When Jamie Russell informed his players on the Central of Corinth girls’ basketball team that they would be playing a game at the Cross Insurance Center during the upcoming holiday break, the Red Devils reacted like they had just opened an extra Christmas present.

The Foxcroft Academy girls battled back to get within one at 29-28 late in the third quarter during the Ponies’ 2018-19 home opener in a Class B North matchup against Mount Desert Island High School on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The Trojans would then pull ahead and hold on for a 52-36 victory.

On Saturday, Dec. 9 the Foxcroft Academy wrestling team traveled to Bucksport High School for the annual Ryan Detour Tournament. This event was the regular season opener for all 12 Penobscot Valley Conference teams attending.

Piscataquis Community High School is the home of the Pirates, but over the decades the swashbuckler logo for the institution has varied. SAD 4 district officials have been seeking public input on the pirate design and lettering -- including posting four options on the PCHS Pirates Sports Central Facebook page -- for a new LED digital sign to be erected in the near future.

In Class C, with the graduation of Miss Maine Basketball Kolleen Bouchard and her 2,046 career points, four-time regional champ Houlton finds itself in a rebuilding cycle. That means Class C North runner-up Dexter, which took Houlton to overtime in the regional final with three freshman starters, is the team to beat.

Sekton Wandikbo could not have imagined being named an all-conference linebacker even two years ago. For the Foxcroft Academy senior, football was a different game he was playing a world away back then.

The Piscataquis Community High School wrestling team had a spectacular showing at the team’s regular season opener in Bucksport on Dec. 8. The Pirates came in fifth overall.

Nearly 20 runners from the region braved the elements on Dec. 8 for the Millinocket Half Marathon. Rico Portalatin, 47 of Milo, finished 11th out of a field of 1,123 in the 13.1-mile race. Portalatin’s time was 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 59 seconds.

For a quarter the Class C North Piscataquis Community High School and Class D North Schenck High School of East Millinocket stayed even as the two programs were tied at five points apiece after eight minutes of play during the 2018-19 season opener on Friday, Dec. 7. From there the visiting Wolverines had a 10-0 run during much of the second quarter and a 25-3 advantage in the third to win 45-22.

A number of football players from Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School received postseason recognition from the Little Ten Conference (Class D North).

On Wednesday, Nov. 28 administrators from Foxcroft Academy and representatives from the Libra Foundation met for the first time with local town officials in regard to the newly named Piscataquis County Ice Arena being built in Dover-Foxcroft.

Penquis Valley High School senior forward Cymeria Robshaw is one of 15 players from across all four classes named to the Maine Soccer Coaches’ Girls Northern Maine State Team.

Now the next step on the Windjammers’ road to rehabilitation may involve a slightly different form of the game after a Maine Principals’ Association panel on Thursday backed the establishment of two divisions of eight-player football beginning next year. The MPA’s football committee approved the establishment of a large-school division of eight-player football for schools with enrollments of more than 350 students and a small-school division for schools with enrollments of 350 or fewer.

With the regular firearms season for deer concluding on Saturday, Nov. 24, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s new online registration system showed that deer hunters had a very good year in Maine -- likely the best in over 15 years.

On Saturday, Nov. 24 the Foxcroft Academy wrestling team traveled to Dexter Regional High School for an annual preseason event, the Dexter Duals tournament. This event consisted of eight teams divided into two groups. The winner of each group advances to the finals and will face the winner of the other group.

U.S. Cellular officials on Tuesday, Nov. 20, announced Williams as the third-place finalist in its Most Valuable Coach contest. The honor comes a year after Luis Ayala of Foxcroft Academy earned top honors in the 2017 Most Valuable Coach contest.

With firearms deer hunting season in its final week, the perennial questions began running through my head. Do I get up early and get into the woods at first shooting light? Do I walk or should I sit in my blind?

We all know people who just seem to know where to go at just the right time to see deer. They have that uncanny ability to bag a nice buck almost every year. These people have good hunter instincts -- what I call “the sixth sense.”