Each week, the losses get harder to swallow for the University of Maine football team.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s 1-5 Black Bears have now dropped five straight games for the first time since losing the last five contests during the 1993 season.

The approach by Cosgrove and his players in the wake of Saturday’s 21-20 setback against William & Mary is to try to build off the good things the Bears did.

“It’s a step we took, a better step than where we’ve been, a positive step,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve just got some things to fix and some things to get better at to win a game and that’s what [this] week will be all about.”

What UMaine did against the Tribe was run the football effectively. Junior tailback Jhamal Fluellen established career bests with 30 carries and 197 yards.

While he isn’t a big, powerful runner, Fluellen absorbed and shook off the punishment while picking his way through ample holes provided by the line.

“He took some hits,” Cosgrove said. “He’s a got a unique running style. He’s squirrelly in there.”

Fluellen ranks sixth among Colonial Athletic Association rushers, averaging 103.5 yards per game. He has netted a healthy 5.2 yards per carry.

“Jhamal was reading the line and everything real well,” said UMaine quarterback Adam Farkes. “He was gashing [William & Mary] all game and our O-line was opening the holes for him. We had a really good run attack [Saturday].”

That rushing success also helped Farkes and the Bears put together a solid passing game. Farkes completed 11 of 19 throws for 125 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Farkes continues to make strides as he gets more comfortable in his role as UMaine’s signal caller.

“We had a better balanced attack this week than we had previously,” Cosgrove said. “Every week he has gotten better and better with his role and his ability to throw the football for us, to run our offense. We like the progression that we’re making with our quarterback each and every week.”

Cosgrove and his staff are trying to prepare the Bears for Saturday’s nonconference game at Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) independent Stony Brook on Long Island.

“We’ve got to rally the troops here,” said Cosgrove, who is hopeful UMaine will be able to regain the services of some key players who have been out with injuries.

Linebacker Andrew Downey and cornerback Lamir Whetstone each have missed the last two games, but appear on track to return to action Saturday.

UMaine promotes Laura Reed

Laura Reed has been promoted to assistant athletic director for public relations, UMaine athletic director Blake James announced Monday.

Reed replaces Brent Williamson, who left this summer to take a similar position at Wofford College in his home state of South Carolina.

Reed is a Unity native and a 1998 graduate of UMaine with a B.A. in political science and a minor in Canadian studies. For the last seven years, she served as an assistant manager of athletic media relations and has served as the primary media contact for several Black Bear teams including men’s hockey, men’s basketball, baseball, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, softball and track and field.

In her new role, Reed will oversee the UMaine media relations office and all aspects of promoting the 19 varsity athletic teams. She also will monitor the GoBlackBears.com Web site and organize feature stories for Black Bear Insider, a bi-weekly local TV show.

Before returning to UMaine in 2000, Reed did an internship at UMass Lowell from 1999-2000.

UMaine teams to do youth events

Sports teams from UMaine will be participating in a handful of community events geared toward local youth in the next few weeks.

It begins Sat. 21 with a “Bears of Tomorrow” program in conjunction with UMaine’s noon women’s soccer game against Binghamton at Alumni Field.

Athletes from UMaine teams will conduct a free clinic for kids in grades 6-12 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. They plan to discuss making healthy choices and also will provide tours of athletic facilities after the clinic.

After the game, the women’s soccer team will be part of a meet and greet autograph session during which coach Scott Atherley will address youngsters about what it takes to be a college athlete.

On Oct. 26, a variety of UMaine athletes will volunteer and do painting and cleaning projects at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter.

On Oct. 31, the women’s ice hockey team plans a Halloween Skate from 6:15-7:15 p.m. at Alfond Arena in Orono.

That same night, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is sponsoring a “Trick or Eat” campaign which will encourage UMaine teams to go trick or treating for canned good to support the local food cupboard.

Among other activities in which UMaine athletes are involved, men’s ice hockey players Bret Tyler and Billy Ryan volunteer weekly on the pediatric floor at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and women’s basketball player Amanda Tewksbury has formed a group for Christian athletes that speaks to community groups and local schools.

For information on how Black Bear student-athletes can help in your community event, call UMaine Student-Athlete Services Coordinator Brandi Rideout at 581-1828.