The Skowhegan football team is facing uncertainty with the status of its upcoming game with Brunswick, due to an investigation into allegations of hazing with the Brunswick football team. The Dragons’ game with Lawrence this past weekend was canceled as a result of that ongoing investigation.

Skowhegan football coach Ryan Libby said his team is proceeding as if the game is still on for 7 p.m., Friday at Reginald Clark Memorial Field in Skowhegan.

“We have very little information to go on, so we’re just preparing like we’re going to play and we’ll go from there,” Libby said. “We’ve asked whoever we can talk to to let us know as soon as possible. But until we hear anything, we’re playing Friday.”

Skowhegan athletic director Jon Christopher said that as of Monday afternoon he had yet to hear from Brunswick regarding its homecoming game Friday. Christopher added that Skowhegan would look to find another opponent for Friday night should Brunswick cancel.

Brunswick head coach Dan Cooper and assistant Greg Nadeau are on paid administrative leave pending the investigation, according to school superintendent Phil Potenziano.

Cooper, Potenziano and Brunswick athletic director Aaron Watson did not return phone calls for comment on Monday.

Potenziano announced Friday that the school’s homecoming football game against Lawrence was canceled. Furthermore, Brunswick canceled its junior varsity game scheduled for Monday against Lawrence.

Libby said it will be a normal week of practice leading up to Friday for his team.

“We are at the whim of other powers,” he said. “I would love to know now, but that’s just not going to happen. So my guess is we’ll probably know Thursday night, who the hell knows, maybe Friday morning when I wake up. We’ll figure it out.”

Libby said the COVID-affected season has made dealing with uncertainty in a week easier.

“It’s certainly tricky,” he said, “but this year, that’s what it is every week. You don’t have any idea what’s going to happen. It’s for a different reason, but it’s the same sort of approach each week.”

 

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It’s been an enjoyable start to the season for Oak Hill, which sits in fourth place in Class D at 2-1. The Raiders got their second straight win Saturday with a 22-14 victory over Madison, taking the lead in the second half after doing the same the previous week in a 24-13 win over Lisbon.

“The biggest positive that I’ve taken away from the first three games is the kids’ resiliency,” Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell said. “The ability to not give up. We’ve kind of gotten stronger as the games have gone on, we’ve played pretty good second halves in the last two games. … Guys aren’t giving up right now. They’re keeping their focus and kind of sticking to the gameplan, even though we’ve fallen behind.”

The leader, Stowell said, has been running back and linebacker Caden Thompson, who ran for over 100 yards and scored twice against Madison, and who also had a 50-yard touchdown run against Lisbon.

“We are starting to take (his) personality,” Stowell said. “Caden’s a very action-first, speak-second type of kid. … He’s a grinder, and we’re starting to be like that a little bit.”

Stowell called Thompson the team’s “bell cow.”

“Caden runs mean,” he said. “I compare him to Steven Jackson. … He would seek contact out and run through people, and that’s how Caden is. Caden runs violently. He doesn’t run like his personality. He’s very soft-spoken, very respectful, very mannered type of guy. All the coaches enjoy him. But when you put the ball in his hands, he runs with some violence.”

 

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Friday night was a big night for Messalonskee and coach Walter Polky. The Eagles lost to 23-14 to Cony, but it was the first game back for Polky after he missed three weeks with blood clots in his lungs. Polky was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Aug. 31 and hospitalized due to the clots that were found on Sept. 9, and made his return to the team last Monday.

Polky said he started feeling better between Wednesday and Thursday, and was happy to be back with the team Friday night.

“It was phenomenal. This has been an awful, awful last month for me,” he said. “But to get out there and compete, and especially compete against a team like that and have the game that we had, besides the win I couldn’t ask for anything more. Our kids played wonderful, our coaches were wonderful, our crowd was wonderful.”

Polky said he still has to take it easy with his condition.

“I feel wonderful now. With the clots, they take a lot of my energy away, so I have to be cautious of when am I going to exert it,” he said. “But when Cony comes to town, the adrenaline’s pumping and everything goes out the window.”

 

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Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale’s 40-6 victory over Poland brought its total to 894 rushing yards in three games, and while Dom Trott (225 yards, three touchdowns), Andrew Foster (71 yards) and Logan Baird (67 yards) get the attention on the stat sheet, coach Dave St. Hilaire said the offensive line has been the team’s top strength so far.

Liam Burgess has anchored the line at center, and the team has gotten strong play as well from guards Jake Umberhind and Isaac Oliveira and a pair of 6-foot-5, 280-pound tackles in Sam Bourne and Jayden Peters.

“We’re moving guys around and making holes, and we’ve got the running backs that can run through them,” St. Hilaire said. “The offensive line, you can’t say enough about them.”

 

Bill Stewart and Eli Canfield contributed to this report.

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