jackson Palermo, Coach Scott Green, Nate Conyers, Caleb Durand, Jordan Farr, Acer Thompson, Assistant Coach Rich Wilbur.
School Board salutes Coach John Kerrigan
Longtime Harwood Cross Country Coach John Kerrigan recently announced his retirement plans and the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board included a special salute to the veteran coach at its meeting on Feb. 14.
Harwood Cross Country Coach and former teacher John Kerrigan listens while school board Vice Chair Kelley Hackett reads a resolution from the board in his honor. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
With about a dozen student-athletes, fellow coaches, and several parents in the audience, school board Vice Chair Kelley Hackett read a resolution from the board honoring Kerrigan’s 45-year tenure as Cross Country coach as well as years coaching Nordic skiing and Track and Field.
The proclamation recognizes Kerrigan’s long career as both a science teacher and three-season coach. He retired from classroom teaching in 2015. Kerrigan, who lives nearby Harwood in South Duxbury, also was instrumental in creating the school’s cross-country trail network and in the construction of its running track.
During his years, Harwood athletes won 47 state championship titles and 32 runner-up honors.
Kerrigan thanked the board and the superintendent for the recognition and followed the reading of the resolution with a recitation of a poem he penned reflecting on his years at the school. He joked about his role over the years where he often spoke out to criticize school policies and school board and administration decisions. “I probably spent more time in the principal’s office than most of the unruly kids,” he quipped.
Hear Kerrigan read his both heartfelt and humorous piece in the video below.
