For this year’s Burlington Seahorses team, numbers are down.  Yet the squad moves up from Division-II to Division-I.

As the third largest high school in Vermont. It seems intuitive that Burlington High competes at the state’s top level.  Perhaps that’s why its appeal to stay in Division-II was denied.

Head Coach Brennan Carney says, “Equations don’t always equal reality for how they put that together.  There’s no reason fighting that, we just saw Rice fight that good fight a few years back, two years ago, and you know, five appeals later it wasn’t really working for them, so for us it was our new reality.”

More than a thousand students attend the school, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to numbers on the field.

Senior lineman Brody Snow explains, “Our JV team’s gonna be looking real small, and our varsity team is gonna be really small too.  We didn’t really have a big come out this year.”

The varsity team will have fewer than forty players this season. Not ideal for Division-I, but the decision to move BHS as well as Mt. Mansfield up a level is rooted in past success and opportunity for growth.  As for the Seahorses, they haven’t even talked about it.

Senior running back Kevin Garrison says, “Headed on the field every day, we’re just trying to compete.  And honestly we look pretty good.  I think we look really good, and I’m really excited to be honest to be in D-1.”

Despite the move, Burlington will open the 2017 season against a Division-II opponent, hosting Burr & Burton under the lights on September 1.