The Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association (VSSA) has announced the October winners of the High School Athletes of the Month. Male and female winners are named on a monthly basis during the school year.
Female:
Samantha Rock, senior, girls soccer player at Milton
Rock scored half of Milton’s 32 goals in October and added two assists, helping the Yellowjackets go undefeated in the month and earn the #1 seed in Division II. Her 16 goals came in just seven games. Only once in the month did she have a game without two goals (that came in the first round of the playoffs, when she scored four). She scored six goals in Milton’s two October playoff games, including her 66th career goal in the Yellowjackets’ playdown to set the all time scoring record for Milton.
Male:
Doug Saffo, junior, football player at BFA
Saffo piled up 930 yards in five games in October, scoring 10 touchdowns as BFA-St. Albans went 5-0 to wrap up the second seed in Division I and roll past Rutland in the first round of the playoffs. Behind a line that lost three starters from a year ago, Saffo’s TD’s included runs of 38, 44, 58, 59, 62 and 80 yards. His month was highlighted by a 341-yard effort and three scores on a muddy night in a 41-18 rout of Essex.