When Dirigo girls basketball coach Gavin Kane skippered the Cougars of Dixfield to a 50-31 win over Winthrop on Dec. 20, it put him into an elite group of Maine high school coaches.

Kane, who has been at Dirigo since the 1994-95 season, earned his 300th victory as a coach with the win over the Ramblers.

Under Kane, the Cougars have never finished lower than No. 1 in Western Maine Class C and haven’t lost a regular-season game since the 1998-99 season. They’ve won five state titles and nine straight regional crowns since Kane took over the program.

He also skippered the Rangeley boys from 1986 to 1994.

Other Maine coaches with 300 or more wins include Gerry Duffy, Ron Marks, Bill Obermeyer, Bob Brewer, I.J. Pinkham, Art Dyer, Ed Taylor and Ed Guiski. Bob Cimbollek, Phil Faulkner and Ordie Alley reached the 400-win level and Dick Barstow has more than 500 wins to his name.

GHCA on the road

The Greater Houlton Christian basketball teams have their share of home games this season, but they will all be on the road.

The Eagles don’t have a home gym, so they’ve been traveling to the University of Maine at Presque Isle for home games.

“We just don’t have a gym,” said first-year girls coach Vaughn Farrar. “We’re adjusting to it.”

The teams practice at the armory in Houlton but can’t get in to play games.

Lovitz learning on England trip

It’s a good thing the Maine Soccer Coaches Association held its awards banquet when it did, because otherwise Lawrence star goalie Nate Lovitz might have been unable to attend.

Lovitz, who helped the Bulldogs of Fairfield to the Class A state championship in 2002, is spending the rest of the school year in England, studying and playing soccer for a school team in Chorleywood, a town northwest of London.

“I just thought it would be a great experience, not only on the soccer side of it but just experiencing a new culture,” he said after Sunday’s MSCA banquet in Bangor.

Lovitz said he had been in touch with the school, St. Clement Danes, ever since his club team here took a trip to England three years ago. Lovitz finished all of his requirements for Lawrence by the end of the first quarter and headed over to St. Clement Danes in early November.

The soccer season is just starting there, but he’s already picked up a lot.

“It’s definitely a faster-paced game,” Lovitz said. “As a ‘keeper you’re playing a lot more with your feet and you’re really involved, almost like a sweeper-‘keeper. You’ve really got to use your feet. It’s been great so far. I’ve gotten a lot of training that I’ve never had before.”

Lovitz, who already has been accepted an invitation to attend Bowdoin College, was named an All-New England honoree by the Maine Soccer Coaches Association for the second year in a row.

Lawrence went 12-3-1 this past high school season. The Bulldogs reached the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals where they fell to eventual state champion Mount Ararat of Topsham.

Dobbins sings sans practice

Hermon senior guard Shannon Dobbins has a sure-fire way to take one’s mind off pre-game jitters: agree to sing the national anthem minutes before the game.

That’s what happened at Orono High School last week before the Hawks and the Red Riots played an Eastern Maine Class B game. Orono’s recording of the Star Spangled Banner wouldn’t play properly, and the school’s backup singers couldn’t make it to the game, so Orono athletic director Mike Archer asked the Hawks if they knew of someone to sing the anthem.

Dobbins was asked about it during pre-game warm-ups and agreed to sing the anthem.

Dobbins performed admirably considering she didn’t have any time for a trial run. She’s performed the anthem at some Hermon boys games before.

“Then I had time to warm up and get ready,” she said after the Hawks beat the Riots 49-31. “This time I didn’t. There were definitely notes there that I [missed]. I blame that on lack of preparation time.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.