By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
The Hodgdon Hawks’ season has started a bit rocky with a 3-4 record, however, they are sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Maine Class D standings.
“We are coming together fairly well,” said Hodgdon coach Mark Morin. “The start of the season was a little rough, but we seem to be getting our feet under us. We had two very tough teams that we had not seen before to start our season. We played both of them very well, but came up a little short in the end.”
The Hawks faced Easton twice (2-1 and 4-0) and Washburn twice (2-0 and 4-0) for their season losses, while picking up wins over Central Aroostook (2-1), Katahdin (3-2) and East Grand (4-0).
“We have a little rougher schedule this year with the addition of Easton and Washburn, who both have very good programs,” added Morin. “The balance to that is that we are now in Class D instead of Class C. It was hard playing a Class D schedule and competing with Class C schools as far as Heal Points.”
The Hawks are proving to be contenders in Class D behind solid numbers and a balance of veterans and newcomers.
“My numbers this year are much better,” Morin explained. “I had 22 kids at one point, but have since dropped to 19 kids. Its always hard starting the season way before school starts, but we have done very well this year with numbers. I am very pleased with turnouts at both practices and games. We have three seniors, six juniors, two sophomores and eight freshmen.”
Morin is stressing a critical component — team play — with his players.
“Right now in practice my focus is on teamwork,” he said. “I have a lot of individuals that want to score and don’t understand the concept of a team win. So going forward I hope to instill some good teamwork skills and make the team even better as we get deeper into the season. We have the potential and the talent to make the playoffs and that is our goal this year. We have fallen one [game] short of making the playoffs the last two seasons and feel like this is our year to make it into the post season.”
With the future looking promising, Morin is excited about the program.
“All in all I would say that this Hodgdon team is very talented and should go far this season,” he said. “I have a lot of great young men to work with and look forward to working with them for the rest of the season and developing this program even more for the years to come.”
