LINCOLN – Mike Bisson scans the list of 67 football players who plan to don the maroon and gray of Mattanawcook Academy this fall and he gets excited.

“We’ve got a great number of kids signed up, more than I’ve ever seen here,” said Bisson, who this week was named the Lynx’s new head coach.

The 34-year-old Bisson replaces Mike Carney, who resigned this spring after two years as head coach, according to MA athletic director Rick Sinclair.

Mattanawcook is coming off an injury-plagued 2-7 season in 2003, but only six players graduated from that youthful team that will enter the 2004 campaign armed with a year of varsity experience.

“We played a lot of sophomores last year and took our lumps,” said Bisson.

Bisson, also an assistant baseball coach at MA who serves as the school health coordinator for SAD 67, never played high school football. In fact, he played soccer at the University of Maine at Presque Isle for coach Frank McGrath.

“It’s kind of an interesting story,” said Bisson. “Frank played football and then coached soccer. I played soccer, but once I started teaching and had the chance to coach football, I figured if he could do it that way, I could give it a try.”

Bisson was an assistant coach at Stearns of Millinocket for four years under Dave Evans and Art Greenlaw, including in 1995 when Stearns won the Class C state championship.

He has coached football at Mattanawcook since 1997, and he was defensive coordinator under coach Tom Whitney in 1999 when the Lynx won the Class C state title.

Bisson was MA’s offensive coordinator last fall.

“We’ve got great kids and tough kids,” said Bisson. “We’ve got kids who play physical football, and we’ll continue to try to play physical football. We’ll be disciplined, and we’ll set high aspirations for the program.”