The Foxcroft Academy boys scored 203 points to place eighth among nine Class B teams at the 2018 Penobscot Valley Conference (PVC) Cross Country Championships on Oct. 13 at the University of Maine-Presque Isle. The Ponies’ 203 points was ahead of the 216 accumulated by Washington Academy of East Machias.

Business officials are excited to announce that Flying Dutchman Paintball has just reached a major milestone. On Oct. 10 they served their 50,000th player. Achieving this accomplishment is due in no small part to a focus on providing a quality experience and outstanding value to each and every one of their customers (that and maybe the fact they are just too stubborn to quit!)

A goal in each half and shutout effort by the defense helped the Greenville High School boys soccer team come away with an 2-0 interclass victory at Penquis Valley High School on Oct. 10 in a late season matchup of squads fighting for playoff positioning in the respective Class D South and Class C North standings.

Daniel Wadleigh of Belgrade arrived at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s moose tagging station on Monday, Oct. 8, the opening day of the second session of hunting, with a grin on his face and a tale to tell.

The Foxcroft Academy girls soccer celebrated the team’s 2018 Homecoming game on Thursday, Oct. 4 vs. neighboring Piscataquis Community High School in a big way as the Ponies scored a 2018-best nine goals in a 9-1 victory.

It was a case of just having to get away, and what better idea than a short fall fishing trip with friends. They nicknamed me Scoop a long time ago from newspaper work and I thought writing about it would be fun. We traveled to Nesowadnehunk Wilderness Camps in the northern reaches of Piscataquis County. Pronounced Sow-da-hunk by the local folk, this lake is the largest fly-fishing-only lake in Maine.

The sports history of Piscataquis Community High School, previous secondary institutions, and the towns making up SAD 4 is now preserved in one place with the PCHS Athletic Hall of Fame. The inaugural class was formally inducted during an early evening ceremony in the gymnasium on Sept. 29 as part of the school’s annual homecoming festivities.

The Greenville High School boys soccer shined just a tad brighter in overtime as the Lakers won at Piscataquis Community High School under the lights on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 29. In honor of PCHS Homecoming, the 50th anniversary of soccer at the school, and the induction of the inaugural class of the PCHS Athletic Hall of Fame, eight sets of portable lights were brought in to enable the interclass contest to be played in primetime between the regional rivals.

The Foxcroft Academy field hockey team preserved the squad’s scoreless streak during an interclass contest Sept. 27 at neighboring Piscataquis Community High School as the Pony defense prevented the opposition from getting any shots on goal and also yielded zero penalty corners. At the other end Foxcroft scored three times in the first half and four times in the second to earn a 7-0 win for the 9-0 Class B team’s ninth victory in as many games.

Photos of the five area high school fall sports teams.

On Monday, Sept. 24 over 800 moose hunters were expected to enter the Maine woods pursuing the state’s most majestic mammal. This is the 38th year of Maine’s modern moose hunt, a hunt which resumed in 1980 after being closed since 1936.

Concussions continue to be the most discussed health care topic these days related to youth athletes in such high-profile and high-contact sports as football and soccer. Jackie Tourtelotte has been on the front line of injury prevention in high school sports in eastern Maine for more than a decade. She started at Orono High School and for the last eight years has been the certified athletic trainer at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

Members of the Dexter Regional High School and Foxcroft Academy cross country teams ran in the 69th annual Old Town Sectional Invitational on Sept. 22.

Fans expected a close game when the Foxcroft Academy football team traveled to windblown Carmichael Field on Friday night, Sept. 21 for a midseason battle of the unbeatens against Bucksport. They got it. Quarterback Matt Spooner and halfback Michaleb Niles each rushed for more than 100 yards and senior defensive tackle Caleb Ladd came up with two big quarterback sacks late in the fourth quarter as Foxcroft held on for a 21-20 victory over the host Golden Bucks.

Basketball tournament week brought together small-school soccer coaches from western and southern Maine last February at the Augusta Civic Center to discuss one of the bigger issues facing their sport. A player shortage.

The number of girls competing in high school wrestling across the country has increased during each of the past 28 years. That national trend has been perhaps most noticeable over the past six winters, when the roster of schoolgirl wrestlers has grown from 8,235 in 2012 to 14,587 for the 2017-18 season, according to an annual survey compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

WABI-TV CBS Channel 5 and the CW of Bangor will not be televising the four state high school championship football games this season. The stations have carried the games for the past 13 years, but Steve Hiltz, WABI’s director of promotions, production and programming, said it has become too labor intensive.

Homecoming weekend for Piscataquis Community High School will be Sept. 28-29. This year the PCHS Homecoming will be special for two big reasons. The first is 50 years of soccer will be commemorated with the first ever night soccer match at 7 p.m. vs. Greenville on Saturday, Sept. 29. The second reason is that the inaugural class of the PCHS Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted at the Hall of Fame ceremony.