On February 5, 2010 Kents Hill started a new tradition: Signing Day. Signing Day is when student-athletes sign their letters of intent for the Division I or II NCAA college they have decided to attend and play their chosen sport. Having students go on to play college sports at the highest level is nothing new for Kents Hill athletes, but this year Coach Gritti wanted to make sure students were celebrated for the achievement of having the athletic talent combined with the academic effort to be able to play and study at the premiere level of college athletics.

Kents Hill School graduate, Oliver Kell ’06, finished his college football career this fall. Kell played all four years for Coach Dave Caputi at Bowdoin College. At Bowdoin, he set 12 school records as quarterback, including: pass completion (510), passing yards (5872), passing touchdowns (36), completion percentage (58%), and total offense (6700 yards).

In one of the greatest games in the history of the 121 year rivalry between Kents Hill and Hebron, Kents Hill defeated Hebron Academy and reclaimed the Headmaster’s Chair. It was highlighted by tremendous effort by both teams, and ultimately Kents Hill was able to hold on for the hard fought win.

On the first series of the game, O’Shea Bell (New York, NY) intercepted a deep ball at the Kents Hill 19 yard line. On the very next play, Kents Hill scored the first points of the game when Bell caught an 81 yard end around pass from Roy Eastman (Rahway, NJ), after Eastman evaded 2 tacklers in the backfield. The 2 point conversion was good on a great run by Ryan Dorso (Farmingdale, ME) and the Huskies were up 8-0.

Hebron responded with a 12 play, 68 yard drive that culminated in a 4 yard TD run. The Husky defense buckled down and stuffed the 2 point conversion to keep an 8-6 lead. On the ensuing offensive possession, Kents Hill went down the field with precise short passing and power running.  It was capped off by a 12 yard TD run over the right end by Dorso. The 2 point try failed but the Huskies had extended the lead to 14-6.

On Wednesday, November 18, 2009, Kents Hill School will host its first New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Men’s Varsity soccer playoff game between Kents Hill School and Berwick Academy.  Kents Hill recently defeated Hebron Academy for the MAISAD Championship.  Kents Hill is ranked #3 in the NEPSAC Class C rankings, with a record of 10-2-1.  Berwick Academy is ranked number #6, with a record of 8-3-5. 

On Saturday, Kents Hill will host rival Hebron Academy for two important games. Boys' varsity soccer will be playing for the MAISAD championship title. The two teams only met once this season, with Kents Hill coming out on top 2-1 in a hard fought victory on Hebron soil. The Huskies are looking for a win that will both earn the team the MAISAD title and give them momentum as they look forward to a possible NEPSAC playoff appearance next week.

Overall, the two teams were evenly matched. Kents Hill won the sabre, lost the foil, and tied the epee competitions, resulting in an overall tie between Kents Hill and Exeter. Individually, Kents Hill walked away with the gold in each weapon: Foil gold: Chris Watling, Sabre gold: Christina Zacharias, Epee gold: Graham Bailey.

Congratulations to the members of the Fencing team for their strong showing at Exeter!

The Kents Hill varsity boys' lacrosse team earned the 3rd seed in the 2008 New England small schools lacrosse tournament. The Huskies faced 6th seeded Bancroft School in the 1st round at the neutral site of Berwick Academy. Kents Hill came out strong and worked together as a team, using a well-balanced and patient attack to earn an 11-6 victory. 5 players scored 2 goals each and 3 had 3 points total. Mike Tifft, Huyette Spring, and Nick Delp had 2 goals and 1 assist each. Jon-Mike Roy and Brian Fleming had 2 goals, while Eric Drew potted 1. Cody Southiere, Nick Kolb, Charlie Stevens, and Austin Keiser all had 1 assist. Jake Cockrell made 9 saves and gave up only 3 goals before giving way to John Kennedy who had 2 saves.

At the start of the 2007-2008 hockey season, Coach Larry Cockrell set four goals for the team to achieve. First was to win more than half of its games, second was to make it to Division II tournament, third was to make it to the semifinals in Salem, NH and fourth was to win the championship. Mission accomplished. After the Huskies beat New Hampton 2-1 in the final game at the ICenter in Salem, the team stormed the ice and mobbed goalie Brian Fleming who, with stellar goaltending, led the team in both semifinal game against archrival Hebron and the final against New Hampton.

At the end of the final game, when Coach Cockrell entered the locker room, he was at a loss for words. “If I say anything,” Cockrell said, “I know I’m going to get all emotional.” Then he led the other coaches around the room for their traditional post victory handshake (that this time turned into hugs). Assistant Coach Mike Retelle reminded the team that it was teamwork that brought them the victory. “Boys,” he said, “how many players did we have on the All New England Team?” To the chorus of “none,” Retelle said, “. . . we got it done because we’re a great team.” It was a hard won celebration.

The Kents Hill Boys Hockey team went up to Stanstead College in Canada over the weekend and took a 3-0-1 tournament record into the Championship game against the host team. The Huskies scored first when Cody Southiere raced past two Standstead defenders and scored at 9:48 of the first period. Due to the stellar play of goalie Brian Fleming, the Huskies took that lead into the first intermission. The second period was scoreless despite the fact that the Huskies dominated play and hit the goal post twice.

In the third, Stanstead opened the scoring 33 seconds in on a power play to tie the score. The Huskies however, came back 3 minutes later when Nick Kolb knocked in a rebound of Matt Locke’s shot from the point. Stanstead tied the game at 5:30 of the third and took the lead for good after a scramble in front of the Kents Hill goal. The Huskies had several good scoring chances as the game wound down, but a slashing penalty with 2:30 to go slowed their momentum. Nevertheless, when the team got to full strength, the Huskies peppered Kevin O’Connor, the Stanstead goalie, with shots for the final 50 seconds so that the outcome was in doubt until the horn sounded to end the game.

The Kents Hill Boys Varsity Hockey team beat Brunswick School 4-1 on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Brooks-Pingree Holiday Tournament. Because of a driving snowstorm, the Huskies almost didn’t get a chance at the victory. After playing their first three games at Pingree, the Huskies had to travel a much greater distance to play the final at Brooks. Both teams arrived on time, but there was some question regarding whether or not the referees would be able to make the game. Finally, at noon, an hour after the scheduled start time, the referees showed and the game got under way.

After an evenly played first period, the teams went to their locker rooms tied at zero. However, the Huskies dominated the second scoring three goals in an 8 minute span. At 12:06 James Hoeg sent Greg Haliskoe on a breakaway; Haliskoe pulled the Brunswick goalie out of position with a nifty deke and scored easily. Two minutes later Haliskoe took a pass from Brad Richard in the neutral zone, went around a Brunswick defender and “roofed” a hard shot from the top of right hand circle. Before the period ended, Trevor Crevatin scored from the slot with assists going to Haliskoe and Ben St. Germain.

Jon Michael Roy closed out the Kents Hill scoring 5 minutes into the third when he stuffed in a rebound during a scramble in front of the Brunswick net. Brunswick averted the shutout by scoring its only goal with less than a minute to go in the game. Brian Fleming, who was in goal for the Huskies, came up with numerous key saves.

Welcome to Kents Hill Athletics 07-08. To get everyone ready for the fall season, we thought we would share what some of the faculty did over the summer athletically.

On any given day, you might have seen Mr. Hodgin, Ms. Crane, and Mr. Smucker on the tennis courts, Mr. Pearson and Mr. McInerney on their road bikes, Mr. DeHaven, Ms. Watson and the Smuckers’ out for their daily runs, or Mr. Dunn up early to head to the golf course. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Pettengill, Kents Hill had a coed softball team this summer and although the team was at the bottom of the league standings, it was a fun season filled with lots of good plays and laughs.

Kents Hill had a few faculty who trained and raced competitively this summer. Mr. Wheelden had great success across New England on the cycling circuit. In addition to a 2^nd and 3^rd place finish in his age group at the National Championships for Mt. Biking, Mr. Wheelden just won the Masters 35+ and Cat. 3 Maine State Criterium Championships. In addition, his success this summer will earn him the Vet I Expert Maine Mountain Biking Series title and he hopes to earn the “Master of Mud” title as the top overall racer in the series.

Dr. Sterling has an impressive record of her own in the sport of triathlon. A current and 5 time All-American in her age group, she has been the top female overall in 8 of her last 11 races. In the other three races, Dr. Sterling had two 2^nd place overall finishes and, most recently, was the top amateur finisher, placing 3^rd overall behind two pro-level women in the Cranberry County Triathlon in Massachusetts.

In addition, Mr. Moore competed in the Maine Time Trial series and Mrs. Pulsifer spent the summer training for a half marathon this fall.

On the coaching front, Mr. Cockrell and Mrs. Nanof were busy traveling all over New England and in Canada working ice hockey camps and attending showcases. Mr. Richardson coached the ME, NH, and VT region United States Field Hockey Association U-19 team at the Futures Regional Rumble. The Rumble took place during the end of June at the US National Training Center in Virginia Beach, VA and Mr. Richardson’s team placed 10th in a field of 32 USFHA Futures teams from every region in the country.

As you can see, many of the KHS faculty kept busy on the athletics front this summer. Now that summer is over, the Kents Hill Athletic Department is looking forward to seeing what our teams can accomplish this fall with hard work and determination.

Kents Hill held its Winter Athletic Awards Ceremony on Monday morning. Mr Smucker started the ceromony by thanking the coaches and student-athletes for their commitment to their respective sports and for all of the long hours that they put into both athletics and academics in the winter. The coaches then presented MIP, MVP, and Plaque (Coaches) Awards.