The University of Maine football team experienced highs and lows in its season-opening 34-14 loss to No. 8 Youngstown State but came out of the contest believing it has the potential to be successful.

“This football team competed real hard,” said UMaine head coach Jack Cosgrove. “We’ll fix the things that obviously were problems in the second half [when YSU scored 21 unanswered points and held the Bears to 34 total yards].”

The Bears’ youthful offense had difficulty overcoming penalties but demonstrated an ability to run the ball with senior Arel Gordon. He showed both breakaway ability with a 75-yard touchdown run and a good nose for running in traffic.

“Arel, he’s the guy that’s going to make us go,” said University of Maine associate head coach and offensive coordinator Bobby Wilder. “We’ll win or lose with him being our lead guy.”

An otherwise untested group of receivers accounted for only seven catches and 51 yards, including Manzi Pierre’s highlight-reel TD reception.

Senior quarterback Ron Whitcomb passed for 114 yards and a TD with an interception, but he frequently tucked the ball and ran with limited results (18 carries, minus-10 yards). While he is still adjusting to the new scheme and personnel, Whitcomb will need to demonstrate more poise and patience.

“Ron has got to play better,” said Wilder, who was pleased overall with the play of the offensive line against YSU.

“They showed me that we can be a very good unit up front,” he added.

Defensively, UMaine kept the Penguins’ ground attack pretty well in check, but wound up being susceptible to the short passing game. Free safety Jonathan Calderon made a nice starting debut with 11 tackles and the line, led by Matt King, Patrick McCrossan, and Mike DeVito, chased quarterback Tom Zetts all over the field before YSU switched to a three-step drop and quicker throws.

“We had some things that we need to clean up at all levels,” said defensive coordinator Robb Smith. “We’re certainly disappointed, but we’re not discouraged.”

Cosgrove was happy with the efforts of his kickers. Sophomore punter Kash Kiefer, making his college debut, averaged 38.7 yards on six kicks.

He got excellent hang time and distance, even while kicking into a stiff wind a few times. YSU managed only two returns for one yard.

Place-kicker Devin McNeill of Portland made both PAT attempts.

“We ended up being pretty pleased for the most part with things on special teams,” said Cosgrove, who did point out the high punt snap that helped set up a YSU touchdown.

The Bears must regroup quickly for Saturday night’s Atlantic 10 opener at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

UNH, CentConn earn big wins

Saturday was an eye-opening day in Division I-AA football.

Defending Atlantic 10 Conference champion New Hampshire went to Evanston, Ill. and beat Big Ten member Northwestern 34-17. In another shocker, Central Connecticut went to Statesboro, Ga., and knocked off perennial national power Georgia Southern 17-13.

While the Wildcats reached the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals last season and have two of the top offensive players in the nation in quarterback Ricky Santos and wide receiver David Ball, beating Northwestern convincingly raised a lot of eyebrows.

“I’m shocked, to be honest with you,” Wilder said. “That was amazing.”

UNH is No. 1 in The Sports Network Top 25 poll this week.

WZON radio color commentator Bob Lucy of Bangor pointed out two weeks ago that Northwestern might not be aware of what it was getting itself into in scheduling UNH.

Yet Central Connecticut’s win might be even more surprising. The Blue Devils of the Northeast Conference are a mid-major program, which means they offer only a limited number of scholarships.

CCSU handed 13th-ranked Georgia Southern only its 18th home loss in the last 25 seasons.