You can take the “co-” out of former Brewer High School baseball co-coach Tim Scott’s title now.

Scott has taken over head coaching duties this spring after former co-coach and Brewer alumnus Ronnie Hewes decided to travel to South Carolina and pursue a college coaching position there.

Hewes went south with fellow Brewer grad Andy Kiah, who took a coaching position at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.

“Now I don’t have anyone to share the blame,” joked Scott. “I don’t see where there will be too much of a difference between the way it was when Ronnie and I coached. Teamwise, our biggest challenge is finding a middle infield and filling the center field position. You need to be solid up the middle.”

The 28-year-old rookie head coach knows a thing or two about strength up the middle. He was a star catcher at Ellsworth and the starting second baseman at the University of Maine.

Scott, who earned a political science degree at UMaine five years ago, is taking classes twice a week at Maine and should receive his teaching certificate this semester. He would like to land a teaching-coaching job, preferably in the Greater Bangor area.

“I want to teach social studies – classes like history, geography, social studies or civics – for grades 7 through 12,” said Scott.

Scott and his wife Debbie, a second-grade teacher at Old Town, want to stay in this area.

Brewer’s newest head coach has also been an assistant boys basketball coach at Hampden Academy the last two seasons and plans to coach there again next winter. On top of that, he runs a family landscaping business with his father, Jack, who played minor league baseball in the Boston Red Sox system.

Scott was a three-sport standout at Ellsworth High School, where he helped lead the Eagles to one soccer and two baseball state championships from 1985 through 1988.

Scott won numerous basketball awards during and after his senior year at Ellsworth (1987-88), including NEWS All-Maine first-team honors, Mr. Maine Basketball, and the Naismith Award. His jersey (No. 24) was also retired.

He finished his high school career as Ellsworth’s all-time goal scorer and won All-State soccer honors.

The Maine Track and Cross Country Coaches Association announced its coaches of the year in respective sports last weekend at the MTCCCA clinic in Portland and Eastern Maine coaches dominated the cross country selections:

Ellsworth’s Andy Beardsley was voted Class B boys coach of the year. Class C was an Eastern sweep as Isom Sargent from Sumner of East Sullivan took boys honors and John Norris of Lincoln’s Mattanawcook Academy won the girls award. In Class D, Bangor Christian’s Dale Post won D girls honors.

The lone Eastern Maine coach to win indoor or outdoor track coach of the year notice was Orono’s Gerhardt Skall for Class C boys outdoor track (1996 season).

Cheverus coach Charlie Malia and Scarborough coach Ron Kelly each won two awards. Malia was voted Class A boys indoor and Class A cross country coach of the year. Kelly was named Class B cross country and outdoor track coach of the year.

MTCCCA Coaches of year

INDOOR TRACK (1997)

Class A boys: Charles Malia, Cheverus; Girls: Diane Fournier, Mount Ararat

Class B boys: Steve Ross, Scarborough; Girls: John Folan, Greely CROSS COUNTRY (1996)

Class A boys: Charles Malia, Cheverus; Girls: Ken Knapton, Westbrook

Class B boys: Andy Beardsley, Ellsworth; Girls: Ron Kelly, Scarborough

Class C boys: Isom Sargent, Sumner; Girls: John Norris, Mattanawcook

Class D boys: Jack Kaplan, Valley-Bingham; Girls: Dale Post, Bangor Christian OUTDOOR TRACK (1996)

Class A boys: Dick Leavitt, Brunswick; Girls: Dane Dwyer, Morse

Class B boys: Jim Doane, Scarborough; Girls: Ron Kelly, Scarborough

Class C boys: Gerhardt Skall, Orono; Girls: Sharon Coulton, Winthrop