Lewiston Takes Control of Their Destiny

My plan yesterday was simple: swing by the Game of the Day, the boys soccer game between Brunswick and Lewiston, and hopefully get video of a goal or two before heading over to Bath for the second half of Morse/Poland, which looked like it might be one of the better games of the football slate.

When I got to Brunswick, the student section was out in force, including the Dragon.

We're all familiar with the concept of a student in a costume, but the inflatable dragon version of the dinosaur we're all used to is a nice pivot. Like anything, this has a downside. The student in the dragon costume managed to deflate it at least twice before the game even started and was looking for tape to patch it.

Brunswick controlled the first 10 minutes. Lewiston tilted the field in their favor a little after that, but neither could get a good scoring opportunity and with 20 minutes left in regulation, I headed for Morse.

After I left, Lewiston won it in overtime when Khalil Ibrahim found the back of the net with 1:39 left.

Game of the Day!

Nathan Fournier was there. He also made a half-hearted attempt to keep a soccer ball from hitting his work laptop. It missed.

Lewiston boys soccer wins top-2 showdown with Brunswick in overtime

The Blue Devils, No. 2 in the Varsity Maine poll, get revenge for last week’s loss to the top-ranked Dragons.

The Portland Press HeraldNathan FournierStaff Writer

The win extends Lewiston's margin at the top of the table in A North and puts them in the driver's seat for the 1 seed, but like I wrote yesterday, there's work to be done.

Winning out should do it. That gets them to 98.1%. A Brunswick loss to Mount Blue or Edward Little gets Lewiston to a similar percentage.

You can run the scenarios yourself with the new playoff calculator.

I got to Morse with the Shipbuilders leading 20-6, but I was only there for a couple of plays before they put the game out of reach. First, Oscar Gallant made one of the nicer catches you'll see a big guy make on an interception.

He caught a TD pass on the very next play (because that's how you reward defense) to give Morse a 26-6 lead at halftime. They pulled away in the second half, punctuated by a long Jack Trask touchdown run, but they missed the 2-point conversion that would have started the clock on running time.

There was one good game on the football schedule, as Wells rallied down 10 to beat Freeport and keep pace in the crazy Class C.

Steve Craig was there.

Wells football comes back for wild win over Freeport

On the verge of its first-ever win against the Warriors, Freeport is undone by a series of mistakes in the final minutes.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

Elsewhere

Drew Lindquist tossed 5 touchdown passes in Cony's blowout of Camden...OOB scored on their first 3 plays from scrimmage on the way to a 66-0 domination of Traip.

Speaking of Steve Craig, he has a pair of stories in Varsity Maine on the safety issues surrounding high school football.

It's hard to imagine a parent reading the CTE news that rocked the NFL years ago and not being at least a little concerned about the health and well-being of their children and football, to it's credit has adapted.

For more than a decade, coaches in Maine have realized that they need to make their game as safe as possible — especially in practice. It benefits the players’ long-term health. It also assures that schools, many with rosters hovering in low- to mid-30s, can actually play their scheduled games.

In the article, Craig speaks to a couple of coaches who make the point that most Maine programs simply don't have the numbers to be able to lose anyone because they got hurt in a practice drill, which is a nice evolutionary way a problem can sort of solve itself.

Craig's other article covers Winthrop's influx of new helmet technology thanks to an executive at Riddell.

Study: 1 in 4 NFL players will contract a brain disease. How does this impact Maine high school football?

Coaches and players say safety remains the No. 1 priority, but acknowledge the data is sobering.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

In Winthrop, new helmet tech provides impact data for coaches, medical staff

The Ramblers were gifted 50 helmets by a part-time Winthrop resident who is an executive at renowned helmet manufacturer Riddell.

Centralmaine.comSteve CraigStaff Writer

There's a post on Twitter that went viral this week about the state of media coverage of local sports.

It's a fascinating read and meshes nicely with what we've seen on the sidelines here in Maine.

That may be where the next version of local sports media begins to take shape. The Friday night game story is not necessarily obsolete, but it no longer has to stand alone. It can live alongside the short-form video, the livestream, the photo gallery, the podcast interview, the recruiting notebook and the deeper feature that gives people a reason to care about someone beyond a final score.

Interest in local sports is, in many ways, as high as it ever was. Sure, back in 1980 the entire town turned out on a Friday night, but that was in the era of the monoculture. There was also only a story in the newspaper and the highlights on TV. There were no websites. You couldn't listen to a hour and a half long podcast every week about the games and watch endless clips on Instagram.

Plus, as I always say: there is no better entertainment value out there than a $4 ticket to a high school sporting event.

In a world where it seems that every week brings more terrible news about the state of journalism and local media--especially local media--it's great to see a positive story for a change. The Columbia Journalism Review (big week for the CJR in the newsletter) has a story about Evan Newton, the former intern who bought a small weekly newspaper and seems to be turning it around with some newfangled digital ideas.

Subscriptions are up 30% since he took over.

“I’m 25 and just bought my local paper.”

A former intern bought Georgia’s Monticello News. Weeks later, he grew subscriptions by 30 percent.

Columbia Journalism ReviewLiz Skalka

As everyone knows, Nick Offerman (a.k.a. Ron Swanson) is the current patron saint of mustaches and he spoke out about the young gunslinger on the scene, Payton Tolle.

‘I taught you well, my son’: Nick Offerman praises Payton Tolle and his majestic mustache - The Boston Globe

The Emmy-winning actor appeared on “The Joy of Baseball” podcast earlier this week, and lauded Tolle for his mustache and penchant for hugs.

The Boston GlobePrint this Article View Comments

If you can figure out B South, congratulations because it's a complete mess. Every week there's a result that makes you go "I'm sorry, what?" It adds a level of chaos to the region that's super fun (or stressful, depending on your involvement).

This week, Kennebunk heads to Fryeburg in a battle of a couple of teams with strange resumes. Kennebunk has 2 quality wins--against Falmouth and Cheverus--but it's anyone's guess what you'll get from either of those teams week to week. One week they look like contenders. Other weeks, not so much.

Fryeburg is 2-3 in B North, but a dangerous 2-3. They lost in the final minute to Cony, hung with Lawrence, and lost a 1-score game to Messo. Those are 3 understandable losses.

Looking solely at results, you can easily make the argument that Fryeburg is better than their 2-3 record and you can make the argument that Kennebunk's 4-1 record is a little soft. The Model thinks they might meet in the middle.

The rest of the Model's picks for today's games are after the jump.