Concussions continue to be the most discussed health care topic these days related to youth athletes in such high-profile and high-contact sports as football and soccer. Jackie Tourtelotte has been on the front line of injury prevention in high school sports in eastern Maine for more than a decade. She started at Orono High School and for the last eight years has been the certified athletic trainer at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

Members of the Dexter Regional High School and Foxcroft Academy cross country teams ran in the 69th annual Old Town Sectional Invitational on Sept. 22.

Fans expected a close game when the Foxcroft Academy football team traveled to windblown Carmichael Field on Friday night, Sept. 21 for a midseason battle of the unbeatens against Bucksport. They got it. Quarterback Matt Spooner and halfback Michaleb Niles each rushed for more than 100 yards and senior defensive tackle Caleb Ladd came up with two big quarterback sacks late in the fourth quarter as Foxcroft held on for a 21-20 victory over the host Golden Bucks.

Basketball tournament week brought together small-school soccer coaches from western and southern Maine last February at the Augusta Civic Center to discuss one of the bigger issues facing their sport. A player shortage.

The number of girls competing in high school wrestling across the country has increased during each of the past 28 years. That national trend has been perhaps most noticeable over the past six winters, when the roster of schoolgirl wrestlers has grown from 8,235 in 2012 to 14,587 for the 2017-18 season, according to an annual survey compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

WABI-TV CBS Channel 5 and the CW of Bangor will not be televising the four state high school championship football games this season. The stations have carried the games for the past 13 years, but Steve Hiltz, WABI’s director of promotions, production and programming, said it has become too labor intensive.

Homecoming weekend for Piscataquis Community High School will be Sept. 28-29. This year the PCHS Homecoming will be special for two big reasons. The first is 50 years of soccer will be commemorated with the first ever night soccer match at 7 p.m. vs. Greenville on Saturday, Sept. 29. The second reason is that the inaugural class of the PCHS Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Runners from over a half dozen schools took off from the starting line with a temperature reading in the 80s during the annual Penobscot Valley Conference cross country meet at Foxcroft Academy on the afternoon of Sept. 14.

Touchdowns following a pair of second half turnovers and a blocked PAT helped Foxcroft Academy earn a 28-20 victory vs. fellow Class D North 2-0 program North Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln under the lights on Sept. 14 at Oakes Field. The Pony defense also forced two other turnovers in the second half and while these changes of possession did not lead to any points, the plays helped prevent the Lynx from finding the endzone on each drive.

Several mixed martial arts teammates from Young’s MMA in the Queen City stepped into the cage at the Cross Insurance Center’s main ballroom Saturday night, Sept. 8 with the same goal but for different reasons. Most came through quite successfully. Aaron Lacey, Ryan Sanders and Josh Harvey -- who is a Dexter Regional High School graduate -- all scored first-round victories among five professional bouts contested as part of New England Fights’ “NEF 35: Wicked Season” show staged before a sellout crowd of 1,200.

Several members of the Foxcroft Academy cross country team took part in varsity races during the Caribou Invitational on Sept. 8.

The visiting Howlers would earn a 5-1 victory to hand the 2-1 Lakers the team’s first defeat of the season while Penobscot Valley improved to 3-0 early in the season. The Howler boys also won on Saturday, by a 3-1 score.

High school football has followed the path of the professional and collegiate versions of the game, with wide-open offenses that spread out the defenses now often more the norm than the exception these days. But the Dexter Tigers showed Saturday afternoon, Sept. 8 that the basics of the game -- blocking and tackling -- remain just as important to success during their 29-0 LTC Class D victory over Washington Academy of East Machias at Tiger Field.

Foxcroft Academy jumped out to a 35-0 lead in first quarter behind touchdowns from five different players and the Ponies never looked back with a 56-12 victory in the 2018 opener vs. Mount View High School of Thorndike on the evening of Aug. 31.

High school football across the state clearly is a numbers game these days, with many programs struggling to maintain sufficient participation numbers not only for a given season but to sustain themselves over time.

I just wanted to pass along some quick information on fall river flows and lake elevations. I know a lot of people are gearing up for September fishing and would like to make plans.

The upcoming New England Fights mixed martial arts show scheduled for Friday, Sept. 8 at the Cross insurance Center in Bangor will have a distinct local flavor.

A week before starting the regular season with eight games against fellow Class D North programs, Foxcroft Academy got a chance to face defending Class C champion Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield in a preseason matchup on Aug. 24. The visiting Huskies would score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, when both teams had reserve units on the field, to win the exhibition contest 28-21.