Newsletter #16...Welcome Westbrook
For a couple of decades, my coverage area was set in stone.
From September, 2001 on, I covered Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Freeport, Greely, North Yarmouth Academy, Scarborough, South Portland and Yarmouth.
In November, 2003, Cheverus, Deering, McAuley, Portland and Waynflete came on board.
And with the exception of McAuley closing its doors late last decade, that was the core coverage area.
Along the way, I heard periodically from folks in Gorham, Saco and Windham that they wished I covered their teams, but with other papers doing that job and me not having the capacity to add anything on to my plate, it appeared that wasn't to be.
But when I launched this website in April, it just made sense to add Gorham, Thornton Academy and Windham. It's paid off with some great games and stories to cover and the response has been encouraging.
Unfortunately, one other school got lost in the shuffle, Westbrook.
It's time to correct that oversight.
Westbrook believes its an up-and-coming power in high school sports and the results this fall have borne that out.
Earlier this week, I took an in-depth look at the Blue Blazes' football team, which has won two of its first three contests.
Other Westbrook sports have been competitive as well.
Boys' soccer, under coach Vince Aceto, currently boasts a 3-2 record, with wins over Sanford, Biddeford and Kennebunk.
The girls' soccer team, coached by Adam Nye, is also 3-2, opening with three straight victories over Portland, Deering and Biddeford before dropping close games to preseason favorite Falmouth and Thornton Academy.
Field hockey is a co-op team with South Portland and is coached by Kaylee Whittten. That squad evened its record at 3-3 after recent victories over Kennebunk and Deering.
Volleyball, under Jaime Cerullo, has a 2-5 mark, but only once has it lost in straight sets.
"It's an exciting time for the community," said Blue Blazes' football coach Sam Johnson. "The community has been great, whether it's parents, the youth level, the new athletic director, Mark Campbell. We're a tight town with a lot of tradition. We're a community where it doesn't take long to take notice and rally around the team. The building is starting to swell with pride. It's not just us. It's exciting times in the 'Brook."
A belated welcome, Westbrook!
In case you missed it...
The Westbrook feature was just one of many stories over the past week.
If you missed any of our recent game stories, including a few that covered epic contests, you can find them here:
Portland pulls away from Deering in second half
Cheverus drops OT epic to Kennebunk on final play
Greely holds off Falmouth in OT
Scarborough boys stay unbeaten with win at Windham
TA hands Cheverus volleyball its first loss
Falmouth and Windham girls play to tie
Media
My recent radio appearances, for those interested:
Spot with Matt Gagnon of WGAN from Tuesday morning:
https://thebigjab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/MMM-9-19-25-Michael-Hoffer.mp3
Weekly WJAB spot from last Friday:
https://thebigjab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/MMM-9-19-25-Michael-Hoffer.mp3
Predictions
I'm now 1-2 on my popular, prescient Patriots pick. Here's this week's guess:
Patriots 23 Panthers 17
Absolutely no reason not to win this game and if this team wants to go anywhere this season, it's a must-win game. Maybe they'll hold on to the football this week. When they do, they're pretty good...
Turning to high school football, here are my picks for this week's games. I went 9-2 last week (27-5 for the season):
Cape Elizabeth over Sacopee Valley
Cheverus over Marshwood
Deering over Lawrence
Falmouth over Gorham
Freeport over Oak Hill
Greely over Nokomis
Portland over Bangor
Scarborough over Sanford
Thornton Academy over South Portland
Westbrook over Edward Little
Windham over Lewiston
Lake Region over Yarmouth
Daily features
All season long at Hoffer's High School Sports, we'll have fresh, unique content every weekday, in addition to the myriad game stories.
This past Monday, HHSS, in conjunction with our partner, cPort Credit Union, named another "Player of the Week," North Yarmouth Academy sophomore girls' soccer standout Delphine Daniel:
Michael Hoffer
Tuesday brought the release of our latest Super-Six polls for football, boys' soccer, girls' soccer, field hockey and volleyball:
Michael Hoffer
Wednesday saw us feature Gorham at Falmouth football as our Game of the Week:
Michael Hoffer
Thursday, our weekly Hoffer's High School Sports podcast went in a bit of a different direction, as Tim Eisenhart and I talked about the midway point of the fall sports season, as well as some other sports-related topics (interviews return next week):
Michael Hoffer
A new week is almost upon us.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
May we all experience as much joy as Thornton Academy's volleyball team felt after winning at Cheverus in a good match Tuesday night.
See you again right here, next Friday.
Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffersports@yahoo.com
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