In too many games this season, the University of Maine Black Bears have returned from the locker room for the second half a different team than the one that went in after the first half.

Last Saturday against the University of Massachusetts, the Black Bears looked like a different team in the second half again. But coach Jack Cosgrove was happy with the change.

The first bit of good news for the St. Dom's boys' soccer team was earning a spot in the Class C state championship game.

The second piece of positive information for the Saints was Thursday's announcement that the state title game with Fort Kent Community School will be at Hampden Academy at 3 p.m., on Saturday. The Saints played at Hampden in the 2007 state game and beat Madawaska there 2-0.

AUBURN — Take a smart, skilled and hard-nosed player out of your lineup and see how you do.

That's what the St. Dom's boys' soccer team faced last year. Early in the fall campaign defender Garrett Darnell was injured. He was lost for the season. As talented as the Saints were, it was a significant loss.

"He doesn't make mistakes," said St. Dom's coach Matt Erickson. "He's a very smart player and very skilled. That combination is tremendous to have as a coach."

One night after scoring the most goals they had all season in a road game, the Lewiston Maineiacs sputtered out of the gate in the second of back-to-back contests away from home and never recovered.

Maxime Legault netted a goal 1:04 into the game and Gabriel Girard held down the fort between the pipes to earn a shutout as the Shawinigan Cataractes skated past the Maineiacs 3-0 in front of 2,605 at the Centre Bionest on Thursday.

One team enters high school football's regional semifinals on a three-game winning streak; the other, having dropped two straight in resounding fashion.

Either way, Winthrop and Mountain Valley both must answer the same nagging question: Has anything really changed since the first time they confronted this weekend's playoff opponent?

Each absorbed a one-sided loss that ended a lengthy winning streak and signaled a seismic shift of power in the Campbell Conference.

RUMFORD — No high school football player in his right mind would have signed up for Matt Duka's job in August.

Duka, a hard-nosed wrestler and multi-year defensive standout for the Mountain Valley High School football team, began the year as the Falcons' featured running back.

It was the high school gridiron equivalent of volunteering to walk on water.

Mountain Valley merely had to replace Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist Justin Staires, the most celebrated player in school history.

Edward Little High School coach Dan Campbell is going to be following every minute of the Class A state championship cross country meet this weekend — from California.

Campbell, whose commitments outside of the cross country running world have taken him from coast to coast for much of the fall, scheduled his trips around the anticipated ending dates for the season. Due to inclement weather, the state championship is now this weekend. It was supposed to be last weekend.

A lot has happened since the last time Hampden Academy and Leavitt last met on a football field. Everything, it seems, but losing.

Top-seeded Leavitt (9-0) hasn't lost all season. In fact, since the second half of their 29-22 comeback win in overtime over the Broncos on Opening Night, the Hornets have outscored their opponents, 448-52.

No. 4 Hampden (7-2) has lost just once, to Morse, and has otherwise been dispatching opponents in similarly lopsided fashion.

As Laura Martel was told about her likely diminished role for this season, the former Lewiston High School All-American could only agree with her coach.

With a history of injury problems and missing significant time, Scott Atherley told Martel she could no longer be counted on full-time for the University of Maine soccer team at last fall's year-end review.

It was a bit more scary than it should have been, but the Lewiston Maineiacs finally figured out how to win on the road Wednesday night, netting five goals and hanging on for a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Junior in front of 1,852 at the Verdun Auditorium.

"It was very much like our game Saturday (against Val d'Or)," Maineiacs' coach Don MacAdam said. "We had everybody contributing. We had more of a physical presence early, especially in the first period, and that just adds to our game."

  BERWICK — Lyndsey Bralton broke a scoreless deadlock in the 56th minute as Berwick came away with a 1-0 victory over Hebron in a prep school matchup Wednesday.

Hebron outshot Berwick 13-1 in the first half but failed to find the net. Hebron's shooting wasn't exactly accurate in the second frame, either, firing 10 shots toward Berwick keeper Lee Tsairis with no success. 

Tsairis finished with 18 saves to notch the shutout, while Bradish finished with two saves for Hebron. 

Parity is a relative term in Maine high school football.

Each of the last two years, 14 of the 24 semifinal teams in the state played in the semis the previous year. That number is a bit skewed because Eastern Class C only played two rounds of playoffs until last year, and Western Class C had the same format until this year (Western B remains the only holdout). In the last three years, Western Class C has had the most schools reach the semifinals with eight. Class B West has had the fewest with six.

 AUBURN — The only difference was the celebration.

After methodically cruising through the Mountain Valley Conference competition this season and dismantling two MVC foes in the tournament, the St. Dom's boys' soccer team continued to produce a businessman-like approach Wednesday against North Yarmouth Academy. The Saints produced the same consistent and steady performance it has most of the season. The only difference in the 2-0 victory over their arch rivals was the celebration and the reward.

Spencer Ross, Dirigo

The versatile Ross scored on a touchdown reception, a 39-yard punt return and a 27-yard interception return in the Cougars' 42-8 quarterfinal victory over Maranacook.

AUBURN — This isn't Oak Hill anymore.

The players are bigger and faster, but for Carrie Hayden, the scene is a welcome change.

"The intensity level is so much higher, it's so much faster and the defense is so much tougher," Hayden said. "In high school, offense is everything. When you get to college, defense is everything. If you can't play defense, you sit the bench."

Hayden is a first-year player for Central Maine Community College this season, and will be looked upon to fill some pretty big shoes.

AUBURN — Shooting hoops in the gym was fun, but Tyler Smithgall of Winthrop felt there was something missing.

Itching, like many high school graduates, to get away from home, Smithgall enrolled at the University of Maine's flagship campus in Orono. A standout basketball player for the Ramblers, he never stopped playing the game, even though he was not playing for the Black Bears. He spent time in the gym, playing intramurals, and practicing the game he loved.

That's where Central Maine Community College AD and basketball coach Dave Gonyea found him.

The high school football semifinals are the ugly stepbrother of the playoffs. Few of the playoff games to go down in local lore have been from the semifinal round.

Western Class A semifinals

No. 4 Cheverus (7-2) at No. 1 Thornton (9-0)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Biggest test yet for Golden Trojans.

No. 3 Bonny Eagle (7-2) at No. 2 Windham (8-1)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Scots have offense to contain Eagles' explosive offense. Question is, can they score on the Eagles?

Eastern Class A semifinals 

No. 4 Messalonskee (6-3) at No. 1 Bangor (9-1)

Friday, 7 p.m.

Rams won first meeting by the thinnest of margins (13-12).

1. Thornton (9-0)

Golden Trojans had a sloppy first half and still led Massabesic 24-0 at halftime in last week's quarterfinal. They can't count on that kind of cushion against Cheverus.

2. Bangor (9-0)

Tougher tests certainly lie ahead, but the Rams are glad they won't have to deal with Mt. Blue anymore.

3.Windham (8-1)

Eagles handling flight into unchartered skies quite well.

4. Lawrence (8-1)

 Bulldogs looking to avoid a repeat of last year's semifinal slip-up.

 5. Leavitt (9-0)

AUBURN — The look on Trevar Haefele's face says it all.

Before he can even be asked about his St. Dom's boys' soccer team facing North Yarmouth Academy in Wednesday's Western C final, a smile starts forming on his face.

"They're our old rivals," said the Haefele, a senior Saints midfielder. "It's always the funnest game of the year to play them."

LEWISTON — Montreal was not kind to the Lewiston Maineiacs in their previous visit to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's newest outpost. Nor was Shawinigan, the league's oldest. In each of those contests, the Maineiacs played a typical-for-them road game, which this season has not been at all good.

They get a chance this week to fix that and at the same time turn their dismal record on the road into something resembling respectable with a two-games-in-two-nights swing to face the Junior and the Cataractes.

Now that's how you finish with a flourish.

Fox Ridge golfer Jace Pearson, who's won the club championship at the Auburn course and competed for several years in the Maine State Golf Association's tournament season, including at the Maine Amateur, capped his competitive season last weekend at The Links at Outlook in Berwick with a career round, firing an 8-under-par 63 to set the course record.

Sarah Turner and Brianna Lajoie skated onto the ice at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Monday with the rest of their teammates.

Bearing the bulky weight of goaltending equipment, the girls spent most of the hour's worth of ice time working alone with coach Jim Theiss. Preparation, they said, is key for a title defense.

"I have big footprints to fill, we all do," Turner said.

LISBON — Eugene Dackmine is a 91-year-old hunter who has a grip like Superman and sights a target with his 6-pound Browning .308 rifle with the speed and accuracy of a U.S. Marine sniper.

Colby 34, Bates 27

WATERVILLE — Colby survived a comeback attempt by Bates in the final six minutes as the Mules stubbornly held on for a 34-27 victory over the Bobcats in NESCAC football action Saturday.

The Bobcats (0-6) trailed 34-13 with 5:59 left in regulation, but ferociously fought back with two consecutive touchdowns and had a chance to tie the game with first-and-goal at the Colby 5-yard line.