ROCKLAND – For the 22 years Buddy Wood coached the Washington Academy of East Machias boys basketball team, he never thought he’d need any black and orange ties. Those were the colors of WA’s neighbor and rival, Machias High School, and certainly not for the coach who led the maroon Raiders to three Eastern Maine Class C championships and 307 wins.

Suddenly this summer, Wood needed new neckwear. And for Christmas, Wood received ties in black, orange, one with a tiger’s head, and another that says Rockland Tigers – Wood’s new team.

Seven months after his teaching position at Washington Academy was eliminated, prompting him to resign his coaching position as well, Wood still harbors “bitter” feelings about what happened in East Machias. He is adjusting to the coaching change that came as he turned 50 and that keeps him away from his wife, Deborah, who is still living in Machias while Wood rents a place in Thomaston. But he’s also enjoying the switch in classifications and getting to know a new group of high school students.

Adjusting to Class B has mainly meant a shift in the technical side of basketball. Where Washington Academy routinely faced teams that played the full-court, pressing style of basketball that Wood himself favors, in the higher classification he’s seeing much more half-court offense where teams take more time to set up a play. But he’s sticking to his preferred style.

“We like to go with an uptempo game rather than more of a Class B style where it’s more half-court,” Wood said. “We still don’t run as much as I want to … but people have accepted the style of play, which is really important. The kids have been absolutely fantastic. They’re not the most talented, but they are hard, hard workers.”

Another big difference between Washington County and Knox County? The kids are better shooters in Wood’s old stomping ground – mostly, he thinks, because they know they’ll be playing uptempo basketball when they’re in high school and they work on shooting from a young age.

Also, the kids are bigger and stronger in Class B ball, Woods has noticed, especially playing Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference schools with football programs such as Belfast and Winslow.

Wood hasn’t been back to Washington Academy, and can’t see himself stepping foot in the school again. He is still writing his weekly column for the Downeast Coastal Press, which is based in Machias, but Wood doesn’t go back to the area that often because seeing friends on the street invariably brings up the topic of his departure.

“I still have bitter feelings. I don’t think I’d ever walk back into Washington Academy,” he said. “There was nothing right about the whole situation. I could see if I had done something wrong, but there was nothing. Maybe the coaching move is a good thing, new faces, new kids, new places to go. But I would have felt much more comfortable if I was 30 years old. I would have more energy and I probably wouldn’t get frustrated as easily as I do now.”

The Washington Academy board of trustees voted 8-6 in June to eliminate Wood’s physical education teaching position due to budgetary cuts made necessary by decreasing enrollment. Almost a full month later, SAD 5’s board of directors voted 8-0 to hire Wood to replace Larry Terrio.

Wood got a full-time job teaching physical education, health, accounting and law at Rockland High and what amounts to a $12,000-14,000 salary increase, which he said goes mostly toward his rent. Deborah Wood, the principal of a school in Edmonds, lives in the family’s house in Machias and makes the approximately 250-mile round trip to Rockland when she can.

“It’s been difficult. It’s the first time I’ve been away from her in 22 years,” he said.

This season Wood is guiding the Tigers (4-9 after Tuesday’s one-point win over Mount View of Thorndike) through a rebuilding year, as the team lost eight seniors to graduation and he came in too late to conduct a summer program.

“Things are progressing. I’d just like to get some good shooters, but I think they’re coming,” he said. “We’re trying to build from the ground up.”

Rockland cheerleaders eager

Considering the two conference tournaments (Penobscot Valley and Big East) that the Old Town cheerleading team has already won this month, it would be easy to pick the Indians to successfully defend their Eastern Maine Class B championship when squads meet for the 2001 regional title Saturday at the Bangor Auditorium.

But at least one team doesn’t want to be counted out just yet. The Rockland cheerleading squad, winner of five straight Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B titles (including one at the conference meet two weeks ago), is gunning for the regional championship after earning the runner-up spot behind Old Town last year.

Rockland coach Mary Sidelinger said the Tigers are slightly tweaking their routine to add some difficulty.

“We actually worked on some twist dismounts out of our stunts,” she said. “Other than that we didn’t change one single thing. It’s going to be exactly the way it was at KVACs. We were really happy with it.”

Like the Indians, who have outscored every Class A team they’ve faced in competition, the Tigers have consistently done well against Class A powers such as Gardiner and Oxford Hills of South Paris.

“In the first round [of the KVAC meet] we tied with Oxford Hills and in the second round we were two points behind Gardiner,” said Sidelinger, who thinks Houlton could also be in contention. “We did really well in that competition.”

Rockland’s squad members are Emily Allen, Rachel Wandell, Janette King, Steffany Ross, Alicia Fogarty, Heather Randall, Heather Woodward, Karen Dostie, Kim Haskell, Jaime Fogg, Heather Brown, Charissa Cayouette, Dianne Grade, and Sheena Gamage.