and Kevin Sjoberg
The Eastern Maine Class D Tournament will include four local teams, as both the Washburn girls and boys and the Fort Fairfield girls and boys have made it into the quarterfinals at the Bangor Auditorium. A preview of the four games follows:
The Beavers of Washburn will face No. 5 Bangor Christian (15-3, 63.1173) Monday at 7:05 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Washburn did not face Bangor Christian on the regular season and did not have any common opponents on its schedule.
“I think it’s very cool,” Washburn coach Mike Carlos said of the trip directly to Bangor for a quarterfinal. “I came into the season not knowing what to expect, since it was my first year with the team. We’re very happy with what we have accomplished so far.”
Carlos said he scouted Bangor Christian against Katahdin during the regular season.
“They have a big player inside and will probably try to feed her the ball in the post, which will be a challenge for us,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of inside size. I’m working on the team’s mental things right now. To win a game at this level, it’s all about what is between the ears.”
Fort Fairfield faces the winner of Tuesday’s No. 7 Shead/No. 10 Schenck preliminary playoff when the Tigers take to the Bangor Auditorium 11:05 a.m. Monday. Fort Fairfield did not face either squad during the regular season and did not have any common opponents on its schedule.
Tiger coach Larry Gardner said he saw Schenck play at Houlton during the regular season, but had not seen Shead.
“I think Schenck is much better than its No. 10 ranking,” Gardner said. “They play a predominantly Class C schedule, so they have had a lot of good competition.”
Gardiner said he planned to go to Tuesday’s preliminary game to do some scouting in order to prepare for the Tigers quarterfinal.
Considering the unknown factors coming into the season, Gardner said he was amazed at what his team has accomplished this year.
“It’s surprising,” he said. “You always hope to do well, but I came into the season losing seven players from last year and had to bring in six freshmen, so I didn’t really know what to expect. To finish No. 2, that’s pretty special.”
With less than two minutes to play in their regular season finale against Washburn Thursday, the Fort Fairfield Tigers suffered a key personnel loss when their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, junior forward Travis Noyes, went down with a sprained right ankle.
The extent of the injury was unknown at presstime, but coach Todd Alley is preparing for his team’s game against Southern Aroostook Saturday at 7:35 p.m. as if Noyes will not be available. However, he remains confident about his team’s chances against the Warriors, a team the Tigers do not see during the regular season.
“We are playing a quality team that will definitely test us,” Alley said. “(Dakota) Sleeper is a phenomenal player who is a dribble penetrator and also an outside shooter. He’s difficult to contain. They have some kids who can rebound and step to space and allow Sleeper to get them the basketball and hit the baskets they need to when people try to shut him down. We’re going to have to play 32 solid minutes of team defense and take care of the ball on the offensive end.”
If Noyes (15.8 points per game average, 10 rebounds per game) is unable to go, Fort Fairfield may need additional offensive contributions from senior point guard Josh Booth, who averages eight points, but is a very capable perimeter scorer, as well as Josh Churchill (6 points), Jahleel Williams (5.7 points) and Dereck Dufour (5.6 points).
The Tigers are bolstered in the post by the presence of 6-5 senior center John McNamee, who averages 11.6 points and 12.2 rebounds and is one of the most dominant big men in the Class D ranks.
Fort Fairfield heads into the tournament hoping to put behind them last year’s 53-51 loss to Bangor Christian in the quarterfinals after the Tigers had gone undefeated and were the region’s No. 1 seed.
“The hunger is definitely there,” Alley said. “Last year, we ran into a hot team and after the game everyone thought we must have coasted to an 18-0 record only to lose in the first round. I know that is on the minds of our players and they want to prove those people wrong.”
The third-year coach acknowledges that the SA game will be a challenge, but feels his team will rise to the occasion.
“We’ll have less room for error [without Noyes], but we have the athletes if we execute the game plan,” Alley said. “We have the pieces to get it done, but we might have to get it done in a different way.”
It had been a few years since the Washburn Beavers made an appearance on the Bangor Auditorium floor, but it was certainly on the minds of members of this year’s team back when the season begin in late November.
“Coach handed out cards and asked us individually what our goal was, and everyone put down “make it to Bangor,” said junior Jordan McLaughlin.
The youthful Beavers accomplished just that. Washburn’s season finale win over Fort Fairfield helped the Beavers earn a trip directly to Bangor, where it will take on Jonesport-Beals Monday at 2:05 p.m. in the quarterfinal round.
Washburn’s starting five includes a freshman (top scorer Mitch Worcester), two sophomores (Chase Chandler and McLaughlin), a junior (leading rebounder Connor Fitzpatrick) and a senior (Justin Howe). Despite the young rotation, the Beavers entered the season “a lot more focused this year,” according to McLaughlin.
The squad experienced a bump in the road very early with a loss at Easton in the opener, but then started to gain confidence and recorded a big win over Southern Aroostook early in the year and another over Greater Houlton Christian Academy midway through the campaign. The highlight, however, was the win at Fort Fairfield.
“We never let up on the offensive end and we defended their perimeter game well,” said McLaughlin, who had 29 points, including five three-pointers.
Coach Randy Norsworthy has told his squad that Jonesport-Beals is a similar team to the Tigers, so Washburn is heading into the game with confidence.
“They are bigger than us and can run up and down the floor,” McLaughlin said. “Coach thinks we’ll be able to compete with them. He has us pretty confident and pretty pumped up for the game.”
The Royals went 15-3 overall and two of those losses were to Class C power Calais by a combined four points. Still, while the Beavers are glad to be a tournament team, they don’t want the ride to end too soon. McLaughlin said it has taken a team effort so far and is hoping it will continue for a few more games.
“Our team has a lot of role players,” he said. “Each win we have is the result of everyone playing their role. Our defense is improving every game too.”
