Mike Lichten

When Maine’s college football coaches gathered Monday at their annual kickoff luncheon, Mike Lichten of the University of New England had one statistic that topped all his peers.

The Nor’easters have 40 seniors returning from the seven-year program’s first winning season with an eye on climbing higher after finishing 6-4 overall, 2-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) in 2023.

“That’s the hope. That’s the expectation,” Lichten said. “The (offensive) line is the only real position without a tremendous amount of experience right now. But staying healthy, getting that group in the right direction, and then being able to gel and buy in as a team even more (is what’s needed).”

But UNE does have two large holes on its coaching staff with the Sept. 7 opener at Coast Guard just 46 days away. Kenny Treschitta, the only defensive coordinator the program has had, left in June to become head coach at another start-up program, Shreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, which will begin play in 2026.

“We were together 10 years. He was with me for a spell at Becker College,” Lichten said. “And then he was here from day one with me at UNE. It’s one thing to lose a coach in January and we lost him in June. But you know what? He had a great opportunity. He’ll have incredible success there because he works so hard and he has a blueprint. He’ll probably do it better than we did the first time around.”

Also gone is offensive line coach Eric Ruest, who was one of the original Nor’easter players and had been on the coaching staff for four seasons. Ruest took the offensive coordinator job at Rochester, which will host UNE in a non-conference game Sept. 28.

“Eric was one of our first-ever recruits. Everything we’ve done, he’s been a part of,” Lichten said.

Both positions are vacant but Lichten expects them to be filled soon.

The luncheon, sponsored by the Howard Vandersea Maine chapter of the National Football Foundation, was held at Bowdoin College. Each Maine college program, along with Bridgton Academy, was represented with coaches giving a quick outlook on the season while often highlighting their in-state talent.

UNE had nine players from Maine last year. That number will almost double with seven incoming freshmen from Maine, including Yarmouth running back Michael McGonagle, who became the first eight-man football player to be a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist after rushing for over 2,000 yards as both a junior and senior. UNE also nabbed five players who last Saturday played in the Lobster Bowl: tight end/back Maddox Demers of Leavitt, defensive end Dylan Lowe of Camden Hills, offensive lineman Owen Bourque of Kennebunk, defensive back Hunter Temple of Portland, and linebacker Rufus MacVane of Yarmouth, who replaced McGonagle on the West roster because McGonagle is recovering from knee surgery.

McGonagle and MacVane will join former Yarmouth teammate Spencer Labrecque, a 6-foot-2, 265-pound nose guard who was named the 2023 CCC Defensive Rookie of the Year despite missing five games because of an injury. Labrecque did play in four of the five CCC games.

“When you watch (Labrecque) play and you watch how he affects the game, it’s different,” Lichten said.

Maine Maritime Coach Calvin Powell was clearly happy he could talk in definitive terms about his program, which will play a five-game combination varsity and junior varsity schedule before jumping fully into varsity status in 2025 as a CCC member.

Maine Maritime put its football program on indefinite suspension in August 2020 primarily because of financial issues. Fundraising began almost immediately, the program was reinstated in January 2023, and Powell was hired that March.

“This year I can tell you that we’ve been able to expand our staff and we’ll be practicing before the first day of school,” Powell said. “We have 30 new students joining our program, 29 from the high school ranks, from six states.”

Maine Maritime has seven incoming players who competed in the Lobster Bowl “as opposed to last year having none. That’s a real landmark for us,” Powell said.

The seven Lobster Bowl veterans are led by two-time Varsity Maine all-state lineman Holden Shaw of Oxford Hills and 2023 Varsity Maine all-state receiver Will Keach of Leavitt. The other Lobster Bowl alums are linemen Alex Bartlett (Oceanside), Warren Allen (Mt. Blue) and Derrick Webber (Old Orchard Beach), Medomak Valley running back Aaron Reed and Stearns receiver Caden Raymond.

Maine Maritime will host Hartwick on Sept. 7 for its first varsity game since 2019, and will play varsity games Sept. 14 at Nichols and Oct. 12 at Newport News Apprentice School. Its JV games will be at UNE on Oct. 6, and at home against Husson on Oct. 20. In 2023, Maine Maritime played one JV game, losing to UNE’s sub-varsity, 61-0. Over its final four varsity seasons, Maine Maritime was 2-37 and has lost 22 straight games. Its last win was Oct. 14, 2017, against Coast Guard.

Four of Husson’s five captains are from Maine high schools: fifth-year defensive lineman James Boyd of Nokomis, tight end Cullen Casey of Marshwood, CJ Nicely of Noble, and junior quarterback Max Clark of Bangor, the son of sixth-year head coach Nat Clark, and is likely competing for the starting job with Body Gibron of Indianapolis. “We treat him like every other kid,” Nat Clark said of coaching his son. “On the field he’s just another player, who happens to be my son. He was voted as captain by his teammates so it makes us feel good that his peers see him the same way.” … Former Fryeburg Academy and Husson standout Tucker Buzzell has joined the Husson staff. The Eagles have 35-plus seniors and are coming off a 7-3, 3-2 in the CCC season. “We want to win the league and to do that you have to beat Endicott, which has won the league the last three years,” Nat Clark said.

Colby College Coach Jack Cosgrove had the best quote of the day. Cosgrove, the UMaine head coach from 1993-2015, looked down the head table at current Maine Coach Jordan Stevens, who played for Cosgrove from 2006-09. “UMaine’s schedule this year. Wow. That’s got to be the hardest one I’ve ever seen put in front of a Black Bear team. Oklahoma in November? Are you kidding?” Maine will play 12 games this fall, and for its ninth game will indeed travel to take on the Sooners on Nov. 2. … Stevens highlighted his incoming group of 25 players, which includes Leavitt standouts Noah Carpenter (quarterback/punter) and Jace Negley (lineman), and Foxcroft Academy kicking specialist Kemsley Marsters. Fifteen of Maine’s newcomers are transfers. “I think we nailed our transfers this year,” Stevens said.