Gardiner Area High School has been tested just once this fall, but the Tigers have plenty of competition amongst themselves to keep motivated.

By Saturday, some field hockey teams will have finished their regular season, and will then have to wait a week and a half before their playoff games. That's another issue altogether, so before we get to that in the coming weeks, let's look at some of the best matchups in the area this week.

It''s hard to watch a Winthrop/Boothbay football game, especially in Boothbay, and not remember The Catch.

I saw my first football game in Madison on Friday night and enjoyed it thoroughly. I've seen better games than Madison's 51-20 victory over Yarmouth, but I'm not talking about the game as much as the atmosphere.

As good as Lawrence High School was last season, it may be even better this fall. At least offensively.
The Bulldogs have become a much more pass oriented team, relying on quarterback Jack Hersom more and in different situations.

Maybe Thursday night's field hockey game between Belfast and Mt. View seemed so special because it was so rare. I'm not suggesting we over-saturate ourselves on night games, but this atmosphere could and should be re-created at other schools.

Cony High School welcomes back two key players for its Week 5 matchup with Edward Little. Tailback/linebacker Joey Record and tight end Eric Morang both return after missing two weeks with shoulder injuries.

Here is what my ballot looked like this week in the Morning Sentinel/Kennebec Journal/Press Herald high school football top 10. Did I get it right? Am I a fool for leaving your favorite team off? Discuss.

1. Lawrence
2. Bonny Eagle
3. Gorham
4. Skowhegan
5. Mountain Valley
6. Lewiston
7. Gardiner
8. Bangor
9. Massabesic
10. Winslow

The beauty of the game of soccer is just about anyone of any size can play. This is especially true of smaller players who would be hard pressed to find a spot on a football team. In Tuesday's game between Maine Central Institute and Maranacook in Readfield, two little guys who stood out were MCI senior Ben Badeen and Maranacook sophomore Keegan Ballard.

Note: This field hockey list is solely the work of me (Matt, the person in the photo). This will be a regular feature each Wednesday until the playoffs start in mid-October.

Maranacook grad Abby Pullen left softball behind a few years ago, but she's still a star in cross country running at Hofstra University.

Gardiner Area High School senior Brad Carleton normally plays the role of blocking back in the Tigers' offense and it is a role he plays rather well. Carleton has dished out some extremely punishing hits leading the way for tailback Bass Chadwick and quarterback Kyle Stilphen this fall.
He also has an uncanny ability to break off long touchdown runs.

The first half of the high school football season is complete, and the race for playoff spots in the Pine Tree Conference Class A division is tight.

Lawrence, Skowhegan and Lewiston are the league's remaining undefeated teams, and Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Oxford Hills each have one loss.

Two teams to watch in the second half of the season are Messalonskee and Cony. Although each team is 0-4, they've played the toughest schedules in the conference so far. Messalonskee's first four opponents — Bangor, Lewiston, Skowhegan and Oxford Hills — are a combined 14-2. Cony's first four opponents — Mt. Ararat, Lawrence, Lewiston and Skowhegan — are 15-1.

The Lawrence High School football extended its winning streak to 15 games against a tired opponent. The Bulldogs cruised to a 48-0 win over Brunswick High School on Saturday, just five days after the Dragons beat Edward Little 36-26.
Brunswick game with Edward Little was postponed until Monday because of a bomb scare at the school.

The field hockey picture became a little clearer this past week (for one thing, Edward Little was outscored 11-0 in its first two games after coming out as No. 1 in the Eastern A Heal points). This week starts off slow as far as intriguing matchups, but makes up for it near the end.

The schedule couldn't have worked out any better for a young Winthrop High School football team.

Bass Chadwick and his brother Forrest racked up 246 rushing yards in Gardiner Area High School's 24-8 win over Waterville on Friday night.

A new multi-purpose field at Hall-Dale High School is nearing completion and should be ready for use next spring. Teams are already putting in requests for its use as both a practice and game field, according to athletic director Tim Johnson.

Here's a few extra tidbits from Thursday, including a fire at Mt. Blue and a Skowhegan player who is still on fire.

Hard to believe, but we are entering the halfway point of the high school football season as teams prepare for Week 4. With that in mind, here are a few things to watch for this weekend.

As I did last week, I'm posting how I voted in the Morning Sentinel/Kennebec Journal/Press Herald media poll. I'll try and do this throughout the entire season.

1. Lawrence
2. Bonny Eagle
3. Gorham
4. Skowhegan
5. Mountain Valley
6. Lewiston
7. Gardiner
8. Bangor
9. Massabesic
10. Thornton Academy

Check out Friday's paper for the complete poll.

Fresh off a big 26-20 win over Jay High School, Winthrop (3-0) is looking to the past to avoid a let down against 0-3 Madison this weekend.

Lawrence will play at Brunswick will play on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m., rather than Friday night.

This gives the Dragons one more day to prepare for the Bulldogs. Lawrence is tied with Skowhegan for most points scored in the Pine Tree Conference, with 124 in three games.

Katye Mayo, Jordan Stevens and Katie Frett have all made their presence felt early in their college careers. Mayo is a sophomore goalkeeper on the St. Joseph's women's soccer team, Stevens is a sophomore linebacker on the football team at UMaine, and Frett is a freshman playing field hockey at Wellesley College.

This is not how you'd want to head into a game against the defending state champions. A bomb threat last Friday at Brunswick High School pushed the Dragons game against Edward Little to Monday night. Brunswick won, 36-26.

Now Brunswick has just three days of practice to prepare for Lawrence, a team riding a 15 game win streak.

Short weeks are nothing new in high school football. Just last year, both Waterville and Winslow played first round playoff games on a Monday after lousy weather made Saturday unplayable. The difference then was, Winslow and Waterville wins on Monday set them up to play each other the next Saturday. Both teams had short weeks of practice.

Getting good competition has always been a problem for soccer teams in central Maine. We've often seen good teams from Maranacook breeze through the regular season only to lose to southern Maine teams in the playoffs. will this year be more of the same? Tough to tell. The Black Bears are off to a 5-0 start but have only really been challenged by Winslow, a 2-1 win.
The tough part for the Black Bears is playing in Western Maine which includes powerhouse Falmouth as well as perenially strong teams from Yarmouth and Freeport.
Winslow is a little more fortunate in playing in Eastern Maine where the competition is not as strong but the Black Raiders eventually have to face their Waterloo in the state game. Both these teams are lcoked into conference schedules, unlike Class D Richmond which plays a weak schedule but is able to schedule some strong Class C clubs.

True, Skowhegan has outclassed its field hockey competition over the last four games, winning them by a combined score of 29-0. But whatever the context, the statistics for senior forward Sam Gifford are impressive.

Deahna Giguere, a standout on the tennis court during her four years at Messalonskee, continues to excel as a freshman at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vt.

Oak Hill High School coach Bruce Nicholas joked that the Raiders last two games have taken "a few years off his life."

The traditional Eastern A powers haven't started playing each other yet (aside from the Cony-Skowhegan Sept. 8) but there are still some interesting matchups this week. Here's a look at a few of them:

In each of Gardiner Area High School's first two football games, Kyle Stilphen returned a punt for a touchdown. He had a chance to extend the streak early in the first quarter of the Tigers game against Hampden Academy and nearly did so.

Filled with confidence from its 26-14 win over Hampden Academy last Saturday, the Maranacook Community School football team is convinced this year will be different. Before the 2007 season, Maranacook had won just two games since becoming a varsity team in 2003.

This is how I voted in this week's Morning Sentinel/Kennebec Journal/Press Herald media football poll:

1. Lawrence
2. Bonny Eagle
3. Bangor
4. Gorham
5. Mountain Valley
6. Lewiston
7. Gardiner
8. Massabesic
9. Skowhegan
10. Thornton Academy

Check out Friday's paper to see this week's complete poll.

Maranacook has had to play the Eastern B/Western B game for the past few years. The Black Bears are consistently one of the top teams in the East, but run into a tough playoff draw in the West. This year, in their quest for a home playoff game, the Bears are getting more offensive.

Blogging and tackling . . . That’s what’s it’s all about as any football coach will tell you. With that in mind, we kick off our first-ever high school sports blog. It should be fun and informative.