Meet the Maine Maritime elite 8

CASTINE - It doesn't matter if you suit up in the Pine Tree Conference, lace your cleats in the Campbell Conference or go helmet-to-helmet in Aroostook County's eight-man league. If you play high school football in Maine, you've probably met Maine Maritime Academy coach Chris McKenney.

"We go to every high school in the state and talk to the senior football players every year," said McKenney. "We get them from all over the state. Some years we get a lot from your area."

Hot Corner: Coach's call leaves us all scratching our heads

There's a delicious satisfaction when Super Jock who got all the girls and tortured the preppies in high school shows up for the 20-year reunion bald, obese and twice-divorced.

Nobody sheds a tear when a self-promoting wide receiver is forced into retirement because his legs no longer can keep pace with his mouth.

And so there's not a lot of statewide sympathy for Winslow High School football coach Mike Siviski, who ordered his team to eschew the postgame handshake and scurry off its home field last Saturday after a 56-0 loss to Leavitt.

Outdoors in Maine: Running shot

If they are being honest, most veteran deer hunters will admit to having taken a shot at a full-out running deer.

As a young deer hunter, I took my share of low percentage shots. A couple of deer in bounding flight did fall to my snap shots.
Looking back, however, I feel no particular soul-satisfying sense of pride in those kills. It was luck, not skill as an outdoorsman or as a marksman. Without doubt, a few deer wound up wounded in my haste to put meat on the table at the expense of good sportsmanship.

High school football: Dirigo, Leavitt take top seeds

Doug Gilbert has the best of both worlds for a high school football coach this time of year.

Gilbert can tell his Dirigo Cougars to stick their chests out for posting a perfect record and securing the top seed in the Campbell Conference Class B playoffs. But he also has a weapon against any complacency that might set in with those accomplishments.

College football: Bates lost in the wash

LEWISTON — Nearly three quarters of the way through Saturday's mud bowl with Middlebury, Bates had the lead, the ball and the kind of momentum that could have propelled it to its first win of 2009.

Then the ball slipped away and immediately took momentum with it. Moments later, the outcome followed suit.

Middlebury scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a come-from-behind 28-18 win over Bates on a rainy and raw afternoon at Garcelon Field.

College notebook:

High school tennis is a spring-only entity. The great news for players wanting to take their talent to the next level is that they aren't required to wait a full year, since collegiate tennis is one of the rare sports with both a fall and spring schedule.

Lewiston High School graduate Chantalle Lavertu already has proven herself a woman for all seasons at Bowdoin College.

High school football: York surprises, floors Mountain Valley

RUMFORD  — The game plan was simple and Jared Prugar help execute it as York dominated the football game at Chet Bulger field.

Prugar was a workhorse, scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 201 yards, as the Wildcats blew away previously unbeaten Mountain Valley, 33-14.

York (7-1) controlled the line of scrimmage that led to a fast start. Prugar scored on the Wildcats' first three possessions, including sprinting 66 yards for a TD on the third play from scrimmage. The senior also spearheaded two long drives and ended with a pair of 2-yard TDs.

High school football: Emery's late TD rescues Bears

READFIELD — Never has a 1-yard run meant more for Luke Emery and his teammates. The tailback's 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 51 seconds remaining lifted Maranacook to a 34-29 victory over Oak Hill at the Ricky Gibson Memorial Field of Dreams complex.

The win vaulted the Black Bears (4-4) into the Class C regional playoffs next week, while the loss may send the playoff bound Raiders (4-4) on the road next weekend.

Maineiacs fall to Cats

Better wasn't good enough as the Lewiston Maineiacs dropped their third consecutive game Friday.

After playing evenly with Shawinigan through a period and a half, the Maineiacs appeared to tire as the Cataractes tacked on three goals in the third period to drown Lewiston 6-3 in front of 2,974 at the Centre Bionest.

EL football coach Hartley resigns

AUBURN — Football coaches are allowed to cry, too.

After an emotional game against a bitter rival, with the sky beginning to spit rain and sleet, Edward Little football coach Darren Hartley stood, like he always does, to address his squad after the contest.

High school football: Cougars blank Indians

FARMINGTON — Ryan Backus saw the open Skowhegan receiver break across the middle of the field and prepared himself to make a play that would preserve Mt. Blue's precarious lead for at least a few more moments.

Then the Cougars' safety looked up and saw the football sailing over the receiver's head, and he figured he might as well make a play that may have not only saved the game, but extended Mt. Blue's season.

High school football: Hornets overwhelm Tigers

TURNER — If Eric Theiss plays this fabulously with the flu, his Leavitt Area High School coaches and teammates might encourage him to go volunteer at the hospital emergency room during the playoffs.

Theiss rushed for first-half touchdowns of 56 and 64 yards Friday night — the former in bizarre fashion after he alertly recovered his own blocked punt behind the line of scrimmage.

High school football: Blue Devils hold the bridge

AUBURN — Teven Colon and the Edward Little Red Eddies gave the hundreds of football fans wrapped around Walton Field tighter than the blankets and jackets reason No. 166 why people should never leave a game in their storied rivalry with Lewiston before the final siren wails.

After jumping out to a 21-0 lead, the Blue Devils fought off Colon and the Eddies' furious comeback, holding on for a 29-26 victory despite the Edward Little junior quarterback's 437 all-purpose yards, all of which came in the final three quarters.

High school football: Andies' Rose intercepts Tigers

Alex Rose had to make a split-second decision.

The Livermore Falls defender had to choose between the reward of going for an interception or the risk if he did so and failed. It was a significant choice late in the fourth quarter Friday night, and Rose had little time to make it. 

"I just gambled," said Rose, the junior back. "I didn't know if I was going to go for it. I just did what coach says: 'Go to the highest point,' and I did, and I got it."

MPA postpones Saturday's slate

AUGUSTA — Concern for athlete safety has forced the Maine Principals' Association to postpone all of the regional tournament t action slated for Saturday.

According to the MPA, cold and wet conditions predicted for Saturday has forced postponement of all of the day's scheduled field hockey and cross country running action in all classes and in both regions.

Telstar Regional High School, originally scheduled to face North Yarmouth Academy in the Western Class C regional final Saturday at Scarborough High School, will now play at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the same location.

Maine Ski Hall to honor inductees

The seventh class to enter the Maine Ski Hall of Fame includes outstanding competitors, coaches, pioneers, volunteers and industry builders. The 2009 Class will be inducted at the annual banquet scheduled for Lost Valley, Friday, Oct. 23.

Since its inaugural induction in 2003, 57 skiers and one couple have been recognized for their contribution to Maine skiing, and in many cases fame well beyond the borders of the state. Maine has had a skier in every Olympics since 1948 and has had numerous skiers on the U.S. Ski Team.

Tigres run over Maineiacs

Forget staying on the bus, the Maineiacs appeared Thursday night to have left their skates, sticks and spirit back home in Lewiston.

Like in the two previous games leading off road trips, the Maineiacs had no answer for their opponent, falling behind early and losing control late as Victoriaville held serve at the Centre Desjardins, walloping Lewiston 7-0 behind a Kevin Poulin shutout, two goals from Joel Chouinard and three helpers from Philip-Michael Devos.

Devils, Eddies playing for pride, and then some

AUBURN — Besides avoiding whatever Mother Nature has in store for us Saturday, Lewiston and Edward Little also mitigated something else when they moved the 166th Battle of the Bridge up 18 hours — suspense.

Regional XC: EL no longer a sleeper

Edward Little High School shouldn't be able to sneak up on anybody at Saturday's Eastern Maine Regional cross country championship meet in Belfast.

Then again, it boggles the mind that the Red Eddies have been able to get away with the underdog label for this long.

Somebody should have anointed EL a prime contender for regional and state titles after the Eddies initially tied for second behind Scarborough in the Festival of Champions, held Oct. 3 across the same Troy Howard Middle School trails where the Eastern Class A title run will be contested.

Soccer Heals: 19 area teams qualify for postseason

Sometimes change can be a good thing.

This fall's soccer season proved that for some teams — especially the Leavitt girls' squad. The Hornets last participated in a playoff during the open tourney years,  but that was their lone experience. This year's drop down to Class B from Class A made a significant difference, and the proof is in the best soccer season in the program's history.

Double trouble: Oak Hill backfield carrying its weight for Raiders

WALES — Oak Hill High School expected its switch from Class B to C football to pay competitive dividends.

There's something to be said for timing, though. And being able to pick on programs closer to your own size while armed with a backfield of Josh Allen and Josh Prue's caliber surely hasn't hurt.

Western Maine cross country runners vying for back-to-back races at Twin Brook

If, as forecast, heavy rains meet Western Maine's top cross country runners when they descend upon Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland Saturday, at least one coach hopes organizers will allow the competitors to tough it out.

Regional tournaments and meets scheduled on Saturday postponed

Concern for student-athlete safety has forced the Maine Principals' Association to postpone all of the regional tournament and meet action slated for Saturday.

According to the MPA, cold and wet conditions predicted for Saturday will postpone all of the day's scheduled field hockey and cross country running action in all classes and in both regions.

Telstar Regional High School, originally scheduled to face North Yarmouth Academy in the Western Class C regional final Saturday at Scarborough High School, will now play at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the same location.

HS football: News and notes

The Mt. Blue Cougars have had bigger games against the Skowhegan Indians on Caldwell Field in their history. The 2005 Pine Tree Conference final, which Mt. Blue won, 26-24, comes to mind first.

But history isn't much of a concern in Farmington this week. The Cougars are only looking to the future.

With a win over Skowhegan Friday night, Mt. Blue can leap-frog Mt. Ararat for the eighth and final slot in the Pine Tree Conference playoffs, but only if Brunswick also knocks off Mt. Ararat. 

SPT-collegeroundup1022

Field hockey

New England College 1, Bates 0

HENNIKER, N.H. — An early goal by Samantha Escobar stood up as the game-winner for New England College in a hard-fought, non-conference 1-0 victory over Bates in field hockey action Wednesday. 

New England College forward Samantha Escobar scored the lone goal of the game at the 8:09 mark, tip-in a shot from Khatianna Evans helping lift the host Pilgrims to 10-5 overall, while the loss drops the Bobcats to 1-9.