Sports

Changes this Fall for Twinfield-Cabot-Danville Athletics

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NORTHEAST KINGDOM – A year to the day from historic flooding seen statewide that wiped out the soccer fields in Marshfield and Cabot last summer, rising waters did damage again last week, adding to significant changes that will be implemented this coming fall to the cooperative membership agreed upon by the Twinfield-Cabot-Danville (CCSU) athletic programs.

Last summer Caledonia Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Mark Tucker made the CCSU Athletics cooperative agreement between Twinfield, Cabot and Danville official. Randy Rathburn was the current athletic director for Danville and became the A.D. for the developing cooperative for all three schools going forward.

Since then, CCSU Athletics has taken shape with Danville student athletes joining the Twinfield-Cabot varsity softball program the last two seasons. Immediate results have been positive, with co-head coaches Christin Martin and Summer Haverick leading the program to playoff wins in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade.

Twinfield-Cabot players joined the Danville girls’ varsity soccer program last fall for the first time under head coach Spencer Morse. Despite the challenges of moving up a division, Morse led the first iteration of CCSU girls’ soccer to their first ever division III playoff win last October, knocking off a highly favored Lake Region team on the road. Rathburn has stated that the CCSU girls’ soccer program will be called Caledonia United this coming fall.

It is expected that both girls’ and boys’ varsity basketball programs at Danville and Twinfield-Cabot will continue to be separate from the cooperative if participation numbers continue to be robust to field two teams. That is not the case with boys’ soccer however, as the full scope of the cooperative will become complete this fall with the inaugural CCSU boys’ varsity soccer team. It is expected, but not official, that Danville head coach Jeremy Withers and Twinfield-Cabot head coach Peter Stratman will join forces this fall to lead the newly formed program that will also be called Caledonia United.

While the Bears have struggled with numbers, not posting a winning season since 2017, Stratman made a seemingly seamless transition from coaching Cabot to Twinfield-Cabot, leading the program to their first Division IV Final Four in 21 years in 2021. The Trojans made it back-to-back semifinal appearances in 2022 and have won 46 matches in Stratman’s five years at the helm. With well over 100 career coaching wins, a championship appearance is the only thing missing on his impressive resume, but with his own children about to enter the high school sports scene, a less demanding roll with the program might be perfect timing for the legendary coach.

Stratman’s team was a bounce away from making their third straight Final Four last fall, despite never playing a home game on their own pitch. Historical flooding from last summer destroyed both soccer fields in Marshfield and Cabot, leaving his team to practice a large part of the season on goalless farmland. The Cabot field was impacted again last week from rising waters, but it is not thought to be as severe as the destruction from a year ago.

“I am planning at this point to continue to be involved in the program in some capacity. It is such a bummer to have to deal with flooding again in our communities exactly a year later! A lot of people put a ton of hard work into that pitch this spring and had just planted grass last month,” said Stratman.

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