It didn’t take long for Jeremy Kenney to score his first goal of the fall soccer season. The Bangor High junior put one in during the Rams’ first game of the season, a 2-0 win over Ellsworth.

It took a bit longer for Brewer High junior Andy Frost to score, but that’s because he is starting as a defender for the Witches. He did manage a goal in Brewer’s second game of the year.

Kenney and Frost have both made smooth transitions after making the jump from Class C to Class A high schools. They both started at their new schools this fall.

Last year Kenney was a soccer standout at Dexter High and was named a Penobscot Valley Conference Class C second-team all-star. He started his first two years for the Tigers.

Kenney moved with his mother to Bangor this summer as a sort of tryout to see if the family liked life in Bangor. His father and sister are still in Dexter, but could move to Bangor next year.

Kenney has gotten used to the change in school size – from about 350 students at Dexter to around 1,500 at Bangor.

“There are a lot more people, more competition,” he said. “It’s a lot tougher. In Class C you play against teams with two or three or four good players. In Class A everyone’s good.”

He plans to try out for the Bangor hockey team this winter. Dexter does not offer hockey, but Kenney has played in youth and travel leagues.

But he’s torn about the spring season. At Dexter Kenney could do both tennis and track, but he’ll likely have to make a choice at Bangor.

Kenney and doubles teammate Matt Capobianco were PVC Class C first-team tennis all-stars last year. Kenney also scored in the 400-meter dash at the Eastern Maine Class C track and field championship meet.

“I’d like to do both but I’m still thinking about it,” he said.

Frost came to Brewer when his father, Jim Frost, became the high school principal.

Like Kenney, getting used to the size of the school has been a challenge for Frost. Calais’ enrollment is around 300, Brewer is at about 800 students.

“I like things at Brewer,” Andy Frost said. “It’s a lot different. It’s three times the size. As far as academics go it’s a little more challenging but that’s because everything is new. We’re still trying to get things going in soccer but it’s been pretty fun so far.”

Frost played soccer, basketball and baseball for the Blue Devils last year. In soccer he was a Downeast Athletic Conference all-star and led Calais to the DAC title.

“The level of play is definitely higher than what I was used to in Class C,” Frost said.

Frost helped the Devils get to the state basketball final and was named Eastern Maine Class C all-tourney, All-Maine honorable mention and a DAC all-star.

Liberty jump-starting sports

Boys and girls who attend the Liberty School in Blue Hill are playing soccer again – but they’re doing it their way.

Mark Bosco, an English teacher at the 65-student independent private school who has coached middle school soccer in Trenton, has a squad of 19 boys and girls playing a Class D schedule.

Liberty last had a soccer team three years ago. Last year students showed interest in restarting a squad, so Bosco called the Maine Principals’ Association and got all the information he would need to start a team.

This September one of the activities students could choose was soccer. Bosco was surprised to find 19 boys and girls at a practice the day after Labor Day.

Bosco quickly organized more practice sessions and had the students take physicals. He became the school’s soccer coach and athletic director.

“We practiced like crazy and we got killed in our first game,” Bosco said. “But the kids have been having a good time. They had a lot of energy and we have some very, very good athletes.”

The Lightning now have an eight-game schedule – they opened with an 11-0 loss to Islesboro – and will play teams from East Grand in Danforth to Greater Portland Christian, including Highview Christian in Charleston and Chop Point of Woolwich.

Bosco said he had some trouble finding teams who could make room for Liberty on their schedules.

“We had to stretch it out a little more than I wanted to,” Bosco said of the long distances the team will have to travel.

The Lightning go to games in a 13-person school van and the mini-van of a parent. Liberty’s captains are Evan Michie, Tyler Leith and Hannah Thanhauser, who all live in the Blue Hill area.

Bosco has a variety of skill levels and experience – boys and girls who have never played, a French exchange student, kids who were in programs at Skowhegan and George Stevens in Blue Hill, and a student who just moved from New York.

There are six girls on the team, including Emily Paquin, a senior who starts at forward.

Basketball could be next for the Lightning, although Bosco isn’t sure if he’ll coach. Liberty had a girls team for several years and even got as far as the Eastern Maine Class D tournament prelims in 1999. Outdoor track and field or sailing could be on the horizon, too.

Liberty has been incorporating outdoor activities such as fishing and paddling into the curriculum and Bosco thinks this may have led to interest in other sports.

“The kids are getting into it, and that has led to a return of the sports program,” he said.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.