ORONO – University of Maine football fans may have been wondering in recent weeks about the Black Bears’ quarterback situation.

Going into last week’s final home game at Alfond Stadium against sixth-ranked James Madison, the Bears had lost three games in a row. UMaine averaged only 14.7 points per game in those contests, the last two with fifth-year senior Brian Scott running the offense.

For that reason, observers were beginning to wonder whether it was time to invest in the future and give the nod to freshman Jake Eaton for the rest of the season.

“The Sports Zone,” WZON radio of Bangor, even addressed the issue in its “Question of the Week,” which asked which quarterback fans thought should be playing. They agreed, albeit by a small margin, with coach Jack Cosgrove.

“I’m just probably a little stubborn in my ways, in that I believe in people as opposed to some other things sometimes,” Cosgrove said. “I’ve always believed in that kid [Scott].”

Cosgrove has watched for four years as Waterville’s Scott tirelessly worked his way up the ladder into the starting role this season, only to have a knee injury keep him out for the next five games. He wasn’t about to give up on Scott now.

“He’s really hung in there,” Cosgrove said. “I think the thing that’s the most difficult probably for the kid is when he went out, we brought in a pretty good player and everybody knows that.

“I don’t play for next season, I play for next week,” Cosgrove said. “If you play football, I think that’s how you have to do it, week by week.”

The game plan against JMU was to start Scott and then platoon him with Eaton depending upon game situations. Eaton played one series in the first quarter, then went in for two plays at the end of UMaine’s game-tying scoring drive midway through the second.

As it turned out, Scott engineered the Bears’ two longest scoring drives of the season – 92 and 95 yards – and played well in leading UMaine to a 26-20 upset victory.

“We did play Brian more than we thought we were going to only because he took us to two scores right in the second quarter,” Cosgrove said. “We were putting up points. Then he became the veteran presence to manage the clock, do all those things.”

Cosgrove said the plan for this week’s game at Northeastern is again to play both Scott and Eaton.

Cosgrove implements staff changes

Cosgrove apparently made some changes in the game-preparation responsibilities of some of his assistant coaches last week prior to the James Madison game.

He was not willing Monday to divulge the nature of the moves or the coaches involved.

“I’ve done some things internally to shift things around, but nothing official,” Cosgrove said. “It really is that insignificant, just a few little changes that I’ve done in my game planning. It’s nothing I want to comment on right now.”

While UMaine’s offense and defense both had struggled somewhat leading up to the win over JMU, some of the changes may have involved offensive coordinator Joe Gilbert. Cosgrove would not single out anyone.

Assistant athletic director for media relations Joe Roberts said the coaching staff remains intact.

“There’s not going to be any changes in terms of personnel,” Roberts said. “[Gilbert’s] still our offensive coordinator. There may be new roles different people are playing in terms of getting ready for the game.”

The most visible change Saturday was in Cosgrove’s sideline routine. Rather than donning a headset for the duration to remain in communication with his offensive and defensive coordinators, Cosgrove spent more time interacting one-on-one with his players.

“I wanted to be more involved with our players on the sideline in managing them. I really felt like I needed to be more aware of everything that was going on,” said Cosgrove, who left much of the decision-making during the game to his assistants.

“I put great confidence in the coaches to take care of business,” he said. “I managed the staff and I talked to the offense and defense through a headset now on [another] coach, making sure they understand situations and what I want.”

Braves battle on

The Husson College men’s soccer team lost veteran coach Mitch Ellisen and most of their goal production.

But, despite not having a player in double figures in goals, the Husson College Braves won their second straight Maine Athletic Conference Tournament and will visit Nyack College in Nyack, N.Y. for the NAIA Region 9-10 Regional Tournament regional game on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

“This team has worked hard,” said assistant coach Joey Melanson, who was the MAC Player of the Year for Husson last season. “All year, nobody gave us respect because of all the players we lost. That has motivated us all year.

“Our focus has been on defense. We haven’t been shut out all year so if we defend well, we know we’ll get at least a goal,” said Melanson.

Sophomore midfielder Chris Allen said the team believed it could win all season.

“We’ve done it with defense and heart,” he said.

Allen pointed out that despite losing prolific point producers like Melanson, Richard Duffy, Sean Fleming and Gordon Ferguson, “we did return our back line.”

Junior goalie and tri-captain Mark Cuccinelli said Husson’s defense deserves more credit.

Tri-captain Jeremy Nelson has anchored the defense at sweeper but he will miss the Nyack game with a knee injury. However, Greenville’s Doug Wilson has filled in nicely, according to Melanson.

Tim Hurteau, Blue Hill’s Brock Mattson and Newport’s Charles Demos have also performed well in the back.

Demos, midfielders Daouda Diedhiou of Paris, France; Jason Ouellette of Jay and John Jones of Glenbun and striker and leading scorer Jamie Lambert from East Holden are freshmen who play regularly and, according to Melanson, have “stepped up their games 75 percent.”

First-year coach Nate Benoit and his team will take a 12-6-1 record into Tuesday’s game and Allen likes his team’s chances.

“I feel confident,” he said.

UMM wins MAC volleyball title

The University of Maine-Machias women’s volleyball earned the school’s first Maine Athletic Conference title in any sport Saturday as they upended Husson College in the championship match at Machias.

The Clippers were paced by the play of outside hitter Kristene Hirsch. The freshman from Levittown, N.Y. was named the league’s rookie of the year and player of the year. UM-Machias coach Sharon Bonaventure was also named the state’s coach of the year at the State of Maine Intercollegiate championship banquet a week earlier. The Clippers also earned the MAC sportsmanship award.

Joining Hirsch on the all-conference first team were sophomore April Wallace and freshman Leah Billington.

The Clippers next travel to Orangeburg, N.Y., for NAIA Region 10 championship tournament at Dominican College.