A pair of third quarter touchdowns helped the Dexter Regional High School/Piscataquis Community High School cooperative football team (the squad was playing its first varsity game under the arrangement) pull away from Hancock County cooperative Ellsworth High School/Sumner Memorial High School of East Sullivan and earn a 28-13 victory in a mutual season opener on the afternoon of Sept. 2.

The backfield trio for the Madison Area High School/Carrabec High School cooperative football team ran for over 150 yards apiece and accounted for all seven touchdowns as the visiting Bulldogs won a mutual 2017 opener 49-28 at Foxcroft Academy on the evening of Sept. 1.

Over the last four years, Foxcroft Academy football coach Danny White has welcomed the challenges playing in Class C North had presented his Ponies. This fall, with its drop to Class D, Foxcroft is going home, so to speak, to the Little Ten Conference.

Foxcroft Academy looked ready for the start of the regular season in less than a week as the Ponies defeated Belfast Area High School 35-6 in a preseason football contest on Aug. 25. The Ponies scored four touchdowns in the first half, with three coming through the air, and kept the home team off the scoreboard until the final play of the game when both squads had reserve units in.

As August fades away and we roll into the vibrant colors of fall, the fishing is sure to improve. I often think of September as the “playoffs” for salmon and brook trout fishing in the Moosehead Lake region.

The Pirate boys soccer team prepared for the start of the regular season on Sept. 2 by hosting Schenck High School on Aug. 22.

On Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Hyde School the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance (MAWA) recognized Rich and Cindy Johnson of Dover-Foxcroft as the MAWA People of the Year for their outstanding dedication and support to the sport of wrestling in Maine.

The Maine Basketball Hall of Fame is following a predictable growth pattern. Its first classes, beginning in 2014, inducted the most obvious influences on the state’s most popular sport. Subsequent classes -- including the fourth edition that was inducted during ceremonies on Aug. 20 at the Cross Insurance Center -- are bridging the divide between more historical figures and standouts from recent eras.

On Aug. 10 JSI Store Fixtures, Inc. and the Three River Kiwanis Club of Milo and Brownville collected $27,500 through the 13th annual Clayton Johndro Memorial Golf Tournament at the Katahdin Country Club.

Congratulations go to the Gravel Crushers for winning the Piscataquis Regional YMCA Adult Co-ed Softball League on Aug. 13 as the team defeated Save-A-Lot in the championship game to complete another successful season.

Again in 2017 the Bun Run 5K kicked off the second annual Maine Red Hot Dog Festival on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 12 as over 50 runners took part on the course through town.

For the last 21 years Foxcroft Academy graduates, community members, and visitors to the region have been able to kick off the Saturday of Foxcroft Academy Alumni Weekend/Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming by running in the Pony Pride 5K. 2016 Foxcroft Academy graduate Cooper Nelson, a rising sophomore on the University of Maine cross country and track teams, repeated as the Pony Pride winner.

Seven residents from the region took part in the 20th annual TD Beach to Beacon 10K on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 5, being part of 6,879 finishers from Maine and across the world to cover the 6.2 miles.

As a fisheries manager, our inventory is fish and knowing how many fish are in a body of water would be ideal, but we rarely have the ability to measure this. Fish won’t hold still long enough for us to count them!

Friends of Community Fitness held its 12th annual Fitness 5K, as part of the Piscataquis River Festival, on the morning of July 29.

On Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Hyde School the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance (MAWA) will be recognizing Rich and Cindy Johnson of Dover-Foxcroft as the MAWA People of the Year for their outstanding dedication and support to the sport of wrestling in Maine.

Several dozen area residents braved four miles filled with obstacles to complete the 2017 Tough Mountain Challenge on July 29 at Sunday River.

In conjunction with Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend and the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming, the 21st annual Pony Pride will be open to all and run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5. For the second year in a row, the event is starting and ending on the campus of Foxcroft Academy.