The top 10 football, field hockey, volleyball and boys’ and girls’ soccer teams in Maine as voted on by reporters from the Press Herald, Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel, Sun Journal and Forecaster, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points.
Through games of 10/9/24
FOOTBALL
1.
Thornton Academy (9)
99
2.
Portland
73
3.
Noble (1)
67
4.
Kennebunk
62
5.
Falmouth
58
6.
South Portland
41
7.
Bonny Eagle
30
8.
Deering (1)
26
9.
Fryeburg Academy
22
10.
Wells
11
FIELD HOCKEY
1.
Cheverus (9)
90
2.
Biddeford
75
3.
Freeport
69
4.
Leavitt
48
5.
Brewer
43
6.
Skowhegan
39
7.
Belfast
32
8.
Yarmouth
21
9.
Gorham
20
10.
Messalonskee
19
BOYS’ SOCCER
1.
Lewiston (5)
76
2.
Windham (1)
72
3.
Camden Hills
63
4.
Scarborough (1)
62
5.
Greely (1)
55
5.
Falmouth
55
7.
Portland
54
8.
Yarmouth
15
9.
Morse
11
10.
Brunswick
10
GIRLS’ SOCCER
1.
Camden Hills (6)
87
2.
Windham (3)
80
3.
Gorham
67
4.
Bangor
61
5.
Scarborough
42
6.
Greely
37
7.
Cheverus
27
8.
Falmouth
24
8.
Mt. Ararat
24
10.
Cape Elizabeth
15
VOLLEYBALL
1.
Washington Academy (8)
49
2.
Biddeford (1)
31
3.
Gorham
22
4.
York
21
5.
Yarmouth
16
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Thursday’s high school roundup: Gorham scores three in second half to beat Scarborough in field hockey
PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) – The Windham community spent Friday night honoring the life of a beloved resident who died late last year. Friday night’s Maine Celtics game paid tribute to Pat Moody, a former youth sports coach who was always helping others.
“He loved his community, and he loved seeing people be happy, in particular around the game of basketball,” said Dajuan Eubanks, president of the Maine Celtics told our media partner, WMTW. “It was an honor to know him.”
Cheering and clapping are typical for any basketball game, but honoring someone like Pat Moody brought everyone to their feet. The entire arena stood up to take a moment to celebrate the life and legacy of the Windham native as his loved ones took to the court during the second timeout of the first quarter.
“He’s like the mayor of Windham,” said Tyler Graves, Moody’s lifelong friend. “He’s touched so many different lives over the years.”
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Moody died in November from cancer. While he may be gone, the memory of him isn’t. A basketball court now stands in his name, and his legacy as a beloved advocate for youth sports continues on.
“It was great to know him,” Eubanks said. “He was just a very enthusiastic and energetic guy, always had kind words to say, and was always caring.”
Friday night’s game had a 50/50 raffle benefiting the Pat Moody Foundation. The foundation was started to provide ongoing support to the Windham community, especially for youth sports. The raffle raised nearly $2,000 for the foundation, which the Maine Celtics say is a record high for them this season.
“Do whatever you can to give back. Small acts of kindness can really transform into something greater,” Graves said. “It’s kind of what Pat believed as well.”
ORONO — With two of the top three scoring teams in the country on the ice, of course a low-scoring game was the result.
In Friday’s matchup of top-10 teams, the first of two games went to No. 6 Denver, in heartbreaking fashion for seventh-ranked Maine. The Pioneers scored with 20.7 seconds left, on a shot from the point by Cale Ashcroft that deflected off the shin guard of Maine’s David Breazeale and past goalie Albin Boija, giving the reigning NCAA champions a 2-1 win at Alfond Arena.
It came after Maine (12-4-2) lost a faceoff in its defensive zone, then blocked the initial shot. For Maine coach Ben Barr, it was an another example of not doing all the little things in a close game against a strong opponent. In that regard, it was similar to Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Bentley in Portland.
“Our margin of error, and this has been for the whole time that we’ve been here, our margin of error is very, very small. When you play teams like (Denver), that one faceoff matters. It’s disappointing,” Barr said. “We just didn’t do enough to win.”
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Both teams are also among the best in the nation in scoring defense. Only Minnesota State allows fewer goals per game than Maine’s 1.76, while Denver (15-4) is tied for seventh in the country, allowing two goals per game. For most of the game, Maine’s defensive effort was strong. Denver went into the game tied with Minnesota as the top scoring team in the country, averaging four goals per game (Maine is third at 3.88 goals per game). While the Pioneers had just four shots in the third period, the winning goal came when the Black Bears couldn’t clear the puck, and Denver had scoring chances throughout the game that were the result of defensive miscues, only for the Black Bears to be bailed out by Boija (22 saves)
“Our guys played hard. We still have two or three players on the back end that are unplayable, and that makes it really hard on the rest of the guys,” Barr said. “They try, it’s just hasn’t clicked for them for some reason. We’ve got to help them.”
A captain, Breazeale agreed that the Black Bears need to do more.
“There’s definitely some good to take away from it. It’s just that last 1% that we as a collective team have got to take forward,” he said. “We made one block, and the puck’s bouncing around. There’s no excuse for it. We’ve got to be able to respond in those big moments, all five guys on the ice, and we weren’t able to do it tonight.”
Denver took a 1-0 lead with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 2:53 of the second period. Near the left post, Carter King stuffed in the rebound of a shot by Aidan Thompson that ricocheted off the boards behind the net.
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The Black Bears tied the game at 18:37 of the second on Frank Djurasevic’s power-play goal past Pioneer goalie Matt Davis (29 saves).
In the third period, Barr shuffled his top two lines, moving wing Josh Nadeau to play with center Harrison Scott and wing Thomas Freel, while moving Ross Mitton to a line with center Nolan Renwick and wing Taylor Makar – a trio that played well together early in the season.
“We were trying to get Josh going. I thought he was a little stale in the first couple periods, to be honest. I thought he was better in the third,” Barr said.
Barr also moved Owen Fowler from wing to center, on a line with wings Anthony Calafiore and Nicholas Niemo. With captain Lyden Breen out indefinitely because of a leg injury, the Black Bears are short-handed at center, Barr said. Right now, he’s trying to find guys who can take draws and win faceoffs.
The loss stings, Breazeale said, but there’s no time to dwell on it. These teams face each at Alfond Arena again at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
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“We feel like we’ve got a lot to prove as a team,” Breazeale said, “and tomorrow night we’ve got to come out with that for 60 more minutes.”
An Ellsworth veterinarian has agreed to pay more than $145,000 to settle allegations that he violated the federal Controlled Substances Act.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was unable to conduct several audits last year at Dr. Alan Toothaker’s registered location because of insufficient record keeping.
An investigation revealed that Toothaker maintained minimal oversight, had improper storage, failed to keep regular inventories and did not keep appropriate records.
U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee said the practice did not have adequate security or oversight, making it very difficult to determine if any substances had gone missing.