Former Foxcroft standouts will tackle I-AA ball Pelletier to play at Liberty; Gilbert at Albany

Two former Foxcroft Academy standouts will seek to continue their football careers at the NCAA Div. I-AA level.

Josh Pelletier, an offensive lineman and inside linebacker from Charleston who graduated from the Dover-Foxcroft school in June, is joining the football program at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Bobby Gilbert, a 2005 Foxcroft graduate from Beaver Cove who played last year at Div. III Husson College in Bangor, has transferred to the University of Albany in New York, where he will sit out this season as a redshirt.

Pelletier, who starred in football, wrestling and baseball at Foxcroft, initially considered playing baseball for the Flames, but when he was told that Liberty already was well stocked at first base, he turned to interest the school’s football coaching staff had in him joining that team.

“I knew I was going to play either football or baseball,” said Pelletier recently, “and first I went down there for a baseball camp where you show your talent. It was more like a tryout because they already knew me, and there were other colleges there, too, that thought I had the talent, but Liberty was pretty strong at my position [first base] and they pretty much came out and told me that they didn’t need any more players at that position.

“So since then it’s been all football. I’ve talked to the coach and he’s already got me rooming with other football players who are going there on scholarships for football, so I’m looking forward to it.”

The 6-foot-3 Pelletier, who played offensive line in the recent Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl at about 220 pounds, plans to bulk up to play defensive end at Liberty.

“They want to put 20 or 30 pounds on me, just muscle because they want me to stay fast to play defensive end,” said Pelletier, who is attending Liberty on a four-year ROTC scholarship.

Pelletier was a two-way all-state player last fall, recording a team-best 104 tackles while helping coach Paul Withee’s Foxcroft football team win the 2005 Eastern Maine Class C championship. Last winter he won his third consecutive Class C individual wrestling title for the Ponies, and went on to win the New England championship at 275 pounds.

He played first base for the Foxcroft baseball team this spring, and this summer was named to the American Legion Zone 1 first team for helping the Penquis Navigators reach the zone tournament.

Liberty, a member of the Big South Conference, finished 1-10 overall last year but lost its four conference games against Gardner-Webb, Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern and Virginia Military Institute by a combined 15 points.

Gilbert, a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist after the 2004 high school season, originally went to the University of Maine as a “preferred walk-on,” but after 11 preseason practices opted to leave the program and transferred to Husson where he was one of the Eagles’ leading tacklers as a freshman last fall.

But Gilbert, who had drawn Albany’s interest during his original recruiting process, decided during the off-season to transfer to the Great Danes’ program, which competes in the Northeast Conference and last year rebounded from an 0-5 start to finish with a 5-6 record.

The 5-11, 225-pound Gilbert, a sophomore, is one of two Maine natives listed on the 2006 Albany roster. He is joined by junior split end Kyle Poissionner of Smithfield, who played his high school football at Skowhegan and also went to Husson before transferring after the 2005 season.

Listed as a fullback on the Albany roster, Gilbert gained more than 3,500 yards rushing during three years at Foxcroft, with more than 1,000 yards as a junior as the Ponies went 12-0 and won the 2003 Class C state championship. He gained 1,971 yards and scored 37 touchdowns on offense and starred on defense at linebacker as a senior while leading the Ponies to a return trip to the Eastern C final.