As usual, the boys junior B footballers began the season with a good mix of new and returning players. The captains for this year’s Quad Squad team are juniors Cole Higgins ’26 and Jack Keller ’26. The schedule includes many familiar opponents, including perennial nemesis Vermont Academy, and a few new ones, including the Eagle Hill School.
The season kicked off with the first installment of the north Deerfield derby against the Bement School on September 18th at 3 pm, originally scheduled to be an away game but later moved to the lower fields. The day was unseasonably warm and sunny and with the recent conditions, the field was dry and fast. It didn’t take long for Deerfield to score the first goal of the season – in the 4th minute, Higgins found the back of the net for his first of three goals on the day to put Deerfield up 1-0. While Bement had the better of the run of play for the rest of the 1st half and had several chances, Deerfield maintained the lead going into half-time. After nearly 50 minutes of scoreless, nail-biting game play, Deerfield finally found their second goal to give the team some breathing room. Keller scored in the 55th minute after a nice bit of back and forth passes. Higgins added two insurance goals just before time, in the 65th and 70th minutes, to make the final score 4-0, but hardly indicative of how close the game really was. The defense, led by returner Ryan Stentzler ’27, played particularly well and allowed keeper Magnus Selvig ’26 to get his first clean sheet of the season. With the win, the team begins the season 1-0 and will look to continue the momentum against on the road against the Westminster School. Kickoff will be at 2 pm on September 21st in Simsbury, CT.