Coach leaves Brewer hockey job Van Dolman pursuing teaching certificate; other posts open at school

Steve Van Dolman, Brewer High School’s varsity hockey coach for the last five years, is leaving that post to pursue educational goals.

Van Dolman, who guided the Witches to the 2006 Eastern Maine Class B championship, is nearing completion of the classes he needs to earn his teaching certificate. He currently serves as an educational technician at Brewer.

Van Dolman was the school’s junior varsity hockey coach for one year before replacing Paul Henderson in the varsity post beginning with the 2001-02 season. Since then, Van Dolman and the Witches have compiled a 67-41 record, the first four years as a Class A program before shifting to Class B last season.

Van Dolman said he decided not to return to the post over Christmas break after discussing the matter with his wife.

“It was a good run,” Van Dolman said. “I definitely saw the program change in many ways. When I first started coaching JV hockey at Brewer I remember how little respect this area got for hockey in either Class A or Class B. But I think what Bangor and Brewer have done has changed the perception the southern schools have of the quality of play up here.”

Brewer recently opened up all its co-curricular positions for applications, whether those positions involve athletics or other activities such as club advisers, according to athletic administrator Dennis Kiah. The positions first are being advertised within the schools, Kiah said, and if no suitable candidates are found then the positions are advertised externally.

In addition to the hockey post, one other position advertised externally last weekend was for the boys varsity soccer coach. Darren Hall, who does not work in the school system, has coached the Brewer boys soccer varsity squad for the last four years and has reapplied for the position.

Hall works as a certified public accountant, and serves in the Maine Legislature as the representative for House District 20 (Holden).

Brewer also is seeking outside candidates for its junior varsity boys soccer and junior varsity field hockey coaching positions, Kiah said.

Ortego, Marston honored

Ed Ortego of Brewer, Mike Marston of Skowhegan and Dick Mynahan of Lisbon were honored recently by the Maine Football Coaches Association.

Marston was recognized as the state’s Class A coach of the year, while Ortego was honored in Class B and Mynahan in Class C, according to MFCA executive secretary Mike Haley of Leavitt Area High in Turner Center.

Ortego led Brewer to its first state championship since 1970 last fall, as the Witches won the Pine Tree Conference Class B title and then defeated York 33-0 in the state final. Brewer won its last five games of the season to finish with a 10-2 record.

Ortego, who joined the Brewer staff as an assistant coach in the mid-1990s, compiled a 25-7 record in three years as the Witches head coach before resigning after last season to return to his native Louisiana.

Marston led Skowhegan to its second straight appearance in the Eastern Maine Class A championship game. The Indians finished with a 7-3 record despite playing much of the regular season without star tailback Aaron Chambers, a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist who missed four games with an ankle injury.

Mynahan guided Lisbon to an 11-1 record and the Class C state championship. The Greyhounds went undefeated in Western Maine Class C during regular-season play, then raced through the regional playoffs before using a goal-line stand in the final seconds to outlast Foxcroft Academy 12-7 in the state championship game.

The awards were presented during a luncheon held in conjunction with the MFCA’s annual meeting and clinic. Coaches were selected based on a vote of MFCA membership in each class.

GSA trio has college plans

At least three senior anchors of the George Stevens Academy baseball team plan to continue their athletic careers in college next season.

Pitcher-first baseman Collin Henry will attend the University of Southern Maine, while shortstop Blake Wessel will play at Endicott College and center fielder Phineas Peake is headed to the University of Maine at Farmington.

Henry considered attending most of the Division III baseball schools in Maine, as well as Division II Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire before opting for Southern Maine.

“I decided to go there because they’ve always got one of the top Division III teams in the state and in New England,” Henry said. “USM just seemed like the best fit, baseball, schoolwise, moneywise it was the best.”

Henry, a lefthanded pitcher who has been an ace of the GSA staff for the past three seasons, isn’t sure if he will pitch or play first base at USM, a two-time NCAA Division III national champion that lost last weekend in the championship round of the 2006 New England Regional.

“We’ll see,” said Henry. “I might go down there and they might add a couple of miles an hour to my fastball and I may be a pitcher, or they might change something with my swing and I might be playing first base.”

Wessel, GSA’s leadoff hitter and one of the better fielding middle infielders in Eastern Maine, will play for an Endicott College team that won the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament championship and earned a berth in the NCAA Division III New York Regional. The Gulls, based in Beverly, Mass., finished the season with a 23-22 record.

Peake, who bats No. 2 for GSA and also stands out defensively in the outfield for the Eagles, is set to attend UMF after also considering Plymouth State and Division II St. Michael’s College. At UMF, Peake will seek to help the Beavers – members of the North Atlantic Conference – bounce back from a 9-20 season in 2006.