The ride is officially over for the University of Maine football team.

A storybook season – in many respects the greatest season in program history – came to an end with a 50-19 loss against Eastern Washington in the FCS semifinals.

ORONO – It was an historic afternoon for the University of Maine Black Bears last week.

UMaine won its first-ever home playoff game and its first playoff game of any kind since 2011 when the Black Bears knocked off the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State 55-27 in the second round of college football’s FCS playoffs.

The Black Bears – seeded seventh overall in FCS - now sit at 9-3 and head to Ogden, Utah next, where they will take on the second-seeded Weber State Wildcats.

If you were to just look at the numbers, you might not be that impressed with the season that University of Maine kicker Kenny Doak is having. Doak currently sits seventh in the Colonial Athletic Association in field goals made, having converted five of his eight attempts on the season to go with a 13-for-15 conversion rate on extra points. It’s a perfectly fine season, but nothing to write home about.

Yet it’s a safe bet that these days, head coach Joe Harasymiak wouldn’t trade him for any kicker in the country. Because in this case, it’s not about quantity, but quality. And let’s be clear – Kenny Doak is giving UMaine QUALITY.

The placekicker from Perkaskie, Pennsylvania has drilled game-winning kicks as time expired in the last two Black Bear victories.

HOUSTON – The newest general manager of the NFL’s Houston Texans has ties to the University of Maine.

BOSTON - When you talk about the iconic stadiums in football history, places like Lambeau Field, the Rose Bowl and “The Horseshoe” at Ohio State come to find. Fenway Park would rank near the top of any list of similar baseball venues, but many forget that the home of the Green Monster has also hosted football since, well … before the Green Monster.

“Belief in each other.”

University of Maine football coach Joe Harasymiak calls that a fundamental component of his program and as “Coach H” gets ready to kick off his second year as Black Bear boss, he and his staff believe they’re prepared to make continued progress this season after doubling the team’s win total last year.

From somewhere around the time Shawn Walsh led the Maine Black Bear hockey team to their first Frozen Four in Lake Placid, New York in the late 1980s, the ice hockey program has been the crown jewel of University of Maine athletics. 

Not long after becoming the youngest Division I head football coach in America, Joe Harasymiak began using the #Hunters hashtag in social media conversations about his Black Bears team. More than just a slogan, it was a way of doing business for coaches and players alike, with the clear message that they had specific goals in mind and would be determined in that quest.

The #Hunters hashtag was adopted not long after Joe Harasymiak was named as the head coach of University of Maine Black Bear football, becoming the youngest Division I coach in the country at age 29. It was clear from day one that the former defensive coordinator was going to bring the aggressive, confident approach that has been a hallmark of the 'Black Hole' defense to the entire team.