Hodgdon, GHCA to form cooperative boys soccer team

  HODGDON, Maine – A two-school soccer team may be taking the field next year with students from Hodgdon High School and Greater Houlton Christian Academy.
During a March 14 board meeting, the SAD 70 Board of Directors gave its approval for a cooperative team.
    Hodgdon High School Principal Clark Rafford said the two schools first talked about the possibilities of a team about a year ago.
“Last year, we had no boys soccer team,” he explained at Monday night’s meeting. “So, we approached GHCA about forming a cooperative team.”
This year, it looks like plans for the team may be coming together.
GHCA Headmaster John Bishop said in a phone interview that the plan has also gained approval from their board. He said they’ve had good experiences working with other local schools in the past and are looking forward to working with Hodgdon High School.
“It’s very generous of them to work with us on this,” he added.
If everything moves ahead as planned, the new soccer team would be a first for GHCA.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever had a varsity soccer program here just because of the numbers,” Bishop said. “I think it would be a win-win situation for both of us.”
If successful, this would be Hodgdon’s second cooperative team. They’ve worked with Houlton High School to form the Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks, a hockey team that’s been going strong for over 10 years.
Whether or not the team would have a new name, new logo or uniform has yet to be determined, but both Rafford and Bishop said, for now, the focus is just on getting the game started.
“Right now, it’s just about getting the kids on the field,” Rafford said. “We didn’t want to worry about names right now. We want to take care of the kids first … and see if there’s enough interest to get a boy’s soccer team on the field this fall.”