There were five sets of siblings on the Proctor rosters in the two Division IV state championship soccer games at Manchester’s Applejack Field on Saturday: Maggie and Conner McKearin, Jed and Matt Nop, twins Ian and Laci French, Brennon and Carter Crossmon and Treyton and Brookelyn Kimball.
That might not be a record for one field on state title day but it has to be on a pretty short list since it is not all that often that both teams from the school get to the big game.
Maggie and Conner McKearin were each the leading scorer on their team, Maggie knocking in 35 goals for the girls team and Conner 18 for the boys squad.
Their older sister Abby McKearin had 168 goals, the most ever scored in Vermont by a player of either gender.
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Another pretty amazing sibling nugget: The top two girls basketball scorers in the state are sisters. Jade Huntington had 2,114 points and Jazz Huntington amassed 2,079. Both played for the late Mona Garone and Oxbow Union. Each played Division I college basketball, Jade at Wake Forest and Jazz at North Carolina State.
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How about four brothers each scoring more than 1,000 points during their high school basketball careers.
Rice Memorial’s Bernie Cieplicki led the way in his family with 2,061. Then came brothers Keith with 2,049, Kevin at 1,134 and Kyle with 1,250.
That was also accomplished in the Johnson family. Matt had 2,121 points. Mike came in at 1,484, Glenn collected 1,294 and Dan 1,225. Matt, Glenn and Dan got their points at BFA-St. Albans and Mike played at Stevens High in Claremont, New Hampshire, Oxbow and BFA-St. Albans.
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It didn’t happen because of COVID but it was thought at one time that Rutland sisters Breukelen and Sky Woodard were scheduled to be on opposite sides in an NCAA Division I women’s soccer game this fall, Breukelen for Penn and Sky for Bucknell.
The Woodard sisters began their high school careers at Rutland and transferred to Burr and Burton Academy where they finished.
It isn’t that common in Vermont to have siblings playing soccer at the Division I level but BBA’s Grace and Hannah Pinkus enjoy that distinction. Grace is a freshman forward on the University of Massachusetts roster and Hannah a junior midfield player on the Colgate University roster.
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One early October day in 2014, the rain was pelting down on Midddlebury College’s Youngman Field for the football game against Amherst.
There was plenty of rain gear being worn.
It was not a day for fashion statements, but one woman stood out for her jacket. Doris Rudolph was wearing one that was half blue and half purple. One side was adorned with No. 76 and the other with No. 71. She was conflicted.
Conflicted and very proud. Her son Kyle was an offensive lineman for Amherst. Younger son Ryan suited up for Middlebury.
That happens now and then in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Bunker brothers from Topsfield, Massachusetts, for example, played football against one another — Eric for Amherst and Evan for Trinity.
The Rudolph brothers’ journey was a much longer one to play NESCAC football. They are from California and played their high school football in Tom Brady Stadium for Junipero Serra High School.
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One of the most unbelievable stories involving brothers in the Vermont high school sports history book is the one that happened in the Rivendell-Chelsea basketball game in 2003.
Rivendell’s Joey and Joel Farley scored their 1,000th career point 18 seconds apart.
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It is not quite as dramatic as reaching the milestone seconds apart, but Black River twins Courtney and Bobby Rohrig did achieve the 1,000-point plateau in the same week in 2008.
Courtney also scored more than 100 goals for the Black River girls soccer team.
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Nicole Levesque Anders and her brother Dave Levesque scored 3,138 points between them in college. Nicole piled up 1,663 at Wake Forest and Dave 1,475 at Plymouth State.
Nicole was the better known of the Mount Anthony Union High School graduates. She played a year in the WNBA for the Charlotte Sting and Sports Illustrated ranked her No. 17 in its list of Vermont’s top 50 athletes of the century.
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Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mark Brown is a Vermonter in the same way that Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is a Vermonter. Both New Hampshire residents were born across the Connecticut River in nearby Bellows Falls.
Brown made it to the major leagues, notching his only win in the final game of the 1984 season against the Red Sox by fanning Jim Rice for the final out.
There are people in and around their hometown of North Walpole, New Hampshire who will tell you that his older brother Frank was a better pitcher.
Mark’s younger brother Dave wasn’t bad, either. He was drafted by the Orioles in 1988 and pitched a year in the New York-Penn League where his pitching coach was older brother Mark.
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After watching Mike Keenan throw a Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl record six touchdown passes for Vermont against New Hampshire in the 2000 game, the family flew to Arizona to watch Mike’s older brother Sean play in an exhibition game for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Keenan brothers had prolific careers at quarterback at Mount St. Joseph before having equally outstanding college careers in the NESCAC, Sean at Williams and Mike at Williams before transferring to Middlebury.
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One of the most poignant brother stories involves St. Albans’ Connor and Ben Roberts.
Connor was a Norwich University lacrosse player who died of a heart attack in 2014 at the age of 21 following his sophomore year.
Ben was a lacrosse and hockey player at Castleton University before graduating in 2014.
Their sister Danielle was a member of the Castleton women’s hockey team.
The Roberts family remains tied to the schools through the annual event called Climb for Connor. The event is a fund-raiser that features people scaling the rock climbing walls at both Castleton and Norwich each season.
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Sisters Taylor, Morgan and Brooke Raiche, of West Rutland, found themselves on the court at the same time in games for the Castleton University women’s basketball team a couple of years ago.
You can be certain that has not happened too often at any level of the college game.
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Twins Dani and Jevy Rayner each eclipsed 1,000 points playing in the St. Michael’s College women’s basketball program from 2003 through 2007. Dani had 1,060 points and Jevy 1,032.
They played for Bellows Falls and led the Terriers to a Division I state title.
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Rutland Town sisters Erika and Emily Bohn each played NCAA Division I soccer. Erica was the goalkeeper for Notre Dame and Emily played for Xavier.
Erika played her high school soccer in Brookfield, Connecticut before the family moved but Emily played for coach Lori McClallen at Rutland High School.
Erika was Notre Dame’s hero when the NCAA Championship Game against UCLA went to penalty kicks. She deflected the PK by UCLA’s Lindsey Greco to give the Irish the victory was mobbed by her teammates in the game shown on national television in 2004.
The Irish came to the University of Vermont to play a regular season game. Vermont won with a shutout.
It was a regular-season tournament and Bohn was named MVP even though she was under absolutely no pressure.
Proctor’s Eddie Wojcik was there as a fan and was incredulous, saying, “They gave her the MVP even though the Catamount mascot would have had that shutout.”
tom.haley
@rutlandherald.com
