Hodgdon,Katahdin fail to field teams

By Gloria Austin  
Staff Writer
    The Hodgdon Hawks and Katahdin Lady Cougars will not have varsity soccer teams this season due to the lack of interest.
    Both teams had new coaches, but in the preseason, neither coach had enough players show up to field a full lineup.
    “The most that ever showed up was seven,” said Hodgdon Athletic Director Brad Chiasson.
    But, low numbers isn’t new to either team, as last year, Hodgdon and Katahdin both started in the preseason with 11 players.
    “Once school started, we were able to pick up a couple of more,” Chiasson said. “But, this year, we had to make a decision earlier because we had two games before school started. If we were to wait and cancel the season after we already started school, we’d have to sit out this year plus two more.”
    So, the administration cancelled the season before school started taking the one-year penalty.
    “We were not very confident that once school started we could pick up more players,” Chiasson said. “Even playing with 11 isn’t even realistic because of injuries, grades and other things. But, we felt we would be hard pressed to even pick up five or six more players.”
    Coming out for the Hodgdon team was one junior, two freshmen and the rest were sophomores. There were no seniors.
    “The kids even asked their friends and people who played in the past,” Chiasson added, who could think of at least four players from a year ago who didn’t go out for the team this year.
    “I don’t know why the low participation,” he said.
    Chiasson guessed it could be linked to kids having work and vehicles.
    “They would rather make money than play sports,” he said. “I don’t know the answer, I wish I did.”
    Katahdin is in the same boat with their girls’ program.
    “With the number of girls we’ve had coming in from 7-8 grade, we don’t have enough,” said Phil Faulkner, athletic director.
    Last season, the Lady Cougars played with a limited number of players, as well.
    “We have played with 9 or 10 for the last two years,” said Faulkner. “We lost six girls to graduation.”
    Faulkner also doesn’t know why the low participation since he met with the girls last spring and at least 12 said they were going to play.
    “I don’t know what the problem is,” Faulkner said. “But, I will meet with them again this fall and explain the situation and see what happens.”
    Both departments are re-evaluating their programs and looking for a way to rebuild.