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The Hartford High School football team won the Division I state championship last season, but the team's accomplishments didn't end there.

USA Today High School Sports recently crowned Hartford as the People's Champion – the top high school football team in the nation for 2012.

The competition began Jan. 7 with 64 schools vying for a $500 prize and the chance to be named the top high school football team – as chosen by fans – of 2012. Each state, plus Washington D.C., had a representative in the competition. The highest-ranked champion in each state, as determined by the Massey computer rankings, automatically qualified for the contest. In addition, the USA Today High School Sports editorial staff chose 13 at-large teams.

Sixteen teams advanced to the second round. Hartford received 43 percent of the votes in the final round, which ended Jan. 18.

Maine Endwell (Endwell, N.Y.) finished second, Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati) was third and Jordan (Sandy, Utah) ended up fourth.

"When you look at the numbers, you had to do well enough to get to the next round and once that happened, everyone’s imaginations started taking off," Hartford athletic director Joe James told USA Today High School Sports. "I was sending out regular email updates to folks and trying to rally the troops. The comments on the website were from all over the country. We’re such a small town and a close-knit community. There's a tremendous amount of pride."

Hartford went 11-0 last season and won their third consecutive Division I title. The Hurricanes beat Middlebury 42-6 in the championship game to cap a season in which they outscored their opponents 508-112. Hartford has won five of the last six Division I championships.

"There was a lot of buzz all over the community," James said. "We live on the border between Vermont and New Hampshire, and really, in this whole Upper Valley, there was buzz about this."

MANWARING REACHES MILESTONE
Jason Manwaring, a 6-foot-1, junior forward, became the latest Vermont player to reach the 1,000-point plateau when he tossed in 24 points during a 73-5 triumph over Rochester on Jan. 15. Manwaring also had 11 rebounds and blocked four shots in the victory.

Manwaring was averaging 18.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks through 11 games this season. Williamstown, last year's Division III champion, got off to an 11-0 start.

Manwaring became the sixth player in the program's history to score at least 1,000 points.

U-32 LOOKS LIKE A CONTENDER
The U-32 girls basketball program is coming off three consecutive losing seasons, but that streak will end this year.

U-32 opened the season with a loss to Division I Hartford, but has won nine in a row since then. Junior Madison Bennett tossed in a game-high 18 points in the team's most recent victory, Monday's 52-13 triumph over Randolph.

U-32 is one of two Division II teams with one loss. Mt. Abraham (10-1) is the other. BFA-Fairfax (10-0) is in sole possession of first place.

FAST TRACK
The South Burlington girls indoor track 4x800 relay team set a state record at the Dartmouth Relays earlier this month.

Anne-Marie Farmer, Allie Flaherty, Kayla Gilding and Katherine Cook posted a sixth-place finish in 10 minutes, 2.38 seconds. Mount Mansfield set the previous record (10:07.97) in 2011.

WOODSTOCK'S WANNOP RESIGNS
Wendy Wannop announced that she was stepping down as Woodstock's field hockey coach on Jan. 15.

Wannop had a 198-76-16 record in 30 seasons as Woodstock's coach. She guided the Wasps to three state championships, and four runner-up finishes.

Roger Brown is a staff writer for the New Hampshire Union Leader, and has been covering high school sports throughout New England.

Frank Pecora's last season as the Northfield High School varsity baseball coach ended like many others: with a state championship.

Top-seeded Northfield defeated second-seeded Blue Mountain 10-1 in the Division III championship game earlier this month. The victory gave Pecora his 15th state championship during his 38-year coaching tenure at Northfield.

After the contest Pecora made it clear that this season was his last.

“That [the 15 titles] says a lot for all the kids who played in this program,” Pecora told The Burlington Free Press. “I coached half their parents. Well, I always said that the first kid that walked up to me and said, 'My grandfather played for you.' I was handing him the keys.

“We haven't gotten to that point, but we're pretty close. It's been an awesome ride.”

Northfield's Billy Whaley pitched a complete game against Blue Mountain. He allowed two hits, and struck out 10.

Zach Daley collected three hits and had three of Northfield's seven stolen bases.

Northfield completed its season with a 17-1 record, which pushed Pecora's career record to 488-157-1. The Marauders had one losing season during his 38 years as the program's head coach.

Recapping Vermont's other state championship games:

Division I: Champlain Valley Union pitcher Curt Echo didn't allow a baserunner until the fifth inning as second-seeded CVU beat fifth-seeded BFA-St. Albans, 5-0.

CVU (18-2) scored four of its five runs in the third inning. Echo went the distance and allowed three hits.

Division II: Second-seeded Vergennes overcame a 3-0 deficit by scoring four runs in the sixth inning and hung on to defeat 13th-seeded Missisquoi Valley, 4-3.

Devin Hayes scored the go-ahead run on Tommy Shea's infield single. Vergennes finished with a 15-5 record. Missisquoi Valley, the first 13th seed to reach the Division I championship game, ended up with an 8-12 record.

Division IV: Top-seeded Danville scored during five of its six at-bats and repeated as the Division IV champion by beating third-seeded Mount St. Joseph 12-0.

Scott Remick, Brett Elliot and Erick Remick each had two hits and scored twice for Danville, which finished its season with a 13-5 record. Danville's Kyle Johnson pitched a three-hit shutout and struck out 10.

SOFTBALL: PROCTOR GIRLS FIND A WAY
Fifth-seeded Proctor scored four runs in the first inning without a base hit and hung on to defeat third-seeded Whitcomb 4-3 in the Division IV championship game.

Proctor's first inning featured three walks, one hit batter and two Whitcomb errors. Proctor completed its season with a 17-3 record. Whitcomb finished 15-3.

Division I: Jordi Begin broke a 2-2 tie by hitting a home run in the bottom of the fourth and top-seeded Essex went on to beat second-seeded BFA-St. Albans 6-3.

Division II: Freshman Kayla Mathieu struck out 13 and held Lyndon to three hits to help BFA-Fairfax post a 4-1 victory. It was the program's first Division II state championship, and first title since 1981 (Division III).

Division III: People's did all of its scoring in the sixth inning and won its second title in as many years by beating Windsor 3-1. It was the program's 11th state championship.

BOYS' LACROSSE: REBELS SHOW GOOD TIMING
Second-seeded South Burlington lost to top-seeded Essex twice during the regular season, but the Rebels defeated the Hornets 9-7 when the teams met in the Division I championship game.

Dan Cone scored three goals for South Burlington, which finished with a 17-2 record. Essex, which beat South Burlington 5-4 and 6-3 earlier in the year, ended its season 16-3. The team's two other losses came against out-of-state competition.

In the Division II title game, Hans Halvorsen tied the game by scoring with less than a second remaining in regulation and teammate Graham Quisenberry scored 23 seconds into overtime to give second-seeded Green Mountain Valley an 8-7 triumph over fifth-seeded Colchester.

GIRLS' LACROSSE: REPEAT PERFORMANCE IN DIVISION I
Anne-Marie Farmer and Sarah Fisher each collected three goals and an assist to lead top-seeded South Burlington to a 14-11 victory over second-seeded Middlebury in the Division I championship game.

South Burlington also beat Middlebury to win last year's Division I title. The teams split two regular-season meetings.

In the Division II title game, top-seeded Rice extended its winning streak to 13 games by beating seventh-seeded BFA-St. Albans 13-11. Junior Emily Cutting scored five goals for the Green Knights.

GRIBBON JUMPS FOR JOY
South Burlington's Mollie Gribbin won the triple jump (39 feet, 4.75 inches) at the 67th New England Track and Field Championship, which was held June 9 at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine.

Gribbin also finished fourth in the long jump (17-9.25), sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.29) and sixth in the 200 (25-11).

St. Johnsbury's Elijah Doerfler picked up Vermont's other victory. Doerfler won the javelin (185-10).

Roger Brown is a staff writer for the New Hampshire Union Leader and has been reporting on high school sports throughout New England since 1992.

The Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl is not involved in a game of musical chairs, although it may seem that way.

After being played at Windsor High School in each of the last three years, organizers of the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl announced that the all-star football game between Vermont and New Hampshire would return to Dartmouth College this summer. There's a chance that the game may have to find another home for this year's game, however.

The move to Dartmouth, which is where the majority of the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowls have been played, seemed uncertain after the NCAA banned non-scholastic high school football events from being held at NCAA Division I institutions last year:

13.11.1.10 Nonscholastic Practice or Competition -- Championship Subdivision Football. In championship subdivision football, an institution [including any institutional department (e.g., athletics, recreational/intramural)] shall not host, sponsor or conduct a nonscholastic football practice or competition (e.g., seven-on-seven events) in which football prospective student-athletes participate on its campus or at an off-campus facility regularly used by the institution for practice and/or competition by any of the institution's sport programs.

David Orr, the director of media relations for the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, said the NCAA rule was passed primarily to prevent 7-on-7 tournaments from being held at NCAA Division I locations, which could give some schools a recruiting advantage.

"They didn't realize it was going to affect all-star football games," Orr said. "I'm not sure everyone [at the NCAA] knew what was built into the motion."

Orr said if the NCAA prevents the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl from being played at Dartmouth, the game will not return to Windsor.

"We couldn't go back to Windsor because their football field was flooded[last year] and can't be played on," Orr said.

The NCAA legislation had the organizers of the inaugural New Hampshire East-West All-Star Game thinking about a new location for that event as well, since it's scheduled to be played at the University of New Hampshire on June 23. UNH received word from the NCAA last week that the East-West game could be played at UNH's Cowell Stadium.

Here is the email UNH received from the NCAA:

Thank you for your patience as we reviewed this case. Based on the documents provided, the AMA staff has determined that this event is permissible. The documents demonstrate that your institution intended to host the event in June 2011 and that the details of the event were substantially agreed-upon by both parties before the August 15, 2011 effective date of the new legislation. Therefore the restriction in NCAA Division I Bylaw 13.11.1.10 does not apply to this event. Please remember that Bylaw 13.11.1.10 will apply to all future non-scholastic events in the sport of football.

“That's encouraging,” Orr said. “But we're still waiting for the official word before we make any announcement.”

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Practice for this year’s Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl won’t begin until July 28, but what was already a steep climb for Vermont has become even steeper.

Vermont, which hasn’t beaten New Hampshire in the all-star football game since 2000, recently had two players opt out of the game: wide receiver Mike Triller (Rutland) and wide receiver Mike DiMambro (Essex).

Triller won’t participate because he’s scheduled to play baseball at Clemson next season, and DiMambro accepted a track and field scholarship from the University of Rhode Island.

“I guess [DiMambro] was getting a little bit of heat [from Rhode Island] about playing in the game,” Vermont coach Jim Provost said. “We’d like to have both of them, but we had replacements within half an hour, so we’re at 36 strong.”

DiMambro caught 39 passes for 609 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. His 19 career TD receptions rank second in school history. Ben Price (St. Johnsbury) has replaced DiMambro on the Vermont roster.

Triller caught 37 passes for 630 yards last fall. Lance Elithorpe (Mount Anthony) has replaced Triller.

This year’s game will be played Aug. 6 at Macleay-Royce Field in Windsor, Vt. New Hampshire stretched its winning streak to 10 games by posting a 34-20 victory last summer and leads the series 42-13-2.

Provost served as the head coach at Rice Memorial for 14 seasons, and completed his third season at Champlain Valley Union last fall. His Redhawks lost in the 2009 Division II championship game, and reached the Division II semifinals in 2010.

Provost also served as Vermont's head coach for the 1990 Shrine Game. New Hampshire posted a 35-0 victory that year.

“I’ve tried to run the ball against them and that didn’t work,” Provost said. “Whatever the plan is it boils down to mistakes and turnovers. It would help if we could find a way to keep New Hampshire from scoring a lot of points.

“I don’t see us playing a lot of kids two ways, but we do have a couple kids we’d like to see on both sides of the ball at some points.”

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