Jordan Lowe and varsity golf coach, Chris Dutton.

FRYEBURG — Sometimes, it is the simple things a coach may say that really touches a player.

Anna Mahanor, a member of the Fryeburg Academy varsity girls’ soccer team, recalls a simple message Coach John Atwood told her at the end of last year’s season.

“Don’t think about it… Just don’t think about it kid.”

Little did Anna realize how much this statement would impact how she would play and look at the game of soccer this fall.

“Because I was no longer just thinking about what I had to do, I felt it. I felt how connected the girls are to one another,” she said during last week’s fall sports awards night. “I wanted to play with them to just play and I know we all feel the same way. We are not playing just for the sake of winning. We play for all the moments we have spent together from the blazing heat of August to the chills of October. We play for the chatter on the bus and the laughter on the field. From roasting Mr. Atwood to crying at our senior game. We are not playing for the win — we are playing for each other. We stay together through it all. Our record (8-6-1) are just numbers, because success is not measured by wins or losses. Success is measured by putting everything we have on the field. By playing our best and I can assure you we did.”

Mariah Davis and varsity field hockey coach, Dede Frost.

Teammate McKenna Gerchman offered up some opening remarks before Raider coaches unveiled their top award recipients, as well as all-conference and all-academic selections.

“First of all, I’d like to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who made my high school an amazing four years. I remember being a freshman and thinking how long four years would be and how all I wanted was to be a senior. Looking up to the seniors, freshman year and watching them get flowers their senior game made me excited for my senior night. But then, my senior game came, and I realized this was it, my last soccer game ever, my last time to make fun of Coach Atwood, and my last time to make memories with my soccer girls. Then it hit me that I wish I would have taken my last four years and enjoyed it more rather than just continuously wanting to be a senior,” she said.

Gerchman then addressed participating in sports.

“Being a part of a team is like creating a little family. You learn to watch over each other and to pick each other up through loses and hard times, but also get to celebrate with the people you love when you win and accomplish goals as a team,” she said. “Sports has had a great impact on my life. They’ve helped me become a better leader and to be positive throughout everything.”

She encouraged juniors, sophomores and freshman “to enjoy every minute you can, and enjoy all the time you have together with your teammates. Enjoy time with your coaches and thank them for everything they do for you. I will never forget my four years as an athlete at Fryeburg Academy, and I will never forget all my teammates. Thank you guys for pushing me to my best ability and making sports so fun for me. For all you underclassman, enjoy all the time you can, and don’t take sports for granted because high school sports will have a great impact on your future.”

Jordan Kruguer and varsity boys' soccer coach, Tim Atwood.

Raider plaques were presented to:

Golf: Coach’s Award to Aaron Hennessy; MVP to Jordan Lowe

Fall Cheering: Coaches’ Awards to Hannah Perry and Kaylee Barboza

Mountain Biking: Raider Awards to Jake Maidment and Isaiah Voter

Boys’ Cross Country: Iron Will Award to Patrick Carty; Up and Coming Award to Alfie Walker

Girls’ Cross Country: Iron Will Awards to Anna Lastra and Emily Carty; Up and Coming Award to Zoe Maguire

Boys’ Soccer: Leadership Award to Sean Chase; MVP to Jordan Kruguer

Girls’ Soccer: Outstanding Teammate Awards to Tori Mailman and Katherine Parker

Field Hockey: Raider Awards to Nicole Thurston and Mariah Davis

Football: Raider Awards to Caleb Eklund and Matt Boucher

Sean Chase and varsity boys' soccer coach, Tim Atwood.

181 athletes completed the season in eight sports — 41 in grade 9, 55 in grade 10, 44 in grade 11 and 41 in grade 12

All Academic senior with a 3.2 grade point average

Sage Boivin — soccer

Matt Boucher — football

Patrick Carty — XC

Garrett Cummings — golf

Mustafa Demir — football

Renae Fournier — field hockey

McKenna Gerchman — soccer

Ryan Gullikson — football

Katherine Parker and varsity girls' soccer coach, John Atwood.

Aaron Hennessy — golf

Esme Hernandez — soccer

Oriagna Irinio — soccer

Jordan Kruguer — soccer

Alexis L’Heureux-Carland — soccer

Nick Landano — soccer

Anna Lastra — XC

Ben LeConey — soccer

Jordan Lowe — golf

Anna Mahanor — soccer

Matt Boucher and varsity football coach, David Turner.

Tori Mailman — soccer

Emily McDermith — XC

Fransecsa Napolitan — field hockey

Emery O’Connell — soccer

Katherine Parker — soccer

Julia Quinn — soccer

Markus Schneider – soccer

Nicole Thurston — field hockey

Reed Wales — XC

All Conference — selected either by the league coaches or finish in the league championships (HM, honorable mention):

Caleb Eklund and varsity football coach, David Turner.

Matt Boucher — football HM

Emily Carty — XC

Patrick Carty — XC

Mariah Davis — field hockey,

Kaylin Delaney — golf

Baha Demir — football HM

Alexandria Fraize — soccer

Cody Gullikson ­— football HM

Ryan Gullikson — football 1st Team

Esme Hernandez — soccer

Patrick Carty and cross-country coach, Bill Reilly.

Oriagna Inirio — soccer HM

Jordan Kruguer — soccer

Anna Lastra — XC

Nicholis L’Heureux-Carland — football HM

Jordan Lowe — golf

Nicole Thurston — field hockey, 1st Team

Bridget Tweedie — field hockey, 2nd Team

Issac Wakefield — football HM

Evan Wadsworth — soccer HM

Tyler Worcester — golf

Outstanding athletic performances from the fall season that were recognized:

Alfie Walker and cross-country coach, Bill Reilly.

Out of seven MPA team sports FA offers, six qualified for the postseason.

Fall Cheering, with only five athletes pulled off Homecoming with the theme of Wizard of Oz that was one of smoothest Homecomings in recent years, AD Sue Thurston said.

Golf and girls’ cross-country both qualified their entire team by their placement in the Regional events. The girls’ XC team placed fourth overall in the States.

Anna Lastra and Emily Carty both placed in the top 10 in the Class B State Championships! In addition, both had times that put them in the Top 20 overall from all three classes, which named them to the Maine New England Team. They competed in the New England Championships over the weekend (see related story).

Patrick Carty also placed 12th overall in the State Meet as the only FA boys’ qualifier, just missing the New England qualifying time.

In golf, not only did the team qualify, but Tyler Worcester, Jordan Lowe and Kaylin Delaney all qualified for the State Individual Championships, as well

Hannah Perry with co-cheering coaches Joy Norkin (left) and Billie L'Heureux-Carland.

Two Special Olympic golf events were held this season.

Unified event, Aaron Hennessy was paired with Damien Eldridge alternating shots to receive a silver medal for second place in Division C.

A few weeks later, Aaron completed alone in the Individual Competition as one of the youngest athletes and placed fourth in Division 2. Tyler Worcester accompanied Aaron, and coaches had nothing but praise for Tyler’s ability to help Aaron analyze the course and offer advise as to what club and where to place the ball.

In Mountain Biking, the team placed sixth out of 22 in the overall series within the Northern New England High School Mountain Biking. Four of the five Fryeburg Academy racers placed in the top 10 for their division in the overall season.

Boys’ and girls’ soccer each won a prelim game and lost in the quarterfinals.

Field hockey lost in the quarterfinals.

Football won in the quarterfinals, lost in semi-finals. The Pleasant Mountain trophy remains at the Academy with the Raiders’ win over Lake Region in the final game of the season!

The Linda B. Whitney MVP Award, voted by the coaches in the WMC and given to the top field hockey player in the conference for 2015 went to Nicole Thurston.

Girls’ cross-country was awarded the Class B South Sportsmanship Award.

Football was awarded the Class C South Sportsmanship Award — third year in a row.

3 Star Jackets to athletes who lettered for the third time at Fryeburg Academy. It could be three in one sport or a combination of sports:

Bridget Bailey, Owen Burk, Ben Caffrey, Kallan Charest, Jared Chisari, Will Davis, Caleb Eklund, Renee Fournier, Gage Fowler, Cody Gullikson, Emily Grzyb, Ryan Hewes, Jordan Lowe, Dominic Malia, Fransecsa Napolitan, Emery O’Connell, Dominic Orlando, Costanza Santarelli, Addison Schwarz, Kevin Ventura and Tyler Worcester.