Twenty-nine years ago, Andrew Soldati was wearing a cardinal-and-white Bangor football uniform as a senior captain.

Saturday, the 46-year-old Bangor alumnus will be wearing a kelly, gold, and white jacket-baseball cap combo as he helps coach Massabesic High School to what he hopes will be a win over his alma mater.

The two teams Soldati reveres most will meet helmet-to-helmet for the Class A state championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

“If I wanted to be in a state game, Bangor’s the team I’d want to play. The atmosphere for me will be very special. It’s my dream,” said the former all-state offensive and defensive tackle for former Rams coach Gerry Hodge. “I wish all the people back home the best of luck, but I’m green-and-white now, so not too much luck.”

Two other games are on tap Saturday as 10-1 Winslow takes on 9-2 York for the Class B title at Alumni Field in Augusta and 10-1 Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield (10-1) meets 11-0 Winthrop for the C crown at Keyes Field in Fairfield. Both games will start at 1 p.m.

Class A: If it wasn’t already weird enough for Soldati, he’s also part of the brain trust which will match wits with the staff of Bangor head coach Gabby Price …

The same Gabby Price who hired Soldati (class of 1971) as an assistant in 1978, helping jump-start his coaching career … The same Price who Soldati calls every Wednesday to talk about football and life in general.

“I called him Wednesday night and congratulated him on his great season,” Soldati said. “We talked a lot about football, but not about Massabesic or Bangor. It was more general stuff.

“It’s going to feel weird going against him. He’s one of the best ones in the state.”

Soldati, who coached the offensive and defensive lines at Bangor from 1978 to 1984, has been at the Waterboro-based school since 1984, when he took his current job as the high school physical education teacher. He alsoteaches health.

He has coached football for the Mustangs for three different head coaches, was co-head coach along with current assistant Joe Bush in 1995, and was instrumental in bringing current head coach John Morin to Massabesic in 1996.

“He was more than instrumental,” said Morin, who had een passed over for the same job at Lewiston and Thornton Academy. “I met him and Joe at a Wendy’s on exit four and they convinced me to apply here after I missed out on the other jobs.”

“I didn’t want to give up coaching other sports and Joe was a carpenter, so we decided to meet with John because neither of us had the time necessary to do the best job as head coach,” Soldati explained.

Now, Soldati is special teams coach as well as a volunteer assistant on the basketball team and the junior varsity baseball coach.

Soldati’s new affiliation has created confusion at his homestead.

“My mother and my sister live in Bangor,. I talked to my mother the other day, and she said ‘You know, I can’t go wrong,’ ” he said. “She loves Gabby and of course I’m coaching at Massabesic. I suppose if push comes to shove, she’s going with Massabesic.”

Class B: York is making its first state game appearance since 1989, while Winslow is looking for its first gold ball since 1993.

The Black Raiders are led by tailbacks Chris McCabe (1,236 yards and 20 touchdowns on 151 carries) and Ricky Vigue (1,070 yards, nine TDs on 151) and a stifling defense, which has allowed just 11.2 points per game.

The Wildcats have averaged 26.7 points per game behind quarterback Josh Pitcher (1,650 yards, 17 TDs on 75-135 passing), tailbacks Nate Schoff and Brady McGowan (1,800 yards, 13 TDs combined), fullback Jason Sanborn (600 yards, seven TDs) plus receivers Nolan Patten (990 yards, 11 TDs) and Abe Zacharias (400 yards, four TDs).

Class C: The unbeaten Winthrop Ramblers hope to put the ultimate cap on an amazing season in which they’ve notched eight shutouts (one postseason) and outscored the opposition 495 to 22.

Winthrop is led by the state’s top passer in junior QB Lee St. Hillaire, who has thrown for 2,134 and 28 TDs this season. Ian Mortimer (565 yards, 13 TDs) and Matt Whitehouse (560, nine) are his favorite receivers while halfacks Ryan Jeffe, Clyde Moody and Jason Pierce (1,800 yards, 23 TDs combined) constantly rotate in and out of two spots.

MCI’s Huskies love to run behind their big interior line with fullback Ben Hall (1,443 yards, 16 TDs) and tailback Tom Twombly (1,368, 14 TDs). Winthrop has not played a team with tremendous size on the offensive and defensive lines like the Huskies.