Scoreboard B6 High school roundup B7 Tuesday, October 6, 2015
SPORTS
Page B5
bangordailynews.com
Theriault expects to race again this season Injured NASCAR driver ‘walking around,’ says his dad
BY LARRY MAHONEY BDN STAFF
Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault expects to race again this season despite suffering a compression fracture in his lower back after hitting the wall BRUCE MCLEAN PHOTO head-on during a NASCAR Camping World Truck Stearns players watch from the sidelines as their teammates attempt to stop a Medomak Valley player during a game on Sept. 11 Series race Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor in Millinocket. Stearns coach Steve Waceken, whose team has only 21 players, understands why Camden Hills Regional High Speedway. School had to cancel its season because injuries were reducing the roster to an unsafe level. “We’ve been real fortunate so far, “He fully intends to race again and we’re working hard to keep the kids healthy and give them the best chance to compete that we can,” he said. this season,” his father, Steve Theriault, said Monday. “He is still extremely sore. But he is in good spirits.” Theriault said his son will see a doctor on Tuesday in North Carolina and will get a clearer picture of his status and a treatment schedTheriault ule. “He is resting today, but he has been walking around,” he said. The 21-year-old Austin Theriault is wearing a BY ERNIE CLARK With that, the population in those commufore school officials decided to end its back brace that he was outfitted with at the UniBDN STAFF nities has decreased dramatically as young season after three games. versity Medical Center in Las Vegas. He flew home adults go elsewhere to find employment. “You could replace their name with to North Carolina on Sunday. teve Waceken understands the posiThat has left school enrollments on our name, that’s what our coaching staff The crash occurred just 14 laps into the Rhino tion Camden Hills Regional High the decline, and when combined with was talking about one day,” Waceken Linings 350 when Theriault’s Brad Keselowski School officials were in recently other issues such as heightened awaresaid. “It would be awful easy to do that Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, lost control of when they decided to forfeit the ness about concussions, that has meant with a few bad breaks and kids getting his truck, slid down the track and hit Theriault, football team’s final five games of the football rosters are in decline, too. hurt, but we’ve been real fortunate so launching him up the track into the concrete wall. season, citing safety issues related to a “More schools are playing football, but far, and we’re working hard to keep the There was no SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy dwindling roster. fewer kids are playing football per kids healthy and give them the best Reduction) barrier in place on that portion of the When Waceken’s oldest son was a seschool,” said Waceken, who has coached chance to compete that we can.” race track. nior football player at Stearns High football in Millinocket for nearly two deNASCAR required the installation of the SAFER A magic number? School of Millinocket in 2005, school offi- cades, including this fall as head coach barriers at oval tracks three years after the death cials there considered taking a similar at Stearns. “I think with the NFL and the One of the most frequently discussed of racing great Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of step with an undermanned squad. concussion talks, some parents are saysafety concerns related to football inthe Daytona 500 in 2001. Earnhardt was one of five That team not only survived the seaing no, and kids aren’t really fighting volves the prevalence of concussions, but NASCAR drivers to die in a crash within a twoson but went on to win an Eastern Maine back and are either playing another there is no established statistical correla- year span. The others were Adam Petty, Blaise AlClass C championship in 2010 that harsport or no sport at all.” tion between the frequency of concusexander, Kenny Irwin Jr. and Tony Roper. kened back to when earlier generations Waceken fields a 21-player squad and sions and football roster size. But track owners are only required to install the of Minutemen routinely produced title is familiar with some of the challenges “As far as I know there are no stanSAFER barriers in the corners that are considered teams in numerous sports, including faced at Camden Hills. The Windjamdard recommendations,” said Dr. Paul the most dangerous part of the track by NASCAR football. mers began this season with 12 freshmen Berkner, director of the Maine Concusofficials and the most common spot for accidents. Today, the paper mills that powered among their 28 players and experienced sion Management Initiative based at Theriault’s accident occurred on a straightmany of the state’s traditional football pow- attrition to the point that it had only 11 Colby College in Waterville. away. See Football, Page B8 See Driver, Page B7 ers are being mothballed at a rapid rate. players available for a practice just be-
Abattleforsafety,survival High school football teams deal with shrinking rosters
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Honored in Brewer
UM loss exposes trouble in secondary
Red Sox weigh in on Ramirez’s fitness
Team wants player to drop up to 20 pounds
BY PETE WARNER BDN STAFF
The inexperience of the University of Maine’s secondary was exposed during Saturday’s 48-17 Colonial Athletic Association football loss at Richmond, Virginia. The 19th-ranked Spiders burned the Black Bears for 12 pass plays of at least 10 yards, including eight covering 20 yards or more. Among those were scoring hookups of 27, 75, 23 and 29 yards. COLLEGE “They were overmatched, in a REPORT way, with some experienced receivers,” UMaine head coach Jack Cosgrove said of the Black Bears’ safeties and cornerbacks. UMaine has been forced to fastforward its safeties this season. After seniors Khari Al-Mateen, Axel Ofori and Patrick Pascal departed, junior free safety Davonte Burke suffered a second season-ending knee injury during the summer. During Monday’s CAA coaches teleconference, Cosgrove revealed that Burke’s heir apparent, sophomore Darrius Hart, is out for the season with a right knee injury suffered after the Boston College game. As a result, Sinmisola Demuren and Jason Matovu were thrust into the starting lineup. Mozai Nelson contributed, but suffered a season-ending knee injury last week, and Spencer Carey of Fairfield has played. All are secondyear players. “We’ve got the best we’ve got in there and we’ve just got to play through it, that’s all we can do,” Cosgrove said. The Black Bears also are young at cornerback, where senior Sherrod Baltimore is the only upperclassman. Najee Goode, A.J. Dawson, Jeffrey DeVaughn and Tayvon Hall are all second-year players. Cosgrove was quick to credit See UMaine, Page B7
BY SCOTT LAUBER BOSTON HERALD
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Brewer High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its second class Thursday night at the high school. The inductees attending the event were (front, from left) Bob Bower, Thomas Kelly III and Ralph Payne. Inducted in the back row was Kris Littlefield Jordan (right) and accepting the honor on behalf of his late father, Barrington Ivers, was Alvin Ivers. Also honored was Peter Phelan (not pictured) and Lura Hoit was inducted posthumously.
UNE to play in new football conference BY PETE WARNER BDN STAFF
The shuffling of the Division III college football deck in New England continued on Monday. The Commonwealth Coast Conference announced that it will begin sponsoring football as a varsity sport starting with the 20172018 season. The CCC will assume operation of the New England Football Conference, which will be renamed as part of the transition. The NEFC was founded in 1965 by Maine Maritime Academy of Castine and Massachusetts schools Curry and Bridgewater State. Once the changeover occurs, only Curry will remain. “I am confident that the proud tradition that CCC institutions have helped build in the New England Football Conference will con-
tinue to grow as football moves under the CCC umbrella,” CCC Commissioner Gregg M. Kaye said in a news release. “Our growth is a direct result of leadership at the conference level exhibited by the presidents at each of our member institutions, each of whom considers intercollegiate athletics to play a vitally important role in the undergraduate experience,” he added. UNE, which competes in the Commonwealth Coast Conference in its other sports, last November announced it was adding a football program. It became the first Maine college since Husson University of Bangor in 2003 to sponsor football. “I am so excited to be adding football here at UNE, and even more excited that the university is adding yet another sport to the Commonwealth Coast Confer-
ence,” UNE President Danielle Ripich said in a news release. “The rich, American tradition of Saturday afternoon games against familiar rivals will bring a greater sense of community to the university.” The addition of football will increase the number of championship sports overseen by the CCC to 17. It is the third championship sport added in the last five years, joining men’s ice hockey (2016-17) and men’s golf (2013-14). For football, the new Commonwealth Coast Conference initially will include Curry, Endicott, Nichols, Salve Regina and Western New England. UNE will play a subvarsity schedule in 2017 and begin varsity competition in 2018. The CCC will start its Division III football endeavor with a twoyear grace period (2017-2019). See CCC, Page B7
CLEVELAND — In the event that Hanley Ramirez is back with the Red Sox next season, he might look a little different. As Ramirez attempts to make the transition to first base, his second position switch in less than a year, the Red Sox have directed him to lose 15-20 pounds, according to interim managRamirez er Torey Lovullo, in the hopes of staying healthier and regaining some of the athleticism he exhibited earlier in his career. “To be an infielder, you have to be a little more agile,” Lovullo said yesterday before the Red Sox lost, 3-1, to the Cleveland Indians in the season finale. “It’s all from a health standpoint, all for getting through a season and not having those aches and pains that a big body has. “We all know when you carry extra weight it puts more stress on your joints. I think that’s the main reason why.” The Red Sox list Ramirez at 225 pounds, but he reported to spring training at 240, 10 pounds heavier than last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Earlier in his career, when he was an All-Star shortstop for the Florida Marlins, Ramirez was rail-thin and barely 200 pounds. Ramirez hasn’t played since Aug. 26 because of a strained right (throwing) shoulder. The Red Sox held out hope that he might be able to play in a few games at first base, but after abandoning that idea a few weeks ago, they allowed him to leave the team last week to continue his rehab at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home. See Ramirez, Page B7