Thornton resigns Brewer hoop position Presque Isle boys thriving despite early adversity

These days, everyone is searching for time to spend with family. In an effort to do just that, Brewer girls basketball coach Tim Thornton resigned last month, Witches athletic director Dennis Kiah said.

“I think what happens is, the time and effort that goes into coaching takes away from the hours you’re with your family,” Kiah said. “I think his girls are getting older and he wants to spend time with them.”

Thornton, who will continue on as a Brewer High social studies teacher, replaced Lauree Gott after the 1999 season. Thornton will continue to help out Kiah in the athletic department, which he did in a bigger capacity last spring while Kiah was battling cancer.

Thornton led the Witches to a 28-28 record in two years. Brewer fell in the second round of the Eastern Maine Class A open tournament last season and lost in the 2000 quarterfinals to eventual state champion Mt. Blue of Farmington.

Thornton has served as an assistant principal at Hermon High, where he coached the Hermon girls to a state championship in 1994 and an Eastern Maine runner-up finish in 1990. He was named the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches Class B coach of the year in both 1989 and 1994.

The position was advertised for the first time last weekend. Kiah said he’ll arrange interviews after the Sept. 14 application deadline.

Wildcats rolling

It’s a tribute to the Presque Isle boys soccer team that it has emerged from the opening weeks of the season with a 5-0 record. The Wildcats have thrived against some of the toughest teams – including Fort Kent, Caribou and Houlton – on their schedule without several key starters.

“Despite some injuries and adversity, they have really stepped it up as a team,” said Presque Isle athletic director David Heald.

Senior goalie Shane Clark was one of the biggest injury losses. He fractured his left wrist during a 4-3 win against Fort Kent and will probably be out for another 2-3 weeks.

Sophomore Ben Sirois has been starting in Clark’s place.

“He’s really been working hard in practice,” Clark said of Sirois, last year’s junior varsity goalie.

Luke Blackstone, the starting stopper, has also had to deal with a number of injuries (torn retina, stretched ligament). But the Wildcats’ all-new defense of sweeper Matt Gale and outside fullback R.J. Gagnon has filled in nicely, said senior striker Nick Casavant.

Presque Isle has a new coach in Scott Clark. And one of last year’s top offensive players, Denis Saucier, is no longer on the team (Heald declined to discuss Saucier’s absence from the team).

The Wildcats already feel Clark is one of them, said junior halfback Kyle James. And forward Darren Carlisle, who is from Presque Isle but attended St. Dominic in Lewiston last year, has returned and is giving the Wildcats one more scoring option.

Somehow, the Wildcats have made it all work.

“Every head ball, every 50-50 ball, has been ours,” Casavant said. “Especially through all the injuries, we’ve pulled together, which is important.”

Soon-to-be night Owls

Madawaska High is just a few weeks away from night soccer. Whether it will happen in time for two of the Owls’ last home games before the harvest break remains to be seen.

The school will put up six light poles on the 11th Avenue field. The school is waiting for the lights to arrive, but everything else is in place, said Ed Marshall, the Madawaska athletic director and girls soccer coach.

Ideally the Owls would play boys and girls night games for the first time against Fort Kent Sept. 10 and 11, respectively.

“Madawaska-Fort Kent under the lights is just a great atmosphere,” Marshall said. “We’ve been hoping and hoping, but we’re going to have to pull out some magic.”

Don Lavoie, the father of senior sweeper Danielle Lavoie, and Rick Pelletier, who had two daughters play for Marshall, have helped lead the effort to get lights. The town spent just $15,000 while Fraser Papers Inc., which has a mill in Madawaska, and other local businesses donated the remaining funds and work.

“It’s been a total, total community effort,” Marshall said.

Jessica Bloch’s High School Report is published each Tuesday. She can be reached at 990-8193 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net