When I first got to the Sun Journal, in the fall of 2015, I was thrown right in to covering the Lewiston boys soccer team, which was undefeated, nationally ranked and creating an aura about itself. That team capped its season with a nail-biting, emotional victory in the state championship game — the first in program history the year after a heartbreaking loss in the state final.

Last fall, the Lewiston boys soccer team capped its season — one briefly interrupted by the Oct. 25 mass shooting in the city — with a nail-biting, emotional victory in the state championship game that uplifted a heartbroken community.

Sun Journal assistant sports editor Wil Kramlich Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

I use the term “last fall” not only in the past tense, but it has proven to be my last fall at the Sun Journal. Aug. 1 is my final day at the paper, and for the foreseeable future, my last in sports media.

Those Lewiston boys soccer state championships serve as both coming full-circle and a microcosm of the highest highs and lowest lows that I’ve had a front-row seat for during my nearly nine years at the paper.

That 2015 team is still talked about in legendary regard. The Blue Devils were unbelievably talented, and they finally put it all together, even if they needed to grind out a championship-winning goal that was unlike any of the dazzling displays that they put on in their games before the state final.

I have no doubt that the 2023 team’s place in history will continue to be etched, mostly for what it did in the aftermath of the shootings and for being willing to play for the entire city. Those Blue Devils needed overtime to get the job done, and they did it, with a similar flair that their predecessors eight years earlier were known for.

The great thing about covering sports for the Sun Journal is that I didn’t just get to cover one school, or one sport, but three seasons of high school sports across 19 area schools. And each had its highlights over the past nearly nine years. Championships, stellar regular seasons or surprising title runs, standout athletes in both talent and character. Heck, sometimes what started as a seemingly innocuous game turned into a memorable one, or an athlete known for being a quiet role player played a surprising starring role.

And it was me who got to both witness it and chronicle it. It was awesome. It was a privilege.

Wil Kramlich, center, covers the Class D South final football game between Lisbon and Winthrop/Monmouth along with Sun Journal colleagues Randy Whitehouse, far right in red hat, and Lee Horton, far left, in November 2016. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

When I was a high school athlete, going on 20 years now, I remember opening up the newspaper in the morning and looking to see if my team or school got a mention, and I loved it when we did. It was so cool the first time I saw my name on the agate page for kicking an extra point in a football game (hence “The Point After” for my first and only column for the Sun Journal). So I didn’t take lightly trying to do the same for so many other athletes and readers during my time at the paper.

Beyond our high school coverage, there was covering Bates College, University of Maine at Farmington and Central Maine Community College. There were amazing stories to tell from each.

Filling out 12 months and 52 weeks of sports sections meant going beyond the high school and college coverage. There were USA skiing national championships at Sugarloaf, where I got to watch and interview World Cup and Olympic-level skiers. There were summer golf tournaments, where I got to follow along with past or future stars and professionals.

I have to single out the Oxford 250, which I became the torchbearer for at the Sun Journal. Local auto racing is special to me and my family, so that was more than just a marquee event to cover. I will forever cherish being part of the coverage of eight renditions.

Another marquee event was the Lobster Bowl, of which my coverage predates my time at the Sun Journal. I first covered it for a now-defunct blog, and temperatures reached triple-digits, but the players and I (not to lump me with them, I didn’t have to wear a helmet and pads) pushed through heat and humidity until the end. I then got to cover the game — at the time, played annually at Biddeford’s Waterhouse Field — while working for the Journal Tribune in Biddeford. Being around the host city/school only added to the game’s meaning.

Fast forward to this summer, and Lewiston’s Don Roux Field has now become the annual host. I know it means a lot to Lewiston High School Athletic Director Jason Fuller, who I swear works more than 24 hours a day.

While I wasn’t there in person this year, I was happy to see the Sun Journal and Varsity Maine partner with Munzing Media (I am blessed to have become friends with Rob Munzing during my time in sports media, and he’s what we call “one of the good guys”) to stream the event so that me and thousands of others not at Don Roux Field could watch the game. For some, it was their first time seeing Leavitt quarterback/all-around athlete Noah Carpenter, who is as good as advertised, which he again proved in his final time in a Hornets helmet. I had the privilege to watch him play maybe more than any other sports journalist in the state during his high school football career.

Speaking of good as advertised is the Central Maine Community College women’s basketball team and head coach Andrew Morong. The Mustangs have won three national championships during my time at the Sun Journal, and it’s because of the program that Morong has developed. There might not be a more entertaining brand of basketball outside of the Harlem Globetrotters.

While covering sports for the Sun Journal has been fun — it’s been a blast — it’s time for a change. I have two daughters who are doing their own sports. It’s time for me to have time to watch them play, and have the time to coach them.

I am transitioning to education, and I’m excited to take the experience I’ve gained from coaching and interacting with those young athletes into a school setting.

I’m excited for nights and weekends off, even if many will still be filled with sports.

However, instead of the end of a game meaning it’s time to start grinding, now it will mean it’s time to start unwinding.

But before I sign off, I want to end with a thank you — to all the athletes, coaches, athletic directors, fans and readers who have made the past nearly nine years so memorable. It’s been a privilege, and honor and a blast.

Wil Kramlich spent nearly nine years covering sports at the Sun Journal, the past three as assistant sports editor. He is also “one of the good guys” and will be missed by his co-workers, who are left with a bunch of untold jokes about kickers and punters.