After giving his Cony girls team a congratulatory speech in the locker room after the Rams won the Eastern Maine championship, Paul Vachon took care of some unfinished business.

Vachon walked out of the locker room to greet his daughter, University of Maine guard Amy Vachon. It was the first time the two had seen each other after the Black Bears won the America East conference title and an NCAA tournament bid about four hours earlier.

“This a great day for me. It’s a great day for our family,” Paul Vachon said after the two shared a hug and congratulated each other on their respective wins. “We are very fortunate. It was a lot of highs today, a lot of nerve-wracking moments.”

Paul Vachon watched the first half of the Maine game at home and took a small television on the bus on the way from Augusta. The reception was bad, but Vachon and the team were able to listen.

“I did a lot of screaming on the bus,” he said. “I’m so proud of her, so proud of that team. It’s really come together after going through a lot. I can’t be any more happy for [UMaine senior co-captains Sandi Carver and Cindy Blodgett]. They’re great captains. What better kids to have my daughter look up to then the two of them.”

Amy Vachon got to see the entire Cony game at the Bangor Auditorium, including the Rams’ comeback at the end of the third quarter.

“It was very exciting,” said Vachon, who played for her father at Cony and won two state championships in 1995 and 1996. “It was kind of nerve-wracking. They got down by ten but they got by with a couple of three’s.”

Paul Vachon’s decision to travel with the Cony squad rather than watch the Maine game in Orono may have something to do with the outcome of the 1997 regional final, when Presque Isle beat the Rams for the title.

“Last year I went up and watched Amy’s game instead of riding up with the girls for the Eastern Maine final,” he said. “This year I told the girls we’re going to do it together. Amy’s going to have to do without me.”

Despite losing Saturday’s Eastern Maine final to Skowhegan, Presque Isle’s seniors remained upbeat after the game for two reasons. They’d beaten two other formidable opponents: the Bangor Rams and history.

After losing 14 straight games to the Rams, who had advanced to the Eastern Maine final each of the last three years and six of the last eight, Presque Isle handed the Rams their only loss of the regular season, a 54-49 setback on Dec. 20.

Bangor returned the favor by beating the Wildcats in their regular season finale.

Both teams won their tournament quarterfinal games to set up a postseason rubber match between the top-ranked Rams and fourth-ranked Wildcats.

Presque Isle’s 47-44 win was its first tournament win since 1989. Ironically, the ‘Cats were No. 4 and the Rams No. 1 back then, too.

The emotional victory may not have come without a cost, though.

“I hate to say it, but I think maybe we got a little too carried away with beating Bangor,” said Presque Isle senior guard George Graves. “I think we were so happy – not that we didn’t want to win this game – but we let our hunger diminish a little bit. We weren’t as hungry tonight because of the really, really strong rivalry we have with Bangor.”

Besides ending nine years without a championship berth and almost a decade of frustration, the win regained the Wildcats a lot of respect they may have lost among fellow Big East, and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference teams.

“I think everyone puts Bangor on a pedestal and I think when Presque Isle beat Bangor, Presque Isle wen on that pedestal for us,” said Skowhegan coach Mike Nelson. “Our kids have a lot of respect for them.”

“I feel our team can play with any team in the state and I think we proved that in this tournament,” said Graves.