The Maine Principals’ Association’s decision to split the Class A state basketball championship games into two sessions for the next two years drew two distinctly different responses from two coaches who have been involved in more than their share of the games. The MPA’s decision… Read More
SAD 1 school superintendent Dr. Gehrig Johnson’s decision to drop Presque Isle High School’s playing status to Class B in basketball, baseball, soccer and softball was made after several months of input from townspeople and school officials. Johnson made the announcement at an SAD 1… Read More
Call it Super Saturday. Due primarily to last weekend’s snowstorm and continuous precipitation the last two weeks, both the Class B and C state championship football games have been moved from central Maine locations to an artificial turf field in Portland. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
The Maine Principals’ Association has decided to conduct a two-year experiment in which the Class A boys and girls state basketball championship games will be played in separate sessions. Bill Fletcher, the longtime Eastern Maine basketball tournament director, said that the decision was made in… Read More
ELLSWORTH – Dana Smith stood near the sideline of the Ellsworth High gym and gave instructions to a freshman waiting to enter a scrimmage during basketball practice Monday. “Go in for that girl,” Smith said, pointing to a player already on the floor. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
Jim Sperry took the George Stevens Academy boys soccer team to a place few believed possible this year. The Eagles played in the Class C state championship game. GSA lost 11 seniors from last year’s team and Sperry said that many of the people he… Read More
Even though the Woodland volleyball team was a likely preseason favorite, the Dragons still had to deal with some trash talk – as in, can Woodland win despite graduating six seniors, including standouts Ashley Marble and Julia Knights? “People were saying we couldn’t win without… Read More
While the same old soccer powers are back in Western Maine, four Eastern Maine high school soccer teams will make their debuts in the state finals. Class A Lawrence of Fairfield and Class B Winslow won their first regional boys titles. Class B Bucksport and… Read More
A year ago, Hampden Academy cross country and track standout Oriana Farley was a fixture at or near the top of the official results listings in every race she ran. The 2002 fall season hasn’t been a repeat performance for the Bronco senior, who finished… Read More
For 15 years, Lisa Richards has coached the Bangor High School softball team. But when the spring sports season arrives next year Richards will become just another fan at Rams games. Richards has decided to step down from her coaching duties to concentrate on a… Read More
With the high school winter sports season just weeks away the coaching carousel continues around Eastern Maine. Several boys’ basketball coaches have resigned while Tim Toothaker returns to the varsity basketball coaching scene at Southern Aroostook High School in Dyer Brook. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
As a freshman at Narraguagus High in Harrington, Shelby Howe played volleyball for the Knights. Her sister Brittany is a scholarship volleyball player at the University of Maine. But when Narraguagus offered a girls soccer team for the first time, she jumped sports. “Playing volleyball… Read More
Invitations to play in the second annual MBR Interclass All-Star basketball weekend, Nov. 9-10 at Husson College in Bangor, are being sent out to high school players across the state. Tom Nolette, who operates Maine Basketball Report and its Web site www.mrb.org, is organizing the… Read More
The Presque Isle community has always taken a lot of pride in its successful high school sports teams – and the fact that the Wildcats have been playing in Class A despite a high school enrollment under the minimum for soccer, basketball, baseball and softball. Read More
Dana Smith has emerged from last year’s coaching tumult with two new coaching jobs. Smith, who was fired and rehired as the baseball coach at Sumner of East Sullivan last year, has been tabbed to coach the Ellsworth baseball and girls basketball teams. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
There’s a big hole in the ground where the Hampden Academy baseball field used to be. That’s because a group of group of people in Hampden and within the school district became concerned about the conditions of some of the school’s facilities and decided to… Read More
Several years ago Jenn Towne’s father built a soccer goal for their backyard. The Bangor High senior, who is a starter for the girls soccer team, wants to play soccer in college. So when Towne landed in the hospital in August, she was justifiably upset. Read More
The numbers are in, but the playoff picture through five-eighths of the Pine Tree Conference football season is no less murky. Ironically, the team currently occupying the catbird seat is the one which needed a miracle run at this time last year just to make… Read More
A quirk in the high school sports calendar this year has the end of the fall season overlapping with the winter season. The football state championship games in Classes A, B and C will be held Saturday, Nov. 23, while the winter season opens Monday,… Read More
Danielle Clark has realized her dream to play Division I basketball. Clark, a key member of the Nokomis of Newport girls basketball squad and a two-time All-Maine first-team honoree, is headed to the University of New Hampshire next year on a full scholarship. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
For the first time in at least six years, Brewer’s varsity football team is 4-0. Barring an epic second-half collapse, the Witches are also primed to make history another way by notching back-to-back playoff seasons for the first time in at least 35 years. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
The Caribou girls soccer team has made a huge turnaround this season. Last fall the Vikings finished their season with a 2-12 record. This year, with four games left on their schedule, the team is 9-1 after a win at Mount Desert Island Saturday. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
Ed Imbert remembers the noise. The crowd was going wild in Dover-Foxcroft. It was Sept. 13. Friday the 13th and the Foxcroft Academy Ponies had a 12-6 lead over Winslow with 3:50 left in the game. The Black Raiders had won 24 football games in… Read More
At the end of the 2001 soccer season, K.C. Duffy-Stanley and the Katahdin High girls team took stock of who would be back for the following year. With at least six soccer players graduating from the Class D school in Sherman Station, the numbers were… Read More
When Jason Woodworth swings a golf club, good things usually happen. The 15-year-old sophomore at Central Aroostook of Mars Hill recently won the Aroostook County Class C individual golf championship and led the Panthers to the team championship. He qualified for the state individual tournament. Read More
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… Read More
After seven years away from the sport he loves, longtime high school basketball coach Ron Brown is poised to return to the high school hardwood. The 51-year-old coach, writer and founder of Maine Roundball Magazine, and analyst for Maine Public Broadcasting Company is the recommended… Read More
SAINT AGATHA – From its windswept field behind the high school, the Wisdom girls soccer team has a picturesque view of Long Lake. After six wins last year, who would have thought the Pioneers’ picture this season would be just as pretty as the view?… Read More
It has only been two weeks and five days since players and coaches first met on the practice field. Some coaches still aren’t sure about which players are best for which positions, which areas need shoring up, or how strong they are in others, but… Read More
HAMPDEN – The buzz around Hampden Academy’s preseason football camp this fall has centered around the emphasis on incorporating a legtimate passing game. New head coach John Sparacio has a long-range plan for his program, so he warns fans not to get overly excited early,… Read More
The Waterville High football team doesn’t have its home opener until Sept. 21, but fans have gotten an early peek at the renovations to Drummond Field in the preseason. So far, everyone seems excited about the vastly improved, nearly completed facility. Waterville had a chance… Read More
Jensen Bissell has virtually no idea of how his soccer team is coming along. As a first-year girls varsity soccer coach at Penquis High in Milo, Bissell knows his team is good to work with, and receptive to the new soccer concepts he’s introduced. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
After a combined 11 seasons coaching varsity and junior varsity sports at Orono High School, Aaron Watson has decided to resign both his varsity baseball and basketball positions. As a rash of coaching turnovers continue to affect the local landscape, Watson, who teaches physical education… Read More
Most of the state’s high school athletes can be thankful practice for fall sports started Monday, just as the recent run of hot, humid weather seems to have broken. Not so up in Aroostook County, where practice for many schools there has been going on… Read More
MADAWASKA – Amy Vaillancourt and Micah Laplante each scored a first-half goal to power Van Buren to a 2-0 victory over Madawaska Monday in schoolgirl soccer action. Natalie Cormier and Sarah Lajoie each had an assist. Danielle Gagnon made seven saves on 10 shots for… Read More
For the first time in 15 years, someone other than Butch Richards will be sitting at the head of the bench during Belfast boys varsity basketball games. Richards, who has also been an assistant coach and co-head varsity football coach at Belfast for nine years,… Read More
Coach Dan Cyr takes his Fort Kent girls soccer team down to Boston for an annual summer trip, but he prefers the Warriors not think too much about soccer during the time away. Sure, there will be a little bit of the sport mixed in… Read More
Two locations, 13 years, $220,000 in charitable donations, and innumerable volunteers later, the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic is still going strong. The 13th annual installment of the East-West senior all-star football game, which donates all proceeds to the Shriners Hospitals for Children and Shriners… Read More
Non-action at a recent school board meeting and an ad in the Saturday newspaper mean Mike Webb is out as the girls basketball coach at Hampden Academy. Maine School Administrative District 22, which encompasses Hampden, Winterport and Newburgh, advertised both the girls basketball position and… Read More
Eighteen years ago, Jim Frost coached the Brewer Witches to the brink of an Eastern Maine Class A basketball championship. Now he hopes his youngest son will get a chance to experience the same kind of memorable tournament magic he enjoyed as the Frost family… Read More
There will be a number of key changes to the fall coaching staff at Hampden Academy in the upcoming school year. Hampden has hired Kurt Mathies to take over the successful girls soccer program, but it will lose football coach Mike Corneil this fall to… Read More
Milk. It does a body good. In Chris Sighinolfi’s case, milk has been good for more than just his body. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i… Read More
After nine years away from the varsity hoops scene, Franklin native Walter Crabtree will be back on the bench. The 44-year-old Crabtree, an alumnus of East Sullivan’s Sumner High who also played basketball for the Tigers, will succeed Dana Smith as boys head coach. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
Mike Verrill’s status as the Maranacook of Readfield softball coach is up in the air right now. Verrill, who has coached a sport at Maranacook since 1980 and the softball team for the past five seasons, is hoping to start wintering in Florida with his… Read More
It was around the start of his junior year in high school that Brewer’s Joel Barrett started thinking about the possibility of playing Division I college baseball. Naturally, his thoughts wandered toward Orono and what it would be like playing at the University of Maine’s… Read More
Recent Caribou High graduate Jeff Alden ended his high school career in a blaze of glory as he became Caribou’s first New England Regional track and field champion. Alden, who was seeded third, won the 1,600-meter run at the meet in Plymouth, Mass., last week… Read More
The University of Southern Maine has collected some of the top girls basketball players in Maine over the past few years. This year’s recruiting class includes some well-known names, too. Calais star Katie Frost is heading to the Gorham school, as is Caribou standout Jessica… Read More
Waterville soccer star Christine Serdjenian has been selected to play in the Powerade McDonalds All-American high school soccer game Saturday on Daniel Island in Charleston, S.C. She flew to Charleston Thursday, her father Mark Serdjenian said. Serdjenian, who will attend Brown University next fall, was… Read More
Neither rain nor wind, frigid temperatures, blistering sun, nor long distances could keep him from the court. If the Bangor boys tennis team was playing he was courtside. Fans and parents alike always found themselves looking for him at matches and usually didn’t have to… Read More
In the 41 years Dwight Hunter was the athletic director at Caribou High, he must have made some impression on his students. So much so, in fact, that one of them wanted his position. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
Greater Houlton Christian Academy will be joining the already swollen ranks of full-fledged Maine basketball schools next season. The six-year-old private school, which offers grades kindergarten through 12 and currently boasts an enrollment of 154 students, will add boys basketball to its varsity sports mix… Read More
Whether it’s selling tickets, serving hot dogs, fund raising, or helping to construct fields, Bill and Connie Laughlin are a constant presence at Hermon High sporting events, booster club meetings and other athletic activities. In return, the school was to dedicate the field hockey field… Read More
They don’t come much tougher than TaraLee Webster, the ace pitcher for the Searsport softball team. Webster found out Wednesday afternoon that she will be out of action for at least the next three weeks – which means she will miss the rest of the… Read More
Two weeks into the baseball season, Bangor junior Andy Treadwell was essentially on top of his game. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound pitcher-outfielder was starting to get into a rhythm on the mound and his batting stroke was as smooth as ever. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
Fort Kent softball coach Tamar Philbrook hasn’t been keeping track of statistics for the Warriors this season. In the two previous years she coached the team, she never needed to. Now that Fort Kent has closed out the regular season with a 13-3 record, its… Read More
Credit the foreign exchange student program for turning Foxcroft Academy tennis coach Ryan Dankert into a big booster of international trade. Before the first day of tryouts, Dankert’s biggest concern was how to go about filling six of seven spots vacated in his varsity lineup… Read More
The New England cross country championships are being held in Maine in November, and there are sure to be plenty of local high school runners involved. But don’t expect to cheer on top teams like Hampden Academy, Mt. Blue High of Farmington and Greely of Cumberland Center. Read More
Tom Obey’s first playoff coaching experience was forgettable. Facing a tough Jonesport-Beals team and star pitcher Sandi Carver, Obey’s Bangor Christian squad lost 30-1 in an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal. “I think we got one hit and we kicked the ball a few times,”… Read More
If Narraguagus softball coach Elliott Noyes was concerned about the durability of senior pitcher Ashley Woodward, her effort last week should assuage his fears. Woodward pitched five games in five days and went 4-1. The loss came against Searsport, which has its own star pitcher… Read More
After a combined nine years behind the bench at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, boys varsity coach Bill Brooks and girls varsity coach Frank McGrady are leaving the Huskies’ basketball programs. The open positions have already been advertised by MCI and athletic director Julie Treadwell… Read More
The Bangor Christian baseball team knew it would be without one of its top players this spring. When the Patriot softball team lost one of its top players this year, it came as a surprise. Either way, both squads have been dealt big blows in the past months. Read More
Back in her glory days as a player, Jen Marzolf teamed with Jen Wardwell to help lead the Bucksport Golden Bucks to four straight appearances in the Eastern Maine Class B finals. Now Marzolf is trying to lead Mount Desert Island to some glory years… Read More
Ever since he started coaching the Hampden softball team two years ago, Rodney Wells has felt the Broncos program is just a step below other area Class A teams such as Bangor, Brewer and Old Town. Those squads are established and consistent winners, he likes to point out,… Read More
New baseball coach Beal adjusts at Jonesport-Beals Solid pitching helps Royals start with 1-1 record
The start of the 2002 baseball season hasn’t been kind to rookie head coach and Jonesport-Beals alumnus Tony Beal. After replacing former head coach Blaine Steeves on the fly after Steeves took over for Tony Maker to become the new physical education teacher and varsity… Read More
Kelly Flagg has a wide range of experience playing sports, and has done a bit of coaching as well, but when Nokomis athletic director Carl Parker approached her with an idea at the Eastern Maine basketball tournament, she wasn’t sure what to do. Flagg, who… Read More
Applications are being taken for Houlton’s boys varsity basketball head coaching position, the same one longtime Houlton resident Jerry Adams has held for the last six years. In wake of the recent decision by the SAD 29 school board to throw open Adams’ position and… Read More
More than one month after the end of high school basketball season, coaching vacancies continue to pile up. Hermon, Winslow and Washington Academy in East Machias are all seeking new basketball coaches. Count Hermon High’s girls program as a team without a coach as Don… Read More
Narraguagus of Harrington athletic director Tracie Martin, who has also been a high school basketball and soccer official the last 10 years, has extended Maine’s hold on the Section One Distinguished Active Official Award. The award by the National Federation of State High School Associations… Read More
Donald “Buddy” Wood, the Rockland boys basketball coach who also teaches at the school and coaches the varsity baseball team, resigned last week from his teaching position at the high school. SAD 5 school board chairwoman Julie Raye confirmed that the school board had received… Read More
In a bit of an about-face, the National Federation of State High School Associations has moved up the timetable on its allowance for the use of titanium bats in high school baseball games, prompting the Maine Principals’ Association to do the same for Maine high school teams. Read More
George Rolleston, the longtime track and field coach at Foxcroft Academy, will not skipper the team this season because of health problems, but the Ponies are operating just fine for now under two assistant coaches and a volunteer. Rolleston, who had coached the outdoor track… Read More
As Eastern Maine basketball tournament officials suspected, overall attendance figures for the 2002 games at the Bangor Auditorium were down, but the news wasn’t quite as bad as expected. The Eastern Maine Class A tourney took the hardest hit with a 13.4 percent drop in… Read More
Illegal recruiting, improper transfers. It seems as if the issues come up every year. Those touchy subjects were out in the open during the Eastern Maine Class A girls championship game, when a Nokomis girls basketball fan held up a sign that read “We Don’t… Read More
The concept of Super Saturday is still viable, but don’t expect it to be implemented anytime soon. A proposal by outgoing Maine Principals’ Association football committee chairman Mike Haley to hold all three state championship football games in one location on the same day is… Read More
It’s a shame that two of the state’s finest senior girls basketball players had to sit on the bench for a Maine McDonald’s East-West all-star game Saturday. It’s also too bad that their spots in the roster couldn’t have been filled with two healthy players. Read More
Almost 12 years after graduating from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Tom Bertrand is returning to his high school alma mater. Bertrand (Class of 1990) will succeed Bill Cowan as Huskies varsity football coach. Bertrand, a former Stearns of Millinocket head coach, was an assistant… Read More
Triple headers at the Bangor Auditorium, fewer cross-classification games between Classes A and B teams, squads playing each other three times instead of two … welcome to next year’s version of the Big East Conference for boys and girls basketball. It’s all part of scheduling… Read More
Mt. Blue of Farmington senior racewalker Adam Staier had an outstanding weekend as he won a gold medal at the Nike Indoor Championships in Landover, Md., Saturday and then took home another at the National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field Championships in New York City on Sunday. Read More
Now that the open tournament has been in effect for almost two school years, one Maine Principals’ Association basketball committee member said the new tourney setup, and the regional realignment that was introduced this school year, will likely be discussed at the next basketball committee meeting and next… Read More
Skowhegan High School’s “beach” – the dirt track in front of the school on which the Indian track and field teams practice – will be no more thanks to a donation from The New Balance Foundation. The athletic shoe and apparel company announced a $100,000… Read More
When it comes to basketball, fans never know what they’re going to see at a tournament game. There is however one thing they can count on not seeing: an active college basketball coach working on the official timing/scorekeeping crew. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
One team came out with a win and another suffered through a loss, but for both the Woodland and Calais girls basketball teams, Saturday’s Classes C and D state championship games meant one thing – the end of an era in Washington County. For the… Read More
In hopes of resuscitating its baseball program, Penquis High School has hired Murrell Harris to coach the Patriots this season. Penquis athletic director Tony Hamlin made the announcement Tuesday. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
For 14 seasons, David Gonyar has been putting in double duty as a two-sport coach. This weekend, an idea which has been kicking around in his head for several months turned into a decision that shocked the Bucksport High School community on Monday. Hours after… Read More
More than five months later, the ripple effects from the events of Sept. 11 are still being felt. The latest example is the increased diligence with which Bass Park security will approach security and the screening of fans as they enter the Bangor Auditorium for… Read More
Just a few months after Scott Ballard and Brad Bishop left the Lawrence High School administration with two big coaching voids to fill, the Bulldogs have managed to find solid coaches with local ties to fill those vacancies. Longtime baseball and football coach Wally Covell… Read More
This year, for the first time, the Presque Isle and Caribou high schools swim teams will both be sending a relay team to compete in the Class B girls state championship swim meet. The teams are small, but fielding a relay means a squad is… Read More
Since Dec. 18, winning matches, qualifying for states, and winning team titles have lost a lot of importance for members of the Medomak Valley wrestling team. That was the day sophomore wrestler Stephen Michaud went down in a heap and landed on his head while… Read More
Hampden gymnast Sarah Leong has been in kind of a cocoon this year, working on her own routines with her team and not worrying about how the rest of the state has been doing. That may not matter – it’s the rest of the state… Read More
ROCKPORT – Troy Gabriele nailed nine 3-pointers and finished with 31 points to lead Camden Hills past Rockland 83-49 in schoolboy basketball action Tuesday. Tyler Warren chipped in with 11 points for the Windjammers, while Sam May and Tim Stammen each had 10. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
Bob Winslow coached the Belfast boys swim team for 27 years before the Lions won their first state title in 2000 and went on to repeat in 2001. This year’s Lions look to be strong, too, although stiff challenges from other teams and individuals around… Read More
Sitting in his office one afternoon after practice, Camden Hills coach Jay Carlsen hardly sounded like the guy in charge of one of the top girls basketball teams in the state. The Windjammers had won 12 games going into Friday’s game against Oak Hill of… Read More
It’s just an iron skeleton amidst a mass of snow right now, but in about a year the construction next to the Vinalhaven School will be a new school for students who live on the Penobscot Bay island. Coaches and student-athletes are especially excited about… Read More
Twins achieve unusual milestone Hartwell brothers both hit 1,000-point career scoring mark at Valley
Reaching the 1,000-point plateau in high school basketball isn’t as rare an accomplishment as it used to be with expanded schedules, increased ability and better-skilled players, but when two brothers on the same team do it the same week, that’s something. When those brothers happen… Read More
It’s not that the Valley High girls basketball team hasn’t been strong over the past few years – it has. But when you go to school and play basketball in Bingham – a town where the boys basketball team has garnered national attention for its unbeaten streak –… Read More
CALAIS – When Calais girls basketball coaches Bob McShane and Brenda Batson wanted to think of a theme for this year’s squad – something that would go on the Blue Devils’ warmup T-shirts – they found they were inspired by the events of Sept. 11. Read More
Even as the Washington Academy cheerleading team was winning titles with a Charlie’s Angels-themed routine last year, coach Laurie Schoppee was already thinking up a new theme for this year’s squad. And it seems to have met with the judges’ approval. The Raiders of East… Read More
One hundred career victories is noteworthy enough as far as accomplishments go in high school wrestling, but Nick Ouimet of Belfast has his sights set even higher. With a career mark of 102 wins and 20 losses, Ouimet has a good chance to become the… Read More
Van Buren girls basketball coach Steve Lapierre doesn’t have an assistant this year. There’s no junior varsity team. And the Crusaders only have enough girls for one full team of five at practice sessions. Yet Class D Van Buren is off to a fine 8-1… Read More
When it comes to wrestling, there isn’t much that hasn’t been done on an individual or team basis at Bucksport High School. State, regional and conference championship banners adorn the walls, individual honors and statistics cram the team record books, and it’s a rare year… Read More