Newsletter #33...Buckle up
The championship month of February is upon us and things are about to get wild.
The girls' hockey tournament is down to its final eight teams.
The boys' and girls' basketball tourneys begin next week and while boys' hockey's regular season still has a couple weeks to go, it will begin its playoff excitement before month's end.
The girls' hockey regional semifinals are Saturday, with the North Region being contested in Auburn and the South Region games being held in Portland.
In the North, No. 2 seed Yarmouth/Freeport will take on No. 3 Brunswick at noon Saturday at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Yarmouth/Freeport began its season with a 2-1 overtime win at the Dragons, then finished the regular season last week with a 4-2 home victory over Brunswick. Yarmouth/Freeport has lost twice all season with both setbacks coming to top-ranked Edward Little, which will take on No. 4 Penobscot in its semifinal Saturday, following the Yarmouth/Freeport-Brunswick contest.
In the South, Cheverus, the three-time reigning state champion, is the top seed again and after earning a bye into the semifinals, will take on No. 5 Falmouth/Scarborough, which surprised some by upsetting the fourth-ranked Beacons in the quarterfinals Wednesday. That game will be played Saturday at 7 p.m., at Troubh Ice Arena. The Stags had their share of trouble with Falmouth/Scarborough in the regular season, as the teams settled for a 1-1 tie in Portland before Cheverus eked out a 2-0 win in Falmouth. Both of those games came before the calendar flipped.
Second-ranked Biddeford/Thornton Academy, which also includes players from Kennebunk, Sanford and Wells, had no trouble with No. 7 Greely in its quarterfinal Wednesday, winning, 8-0, and as a result, earned a date with No. 3 Gorham Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Portland. The teams played a pair of one-goal thrillers in the regular season, as the Tigers prevailed, 5-4 on the road and 8-7 at home in a wild overtime contest.
The girls' hockey regional finals are Wednesday, at times to be announced, in Portland.
The state final is Saturday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m., in Auburn.
As for basketball, there will be preliminary round tournament games held on floor of the higher seeds next Tuesday and Wednesday (possibly Thursday as well).
The tournament at the Portland Exposition Building kicks off next Friday, the 13th, with the Class B South girls' quarterfinals.
The Class A South boys' quarterfinals are Saturday, Feb. 14.
The Class B South boys' quarterfinals are Monday, Feb. 16.
The Class A South girls' quarterfinals will be held Tuesday, Feb. 17.
All of those games will be contested at the Expo.
Look for blanket coverage throughout the tournament at Hoffer's High School Sports and come back often for the most detailed game stories you'll find anywhere.
PHS gets its man
Portland's football program didn't have a head coaching vacancy long, as Dylan Rottkov was recently named as the replacement for Nick Cliche, who stepped down after leading the Bulldogs to the Class A state final (a 28-0 loss to Thornton Academy) is his lone season.
Rottkov played at South Portland and had previous coaching stints at Yarmouth and Portland before serving as Falmouth's defensive coordinator each of the past two seasons. Rottkov's defensive acumen helped the Navigators capture the 2024 Class B state title, the first in program history.
From the Blue Blazes to the Black Bears
Westbrook senior standout Tony Bongomin, fresh off leading the Blue Blazes to their first state championship, announced last week that's he's committed to attending and playing football next year at the University of Maine.
This past season, Bongomin registered 165 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Bongomin eventually became a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist.
Congratulations to Tony!
A banner day at TA
Sticking with football, Thornton Academy's football team raised its 2025 state championship banner Thursday prior to the Golden Trojans' basketball game against Windham.
Looks like that wall is getting crowded.
She does it all
Wednesday evening, prior to the Greely girls' regular season finale, a home loss to Gray-New Gloucester, the Rangers honored their three seniors.
One of them, Lily Wawrzcyki-Stein, then brought the house down with an electric guitar version of the national anthem.
Here's a snippet:
On a heater
As the winter sports regular season begins to wind down, what better time to take a look at who's playing their best.
The following teams had won at least five games in a row at press time:
Falmouth boys' hockey (6)
Thornton Academy boys' hockey (12)
Westbrook boys' basketball (6)
In case you missed it...
Game stories from the past week...
Cheverus girls down Windham on Senior Night
Windham rallies past Cheverus in OT thriller
Westbrook girls stun Scarborough in overtime
Cheverus girls secure top spot in South Region with win over Biddeford/TA
Westbrook boys hold off Scarborough
Cape boys rally to ruin Yarmouth's Senior Night
Cheverus girls suffer first loss, at Biddeford
Biddeford/TA blanks Greely in quarterfinals
Greely girls no match for top-ranked Gray-NG in regular season finale
Cheverus girls bounce back, close with win at South Portland
There's also a feature story from this week, on the red-hot, reigning Class A champion Thornton Academy boys' hockey team.
Michael Hoffer
Media
Tuesday's WGAN spot with Matt Gagnon:
https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-high-school-sports-20/
Last Friday's Middays with Mannix and Mannix spot on WJAB:
https://thebigjab.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/MMM-1-30-26-Michael-Hoffer.mp3
Saturday, I'll be joining Travis Lee for the 11th annual Hoops8 Basketball Tournament Preview. Looking forward to that!
— Travis Lee (@TLee_WMTW) February 3, 2026
Prediction
My popular, prescient Super Bowl LX Patriots pick (13-7 to date):
Seattle 23 Patriots 17
Can the Patriots win? Yes. I'd put nothing past this team, but I think ultimately the Seahawks have a better roster and an easier path to victory.
With that said, I'm hoping for Drake Maye to turn back into the regular season stud version of Drake "Drake Maye" Maye and for the defense/special teams to make a key play at the right time.
Maybe we'll get this generation's version of Malcolm Butler.
Fingers crossed.
Go, Pats!!
Features
Hoffer's High School Sports, in conjunction with cPort Credit Union, named Windham senior boys' basketball player Tyrie James as our Athlete of the Week.
Michael Hoffer
Tuesday brought the latest Super-Six polls for basketball and hockey:
Michael Hoffer
Thursday's Hoffer's High School Sports Podcast featured the man with the golden voice, longtime Windham High School public address announcer extraordinaire Bob Witham.
Michael Hoffer
See you right back here next Friday.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffersports@yahoo.co
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