LEWISTON – One year after drawing up game plans to beat each other in the Pine Tree Conference championship game, Bill County and Mike Lance are back together again.

Lance, who was an assistant to County on Leavitt’s Class B championship winning teams in 1995 and 1998, has rejoined County at Lewiston after spending one year across the river at Edward Little.

Lance stepped down as Edward Little’s defensive coordinator before the preseason started to spend more time at home. Joining the Blue Devils’ staff allows him to do that and stay in football.

“It’s a half-time position,” said County. “That had an awful lot to do with his decision to stay in coaching. A lot of things are optional for him, like meetings and so forth.”

Lance is working with the Devils’ tight ends in addition to helping out coordinator Jim Hood with the defense.

Hornets helping out

Members of the Leavitt football team didn’t have long to get over last Friday night’s tough 19-18 loss to rival Mountain Valley. Several of the Hornets had an appointment with some local autistic children.

Last Saturday, 15 members of the football team visited the Margaret Murphy Center for Children, a school for kids with autism in Auburn, and hosted a clinic for the children and their siblings.

“We tossed some footballs around and signed some old jerseys and gave them away,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “I give the kids a lot of credit because a lot of them were kids who played the night before and got out of bed early and went and did that. But we had a lot of fun. Not only was it good for (the kids at the center), it was good for us, too.”

The clinic was part of the center’s walk-a-thon. The Hornets, along with the Auburn Rec Cheerleaders and about 160 other people, helped raise $8,500.

“I talked with Mike about having some of his guys come over and thought the kids would love it, and they did,” said Michelle Hathaway, Mike’s wife and the director of the center. “For those kids, it was like having NFL players there. They were running around in those jerseys having a great time, and I’m pretty sure some of them slept in their jerseys that night.”

Homecoming

Mike Hathaway will have some more fun this Saturday, when he returns to coach Leavitt against its newest rival, Oak Hill.

Hathaway taught at Oak Hill for five years and was an assistant football coach for four before leaving in 2002 to become the head coach at Leavitt.

“I enjoyed the time I was there. I had a great time coaching with (head coach) Bruce (Nicholas) and (assistant) Phil (Prideaux),” Hathaway said. “It will be fun because I have a lot of respect for Bruce. I think the things I learned coaching with him have a lot to do with the success I’ve had here.”

“Plus there are still some guys there who were varsity sophomores when I was there,” he added, “like (quarterback) Adam Labbe and (running back) Kyle Harrington.”

Containing Labbe and Harrington, the Raiders’ two-leading scorers in 2002, will be the key to the Hornets’ first win.

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