Nokomis hires two coaches> Janicki, Anderson possess experience

Two experienced coaches have returned to the Eastern Maine coaching ranks, as the SAD 48 board of directors recently hired Louis Janicki and Earl Anderson as boys varsity soccer coach and girls varsity basketball coach, respectively, for Nokomis High School of Newport.

Janicki is no stranger to soccer in Eastern Maine. He’s a founder of the Maine State Youth Soccer Association’s Northern Division and former president of the U.S. Federation of Maine, which oversees youth travel soccer programs in the state.

“It was difficult in preseason because a lot of the kids had commitments and we didn’t get our full team together until the last week of preseason,” said Janicki, whose preseason started well before he was officially named coach. “But we were lucky because we had a late start. Our first game was Thursday.”

The Hampden man takes the reins from Charlie Wing, who retired from his teaching position at Nokomis and as boys varsity soccer coach. Janicki inherits a 5-9 team that finished 12th in Eastern Maine Class A last season.

Anderson, the boys varsity basketball at Hampden the last two seasons, replaces Jeff Richards, who has moved on to coach boys basketball at Sumner in East Sullivan.

“It kind of caught me a bit by surprise. I hadn’t really pursued any jobs since I resigned at Hampden,” said Anderson, who also teaches history at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

Anderson resigned after two years at Hampden when a teaching position did not open up within the district, citing the difficulties of not being around his athletes through the year.

“Nokomis contacted me and I agreed to talk to them,” he added. “I missed coaching and this was a chance to do something different. I’ve never coached a girls team before.”

Anderson is the third girls coach in three years at Nokomis.

Under Richards, the Warriors recorded a 16-5 season with the help of then-senior Kelly Bowman, who has taken her talents to the University of Maine. They lost to eventual state champion Cony in the Eastern Maine Class A title game.

The Old Town High School girls basketball program received a shot in the arm this fall, thanks to the presence of three transfer students.

Junior Theresa Pardilla and her younger sister Andrea Pardilla, who started for John Bapst last season as a freshman, decided to transfer to rejoin a lot of the friends they grew up with and cut down on travel complications.

“It was to be closer to school mostly,” said Andrea. “We live within walking distance so our mom won’t have to drive us all the time. Plus, it’s a chance for me to play in Class A.”

Andrea Pardilla said it’s been a fairly easy transition since many of her friends are already attending Old Town.

The other transfer student, sophomore Danielle Wentworth, started out as a varsity reserve, but worked her way into the sixth man role for Ashland last year.

“She might have been one of the best freshman soccer players ever to come into the program,” said Ashland girls soccer and basketball coach Bill Nemer. “She was a marquee type of freshman player for us in three sports.”

Wentworth came to Old Town after her family decided to move back to the Old Town area, where a lot of their relatives live.

Girls basketball coach Garry Spencer is happy the girls ended up at Old Town.

“I’m just the happy beneficiary of all this,” said Spencer. “It’s too early to tell what kind of impact they’ll have on the team. I know Andrea through basketball camps, and she’s a talented player.”

Penquis Valley High School in Milo has a new athetic director and boys basketball coach. Christine Cunningham took over AD duties last month and David Carey will start his first season this winter.

Cunningham replaces Murrel Harris, who resigned his AD position last May.

“There were some extenuating circumstances behind the scenes that I don’t want to get into right now,” said Harris. “The biggest reason I got done was the reorganization of the athletic director’s position at Penquis.”

Officials at Penquis have increased the AD’s duties. Instead of just handling high school sports matters, the new AD will be responsible for middle school as well as high school sports.

Cunningham was previously Penquis’ middle school soccer coach and has been teaching physical education at Penquis High the last seven years.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m enjoying the challenge,” said Cunningham, who added she’s hoping this will lead to an upper level school administration job.

Carey takes over for Ollie Faulkner, who resigned in May and was hired as a math teacher and JV boys basketball coach at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington.

“I was (Faulkner’s) assistant on varsity for the last three years so I’m familiar with the kids,” said Carey, a lifelong Milo resident. “I love a challenge and I look at this as a great challenge.”