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Meet the new Maine high school football head coaches

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Meet the new Maine high school football head coaches


New Cheverus football coach Skip Capone works with players during a Sept. 4 practice in Portland. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Being a high school varsity football coach is a multi-faceted job. Head coaches oversee players and assistant coaches. They are the final disciplinarian. They will coach a position group and usually call the offensive or defensive signals. Interacting with parents, school administrators, booster groups, grounds and maintenance crews, athletic training staff, and media are part of the job. It requires passion, planning and precision to be successful.

Several Maine teams have new leaders at the top. Here’s a look at first-year head coaches.

NATE DANFORTH, Oxford Hills: Danforth is no stranger to the Vikings’ program. He’s been on the coaching staff since 1999 and was the team’s head coach from 2008-10. He was a key assistant under Mark Soehren (2012-23) and the team’s defensive coordinator as Oxford Hills rose to the top of the Class A ranks, winning the state championship in 2022. Soehren retired in May, and Danforth was chosen as the new coach in early August.

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SKIP CAPONE, Cheverus: There aren’t many coaches in Maine with more experience – or sheer enthusiasm – than the 69-year-old Capone. A native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Capone is in his 47th year as a football coach, including a 14-year stint as Lewiston’s head coach and 22 years as an assistant at Bates College. Capone replaces Mike Vance, who led the Stags for eight years after replacing John Wolfgram. Cheverus moves from Class C to Class B, and Capone, hired in January, said he wants to guide the program back to Class A.

MARK BOISSONNEAULT, Sanford: Another long-time assistant taking over for an established coach, Boissonneault has been at Sanford for 32 years, the last five as the Spartans’ offensive coordinator. He replaces Mike Fallon, who resigned after accepting an assistant principal’s position at Sanford.

Skip Capone is in his 47th season coaching football, but his first as the head coach at Cheverus. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

SPENCER EMERSON, Falmouth: The 2011 graduate of Edward Little takes over for John Fitzsimmons, Falmouth’s coach since 2007, who resigned under pressure from parents, and ultimately players. Emerson has significant coaching experience. He was the head coach at Poland in 2018-19 and has since been a college assistant at Bates, Georgetown and the University of Chicago.

SETH JOHNSON, Poland: Johnson replaces Gus Leblanc, a longtime and respected educator and administrator who died in February. He was the coach at Sacopee Valley last year, which plays in the eight-man ranks. Johnson said he enjoyed coaching at Sacopee but is excited to be back in the 11-player ranks. He is also the varsity baseball coach at Gray-New Gloucester.

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NICK ORSI, Yarmouth: A relative newcomer to Maine football circles, Orsi takes over for Jim Hartman. An investment advisor and former high school quarterback outside Chicago, Orsi has been a high school assistant for three seasons, all in the eight-player ranks. He was on Hartman’s Yarmouth staff in 2021 and 2022, and last year was the offensive coordinator at Brunswick.

JOEL STONETON, Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale: Stoneton, the former Winthrop athletic director, takes over for Dave St. Hilaire, who went 55-32 in nine seasons. Stoneton, a 1993 graduate of Winthrop, was the Ramblers’ head coach prior to St. Hilaire, going 61-35 in 10 seasons. His 2008 team went 11-1, losing in the Class C state final. Stoneton had been the team’s defensive coordinator under St. Hilaire.

Nate Danforth is serving as head coach at Oxford Hills for a second time. He has been on the Vikings’ coaching staff since 1999, including three seasons as the head coach from 2008-10. Brewster Burns photo

FRED LOWER, Brewer: The former athletic director at Hampden Academy and current assistant principal at Brewer, Lower returns to the sidelines. Lower previously was a head coach at Hampden Academy, had two stints as an assistant coach at Husson University, and was on the Bangor staff for more than 10 years.

ERIC SCHROEDER, Sacopee Valley: Schroeder takes over from Seth Johnson, who left to become head coach at Poland. A longtime assistant, this is Schroeder’s 10th season coaching at his alma mater. He was a member of Sacopee Valley’s inaugural football team.

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GERALD HARTLEY, Mount View: Hartley was an assistant coach with the Mustangs under his predecessor, Rick Leary, who coached for seven seasons. Hartley takes over a young team that went 2-17 over the last three seasons. A longtime coach at youth levels, Hartley is a head coach for the first time.

JOHN EDWARDS, Valley: A former high school football coach in Montana, Edwards takes over the state’s northernmost team. Playing in its third varsity season, Valley is a co-op of players from Fort Kent, Madawaska and Wisdom. The program is still looking for its first varsity win.



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This Classic New England-Style Cottage in Maine Has 200 Feet of Atlantic Ocean Frontage

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This Classic New England-Style Cottage in Maine Has 200 Feet of Atlantic Ocean Frontage


A waterfront home with open ocean views on the coast of Maine came to market Tuesday asking $4 million. 

Built in 1978, the three-bedroom cottage is at the southern point of Cape Elizabeth, less than 10 miles from downtown Portland. The 1.1-acre property on Sunny Bank Road features 200 feet of south-facing water frontage on the wide open Atlantic. 

It is bordered by a rocky sea wall that’s about 28 feet high, according to listing agent Sam Michaud Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty

“The views are like a Monet painting,” he said via email. “The water sparkles and the waves are endless.”

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MORE: Laid-Back Costa Rica Is Getting a $7 Million Mega-Penthouse

The 3,364-square-foot home was built in classic New England style, with shingle siding, a single sloped roofline and large windows—complemented by white-washed walls, exposed-beam ceilings and wide-plank flooring on the interiors. 

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The main common area features cathedral ceilings with a step-down between the living and dining room, and a partial wall divides the dining room from the kitchen. There is also a wood-paneled family room off the kitchen, a gym and a covered porch. 

The sellers purchased the property in 2010 for $1.562 million, according to property records accessed through PropertyShark. They could not immediately be reached for comment. 

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“I have received quite a few inquiries since hitting the market two days ago,” Michaud said. “Buyers understand that this is a golden opportunity to own over an acre with 200 feet of bold oceanfront in Cape Elizabeth.”

MORE: Iranian Strikes on Dubai Put the City’s Roaring Real Estate Market to the Test

There are currently just seven three-bedroom homes available for sale in Cape Elizabeth and fewer than five waterfront properties, according to Sotheby’s and Zillow data. It is also the most expensive listing in the town, with another waterfront property on a tiny lot just south of Portland coming in a close second, according to Zillow. 

Michaud sold the former Cape Elizabeth home of Bette Davis this past summer for $13.4 million, the priciest sale on the cape in at least a decade—and even those views can’t compare. They’re “just magical,” he said. 



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NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion

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NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion


Robert Bryan is a licensed forester from Harpswell and author or co-author of numerous publications on managing forests for wildlife. Paul Larrivee is a licensed forester from New Gloucester who manages both private and public lands, and a former Maine Forest Service forester.

In November 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a conservation plan and forest management plan as mitigation for impacts from the NECEC transmission corridor that runs from the Quebec border 53 miles to central Maine.

As professional foresters, we were astonished by the lack of scientific credibility in the definition of “mature forest habitat” that was approved by DEP, and the business-as-usual commercial forestry proposed for over 80% of the conservation area.

The DEP’s approval requires NECEC to establish and protect 50,000 acres to be managed for mature-forest wildlife species and wildlife travel corridors along riparian areas and between mature forest habitats. The conservation plan will establish an area adjacent to the new transmission corridor to be protected under a conservation easement held by the state. Under this plan, 50% of the area will be managed as mature forest habitat.

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Under the forest management plan, a typical even-aged stand will qualify as “mature forest habitat” once 50 feet tall, which is only about 50 years old. These stands will lack large trees that provide wildlife denning and nesting sites, multiple vegetation layers that mature-forest birds use for nesting and feeding habitats and large decaying trees and downed logs that provide habitat for insects, fungi and small mammals, which in turn benefit larger predators.

Another major concern is that contrary to the earlier DEP order, the final approval allows standard sustainable forestry operations on the 84% of the forest located outside the stream buffers and special habitats. These stands may be harvested as soon as they achieve the “mature forest habitat” definition, as long as 50% of the conserved land is maintained as “mature.”

After the mature forest goal is reached, clearcutting or other heavy harvesting could occur on thousands of acres every 10 years. Because the landowner — Weyerhaeuser — owns several hundred thousand acres in the vicinity, any reductions in harvesting within the conservation area can simply be offset by cutting more heavily nearby. As a result, the net
mature-forest benefit of the conservation area will be close to zero.

Third, because some mature stands will be cut before the 50% mature forest goal is reached, it will take 40 years — longer than necessary — to reach the goal.

In the near future the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) will consider an appeal from environmental organizations of the plan approval. To ensure that ecologically mature forest develops in a manner that meets the intent of the DEP/BEP orders, several things need to change.

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First and most important, to ensure that characteristics of mature forest habitat have time to develop it is critical that the definition include clear requirements for the minimum number of large-diameter (hence more mature) trees, adjusted by forest type. At least half the stocking of an area of mature forest habitat should be in trees at least 10 inches in diameter, and at least 20% of stands beyond the riparian buffers should have half the stocking in trees greater than or equal to 16 inches in diameter.

Current research as well as guidelines for defining ecologically mature forests, such as those in Maine Audubon’s Forestry for Maine Birds, should be followed.

Second, limits should be placed on the size and distribution of clearcut or “shelterwood” harvest patches so that even-aged harvests are similar in size to those created by typical natural forest disturbance patterns. These changes will help ensure that the mature-forest block and connectivity requirements of the orders are met.

Third, because the forest impacts have already occurred, no cutting should be allowed in the few stands that meet or exceed the DEP-approved definition — which needs to be revised as described above — until the 50% or greater mature-forest goal is reached.

If allowed to stand, the definitions and management described in the forest management plan would set a terrible precedent for conserving mature forests in Maine. The BEP should uphold the appeal and establish standards for truly mature forest habitat.

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Rage Room in Portland, Maine, Developing ‘Scream Room’ Addition

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Rage Room in Portland, Maine, Developing ‘Scream Room’ Addition


For a lot of people throughout Maine, there’s some built up frustration that they’ve just been keeping inside.

That frustration can come in a lot of different forms. From finances to relationships to the world around you.

So it makes plenty of sense that a rage room opened in Portland, Maine, where people can let some of that frustration out.

It’s called Mayhem and people have been piling in to smash, crush and do dastardly things to inanimate objects that had no idea what was coming.

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But Mayhem has realized not everyone is down with swinging a sledgehammer. So they’ve decided to cook up something new.

Mayhem Creating ‘Scream Room’ at Their Space in Portland, Maine

Perhaps the thought of swinging a baseball bat and destroying a glass vase brings you joy. The thought of how sore your body will be after that moment makes you less excited.

Mayhem Portland has heard you loud and clear and is developing a new way to get the rage out. By just screaming.

Mayhem is working on opening their very first scream room. It’s exactly what you think it is, a safe place to spend some time just screaming all of the frustration out.

There isn’t an official opening date set yet but it’s coming soon along with pricing.

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Mayhem in Portland, Maine, Will Still Offer Rage Rooms and Paint Splatter

While a scream room is on the way, you can still experience a good time at Mayhem with one of their rage rooms or a paint splatter room.

Both can be experienced in either 20-minute or 30-minute sessions.

All the details including some age and attire requirements can be found here.

TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Things to do in Portland, Maine

Looking for fun things to do in Portland, ME? Here is what the reviewers on TripAdvisor say are the 10 best attractions.

This list was updated in March of 2026

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Gallery Credit: Chris Sedenka

Top 15 of The Most Powerful People in Maine

Ever wonder who the most powerful players are in Maine? I’ve got a list!

Gallery Credit: Getty Images





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