The Husson College football team rolled out of Bangor at 8 p.m. Thursday bound for Buena Vista, Va., and Saturday’s football game against Southern Virginia University.

Coach Gabby Price and the Eagles arrived back in Bangor at 5 a.m. Sunday – after approximately 1,666 miles and 27 hours on the bus – without having played their game.

Poor turf conditions at the municipal field used by SVU and torrential rains that swamped other fields in the area meant no facility was available for the game. It was canceled Saturday morning.

“The players were extremely disappointed,” Price said Monday. “Football players practice to play. They want to play football.”

The game will not be rescheduled and Price indicated Husson has fulfilled its responsibility as part of a home-and-home series with SVU, which played in Bangor last season.

It was at 10 p.m. Friday that Price was awakened by a telephone call asking him to contact Southern Virginia athletic director Tom Longenecker, who explained the dilemma.

“I said, ‘Tom, what are you talking about?'” Price said.

Longenecker indicated he would continue looking for an alternate location to play the game, but was not successful.

A press release on the SVU Web site that said, in part, “After several exhaustive hours, telephone calls and meetings late Friday night and early Saturday morning, Longenecker arrived at the decision [to cancel], one that was the result of heavy rainfall the past 48 hours in the southern part of the state of Virginia…”

Price said the field SVU uses had previously experienced problems related to a fungus. He expected school officials might have done some preliminary research to find an alternate field, regardless of the rainy conditions.

“[Saturday morning Longenecker] said, ‘what do you want from us?” Price recalled. “I said, ‘obviously, we want to play the game.”

SVU wouldn’t play Sunday because of religious considerations (it is a Mormon school) and Price said the Eagles weren’t willing to wait around until Monday to play.

Price is proud of the way the Husson contingent handled the disappointment while having to endure such a long road trip.

“Our young men were just terrific all the way through it. They handled themselves tremendously,” he said.

Husson had hoped to build some momentum coming off its 62-18 victory over Mount Ida on Oct. 1.

“Our kids were really excited. There was a really positive vibe,” Price said.

Price had promised his players a day off from practice Monday, so the Eagles will this afternoon begin preparing for Saturday’s 1 p.m. home game against the State University of New York’s Maritime College.

“We have great confidence in our young people. They have great resiliency,” Price said.

UMaine football seeks to regroup

The University of Maine football team looks to regroup, physically and mentally, in the wake of Saturday’s 38-2 loss at then-No. 5 James Madison.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s 2-3 Black Bears were outplayed, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines, while dropping to 0-2 in Atlantic 10 play.

“We got a dose of reality,” Cosgrove said.

While UMaine may have begun the season with aspirations of challenging for the conference title, it now must face the realization it is playing for more short-range goals.

“Win the next game,” is how Bears quarterback Ron Whitcomb described how the team will respond to Saturday’s loss. “Winning cures losing. That’s what we’re going to do.”

The Bears continue to lack consistency offensively as they try to rebuild a line that includes three first-time starters – one freshman, a redshirt freshman and a sophomore.

UMaine’s inability to run the ball consistently has placed more pressure on Whitcomb and the passing attack. And Whitcomb hasn’t had much time to throw the ball against fast, aggressive defenses like that of James Madison.

A handful of penalties also further slowed UMaine.

“They called good plays, it’s just that their interior offensive line, they weren’t getting any push,” said JMU defensive tackle Frank Cobbs.

The Bears haven’t scored a touchdown in six straight quarters of A-10 play dating back to the Richmond contest.

The Bears also are dealing with a few injuries from Saturday’s game. Starting defensive end Pat McCrossan missed most of the second half after suffering a shoulder injury in the first half, while starting offensive tackle Ryan Bird hurt his knee and ankle on the last play of the game.

Their playing status won’t be known until later this week.

For now, UMaine can do nothing more than look ahead to Saturday’s game against Hofstra at Hempstead, N.Y.

“We’ve got to practice well, prepare well,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve got to ante up and get on the road and play another A-10 game. The best thing we can do to cure what ails us is win a football game.”