MILLINOCKET, Maine — Stearns High School has looked within to find its new boys varsity basketball coach.
Greg Marter, who guided the school’s boys junior varsity squad to a 15-5 record last winter, has been promoted to the varsity post, according to Stearns principal Jed Petsinger.
Marter, who also is an assistant football coach at Husson University in Bangor, replaces Wade Duplisea, who stepped down this spring after seven seasons that included three tournament appearances.
Marter, who coached the boys junior varsity at Penobscot Valley of Howland for five seasons before moving on to Stearns last winter, was encouraged by his new team’s performance during the recently concluded summer basketball season.
“We had a good summer, we really played well,” said Marter. “It was a new system and a new coach for them, but they responded well.”
Stearns should return a solid nucleus from last year’s tournament team.
Among the graduates were guards Garen Manzo and Josh MacDonald, but the returning cast includes seniors Brandon McLaughlin, Brandon Bouchard and Billy Eurich.
“We should be a very quick, athletic team,” said Marter. “We’re going to be a running team. We’ll be controlled when indicated, but we definitely plan on pushing the ball.”
Last winter Stearns finished fourth in the final Eastern Maine Class C Heal points before dropping a 54-52 quarterfinal decision to No. 5 Foxcroft Academy.
Stearns, which won just three games between 2005 and 2007, has amassed a 39-19 record over the last three years, including 14-5 last season.
Hurley to guide Windjammers
When Ryan Hurley relocated to the Midcoast region with his wife this spring, his immediate plans didn’t include a return to coaching schoolboy soccer at the varsity level.
He figured there wouldn’t be any jobs available.
But when Mike Grey stepped down from his post at Camden Hills of Rockport in July, opportunity presented itself — and Hurley is now the Windjammers’ new head coach
“I’m pretty shocked that I was able to find a place to coach right after moving down here,” said Hurley, now a resident of Lincolnville.
Hurley most recently coached at the subvarsity level at his alma mater, Maranacook of Readfield, where he taught for the last five years.
The 1995 Maranacook graduate and 1999 graduate of Bowdoin College has coached soccer for more than a decade overall, including three years as an assistant at Yarmouth and three years as head coach at Winslow High School from 2005 to 2007.
Hurley, who skied collegiately at Bowdoin, also coached alpine skiing at Yarmouth for four years.
Hurley becomes just the third head coach in Camden Hills’ schoolboy soccer history, following Don Palmer — for whom the school’s soccer field is named — and Grey.
Camden Hills last won a state championship in 1991, and earned its most recent regional title in 1995.
“They’ve always had really good participation since I’ve been watching them,” said Hurley. “They have yet to break through in the last few years, though they made it to the [semifinals] last year.
“But they have a lot of kids coming out and they always have quality players, so I’m looking forward to working with them.”
Grey guided Camden Hills to a 70-34-4 record in seven seasons, including 13-3 last fall when the Windjammers earned a trip to the Eastern Maine Class B semifinals before dropping a 1-0 decision to eventual regional champion Ellsworth.
Hurley said the team will return several veterans from last year’s club, leaving the Windjammers in good position for success beginning with the start of preseason practices next Monday.
“The passion for the sport is there,” he said. “The community is very supportive of its kids.”
Football officials wanted
Want a field’s eye view of local high school and middle school football games?
The Bangor Chapter of the Maine Association of Football Officials is seeking new members.
Classes start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, in the ROTC room at Bangor High School, and more information is available by calling Alan Kochis at 989-4372.
