CASTLETON — Eight local players will take the field for the Vermont football all-star team on Aug. 1 at Castleton University’s Spartan Field in the 63rd Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl vs. New Hampshire.
Vermont’s recent high school graduates will be seeking just the state’s 13th win in the series and first since 2000, when then Mount St. Joseph Academy Coach Brian Grady and his quarterback, Mike Keenan, led the Green Mountain State to victory. Keenan set records in that game and went on to do the same at Middlebury College.
Grady, now the coach of Fair Haven Union, returns to lead Vermont this season, and his Slater quarterback, Ryan Alexander, joins Rutland’s Andy Kenosh as Vermont’s signal-callers.
Among Grady’s assistants are Otter Valley’s Jim Hill and Middlebury’s Dennis Smith, both of whom led their teams to championship games this past fall.
Four of Hill’s players who helped OV win the Division III title will suit up for Vermont: record-setting back Carson Leary, two-way linemen Tyler Allen and M.J. Denis, and lineman/linebacker Trevor Peduto.
Three of Smith’s D-I finalists join them: tight end/defensive end Sawyer Ryan and two-way linemen Nick Beauchamp and Wyatt Laberge.
Also on the Vermont team is Mount Abraham standout lineman Matt Mullin.
The game will kick-off on Aug. 1 at 5:30 p.m. and will be preceded by a Shrine parade on Castleton’s Main Street starting at 3 p.m.  
The parade and halftime show will feature an all-star high school band of musicians from schools throughout New Hampshire and Vermont.
Net proceeds of the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl go to support three regional Shrine hospitals for children inflicted with orthopedic conditions and burns. The Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl is sponsored by Cairo Shriners of Rutland and Mt. Sinai Shriners of Montpelier.
Tickets and more information are available at maplesugarbowl.com.