Rams held line against Skowhegan’s tight front Maine wrestlers earn preseason recognition

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The lot of the football lineman is less than glamorous on most nights, but for the Bangor High School football team, that task was particularly without tangible rewards during its most recent game against Skowhegan.

That’s because in the Indians’ offensive front the Rams were up against a group lined up so tightly that it was essentially one block of manpower driving forward in an effort to ignite an offense almost entirely dedicated to the run.

And with the linemen bunched so close together, the gridiron was a room essentially without a view for Bangor’s defensive linemen.

Yet the Rams’ run defense had its best night of the season to date, limiting an explosive Skowhegan attack to just 3.7 yards per carry as Bangor earned a 26-14 Class A victory over the previously unbeaten Indians to improve to 4-1.

“You just had to sacrifice your body for the good of the team,” said nose tackle Chris Devereaux. “That’s exactly what we were supposed to do and that’s what we did.”

Devereaux, fellow interior linemen Andrew Riley, Tyler Cleveland and Kenny Beede and ends Adam Sproul, Renaud Collard-Segun and Ryan Weston were charged not with making tackles but with getting the Skowhegan offensive linemen on the ground.

Success in the trenches enabled linebackers Tyler McDade, Steven Seccareccia and Chris Ingraham and defensive backs Ian Edwards, Shane Walton and Kyle Vanidestine to make most of the tackles.

“[Skowhegan] plays toe to toe, and you have to get low because if you don’t get low, you’re going to get blown off the ball and they’re going to run the ball right up the gut,” said Devereaux.

Bangor had decent success against the Indians and standout tailback Zack Whiting during the first half, yielding 119 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries.

The Rams then made an adjustment at halftime that enabled their defensive line to have even more success, as Skowhegan averaged less than three yards per carry over the final two quarters.

“They were so tight at the line of scrimmage, no more than six inches apart, that you couldn’t see the seams,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “When we spread our tackles a little bit, the line was able to read it better.

“We thought Skowhegan’s line came off the ball as well or better than anyone we had faced, and I thought we matched that pretty well.”

Bangor’s defense will face a different but no less daunting task Friday night when the Rams play an unbeaten opponent for the third time in four weeks – a Lewiston team led by lightning-quick Wesley Myers, who already has more than 1,000 rushing yards this fall.

“[The Skowhegan win] was a great confidence boost for the team,” said Vanidestine, who scored three touchdowns against the Indians. “The line did a great job of holding them to 14 points. It just gives us confidence because now we know we’ve got Lewiston, another undefeated team, coming up and we know if we play with the same intensity we’re going to get them.”

Wrestlers earn preseason laurels

Ten Maine schoolboy wrestlers, including three three-time state champions, have earned 2007-08 preseason recognition by Wrestling USA, a nationwide magazine and Web site devoted to the sport.

Three-time champion Chris Smith of Deering of Portland and two-time champs Carlin Dubay of Caribou and Travis Spencer of Belfast all have been ranked nationally in their weight classes. Smith is the reigning Class A champion at 119 pounds, while Dubay (103) and Spencer (189) are defending Class B champions.

Seven other wrestlers, three-time state champions Jerod Rideout (145) of Foxcroft Academy and Jon Hussey (152) of Marshwood of Eliot, two-time winners Jacob Berry (152) of Camden Hills of Rockport, Jon Smith (140) of Dirigo of Dixfield and Josh Eon (171) of Massabesic of Waterboro and 2006 champs Mike Rolerson (160) of Belfast and Sam Webber (125) of Mt. Blue of Farmington, all earned special mention recognition from the publication.

Kane resigns Dirigo girls post

Gavin Kane, who has coached the boys and girls varsity basketball teams to postseason play at Class C Dirigo of Dixfield for the past two seasons, has stepped down as the Cougars’ girls coach after 13 years.

During that tenure, Dirigo won 11 consecutive Western Maine Class C titles from 1995 through 2005 and six state championships.

Kane was 263-17 as the girls basketball coach at Dirigo, with state championships in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. His teams won 124 consecutive regular-season games during one stretch and 136 straight against fellow Mountain Valley Conference programs.

Kane, who works as the manager of Wilson Lake Country Club in Wilton, added the boys varsity job to his duties in 2005 and has guided that program to a 35-6 record in two years. Last winter the Cougars finished 19-2 and advanced to the Western C final.

Kane, who also coached at Rangeley before taking the Dirigo girls post, surpassed 400 career victories last winter.

Conley takes South Portland job

One of the more controversial boys basketball coaching vacancies of the current off-season has been filled with the appointment of Phil Conley as the new coach at South Portland.

Conley, who has been an assistant basketball coach with the Red Riots for the last 12 years, replaces Tony DiBiase, who coached at South Portland for 17 years.

DiBiase was told last spring that his coaching contract would be renewed, but subsequently was told in June by school administrators that he would not be renominated for the post. He then reapplied for the open position but was not rehired.

The South Portland school board last month then rejected the nomination of former Fort Kent coach Tim Farrar to replace DiBiase before school officials turned to Conley.

DiBiase, a Westbrook native, is a former football and baseball player at the University of Maine and, since coaching his first varsity basketball game at Machias in 1977, has amassed 392 victories and won three state championships, one each at Gorham (1982), Portland (1986) and South Portland (1992).