WA Raiders prove the value of confidence

Washington Academy of East Machias had finished as the Eastern Maine Class C runnerup in two of the last three seasons prior to the 1991-92 schoolboy basketball campaign.

Coach Buddy Wood didn’t figure this year’s ballclub would make it to the finals, but hoped the Raiders could play well enough to make the tournament.

Washington Academy surprised even its veteran coach, celebrating the school’s 200th anniversary by running all the way to the regional championship.

The Raiders won the school’s second EM boys title with Saturday’s 86-68 win over Limestone. Wood said his players gained confidence early and wouldn’t get down on themselves.

“They’re overachievers, really,” said Wood, who coached WA to the EM crown in 1980. “When the season started we were figuring .500, maybe 9-7 with some luck. The more they won, the more they believed that they were going to win. Confidence is such a key.”

The Raiders came off a one-point loss to Calais in the ’91 title game with two starters and six lettermen back. Senior point guard John Francis and senior center Judd Bragg gave Washington Academy on-court experience and outstanding leadership.

“There was really good senior leadership,” Wood said. “Francis is a quiet leader, but he gets mileage out of everyone. He never lets anyone get down on themselves. Bragg is a good leader and he kept getting better and better at the end.”

Quickness was a major key for the Raiders, who applied full-court pressure and tried to create scoring opportunities off the defensive end. WA was not afraid to take 3-pointers, and used them to generate momentum.

Lacking one go-to player, the Raiders instead distributed their scoring among several players.

“Really, we just tried to run opponents off the court this year,” Bragg said. “It’s worked at times and it hasn’t at times. We didn’t have any stars on this team. Everyone came out to play ball and to help the other teammates. If you look at our scoring, when we win a ballgame we have fairly even scoring.”

Francis and junior guard Tim Moore are the Raiders’ primary 3-point threats, while Bragg anchors the inside game at 6-foot-5. Throw in the penetration moves of 5-9 junior forward Chris Bridges and the baseline play of senior Derek Feeney, and WA has plenty of weapons.

Washington Academy excels at its preferred running game despite not having the outstanding depth of past squads. Senior guard Scott Wood, sophomore forward Pat Feeney, soph center Justin Erickson and soph forward Paris Calor saw most of the time coming off the bench.

However, juniors Tim Denbow, Nick Lemieux, Matt Mahar and Justin Wentworth, along with soph Brandon Cates, also played key roles. Mike Morin served as WA’s assistant coach.

WA takes on Western Maine champion Winthrop in Saturday’s 8:45 p.m. state title contest at the Augusta Civic Center.