HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton varsity football team could be poised for one of its best seasons in its relatively short existence.
Head Coach Brian Reynolds, who is entering his sixth year as coach of the Houlton squad, is cautiously optimistic that the Shires will be able to experience their fair share of success on the football field. The first two of those years, the Shires were a club team, but for the past three seasons Houlton has been a full-fledged squad competing in the Maine Principals’ Association.
“I think we will continue to improve this season,” the coach said. “Although you never like to lose graduating players from your program, this year’s’ senior class will be our first to play four full years of varsity football. We have some experienced players returning so on paper our prospects look good. We also have a large sophomore and freshman class, so the future looks bright.”
The Shires are looking to improve on last season’s 3-6 record, but will have to do so without some key components from that squad.
“We lost our starting quarterback, fullback, one of our starting running backs and a starting wide receiver on offense and graduated two of our starting linebackers and two of our starting defensive backs on defense,” Coach Reynolds said.
Among those players who graduated were Jared Fox (quarterback/safety), his twin brother Jacob Fox (wide receiver/defensive back), Austin Brown (running back/linebacker), Nick Botting (fullback/linebacker) and lineman Jordan Hostetler.
On the plus side, student athletes from Hodgdon and Greater Houlton Christian Academy are joining players from Houlton this fall thanks to a cooperative agreement between the three schools. As part of the cooperative guidelines, Houlton will remain in the Little Ten Conference and also stay in Class D.
Coach Reynolds anticipates three players from Hodgdon and two from GHCA will be joining the Shiretowners this fall, but more could turn out once practices begin in earnest in September.
Another key difference this season, Reynolds said, is the decision by the Maine Principals’ Association to adopt a cross conference scheduling model. Houlton will play six teams from Class D East (Stearns, Orono, Mattanawcook Academy, Ellsworth, Washington Academy and Dexter) and two teams from Class C East (Old Town and Nokomis).
“We have good size along the line of scrimmage, good speed and a coaching staff that is rounding into form,” Reynolds said. “I think those factors and this years’ schedule will have us improving our win/loss total from last year.”
The team’s strength will be the eight returning starters on offense and defense — seniors Damon Reynolds (OL/DL, 1st Team All LTC Offense/1st Team All LTC Defense); Seth Holston (RB/DB, 2nd All LTC Offense/ 2nd Team All LTC Defense), Daniel McNally (RB/DB) and Jacob Forest (OL/LB); junior Jordan Brown (OL/DL); and sophomores Noah Reynolds (QB/DB), Will Belyea (WR/DB) and Jaron Brewer (OL/DL).
“We need to improve on our intensity and consistency,” the coach said. “We played well in parts of all of our games last year and showed the upper echelon teams in our conference that we can play with them. Unfortunately, we weren’t always able to put in a solid four quarters of football week in and week out. To take the next step in our progression as a varsity football team we need to be much more consistent in our effort and execution.”
Aiding Reynolds this season are defensive coordinator Jon Solomon, and assistant coaches Sean Morris, Daren Stone, and Tony Garreans. Stone played college football at the University of Maine and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft as a defensive back.
“The kids enjoy having Daren around and they really look up to him,” coach Reynolds said. “He is giving them top notch instruction in defensive backfield play, position and technique. Obviously having a former NFL player helping out with the team isn’t the norm for a high school team in northern Maine, but Daren has been great to work with and the coaching and advice he gives on the game of football is invaluable to the development of our young program.”
