BANGOR – While one former champion was getting unseated, a new champ was being led back to prominence by a native daughter.

Such was the case at the early session of the Eastern Maine Regional Cheerleading Championships in the Bangor Auditorium Saturday as Houlton took the Class B title and Washington Academy of East Machias won Class C. At the Civic Center, Monmouth Academy beat out Bangor Christian by 11 points, 78.5 to 67.5 to win Class D.

In Class B, the Houlton Shiretowners returned to prominence in a big way by surprising defending regional and state champ Old Town with a picture-perfect performance in the finals. The Shires who also won an EM title in 1999, did it again with the same score: a whopping 85 points.

“I knew their second time out, they had done the best I’ve ever seen them do it, but I didn’t expect a score of 85 at all,” said first-year Houlton coach Julie Dunn-Brown, whose hands were still shaking from all the excitement. “I was pleased with that. I was shocked, actually.”

So were Old Town fans, who’d gotten used to their team’s winning ways. After all, Old Town knocked off Class A powers to win its second straight Penobscot Valley Conference title last week and was a favorite to win another regional crown. And Houlton? The Shires didn’t even make the finals last year with an eighth-place finish.

“That was a shock,” said Houlton senior Brooke Lynds. “It was OK though because it did make us work harder this year.”

So hard that despite Old Town scoring a team-best 78 to take the preliminary-round lead and improving that score to 80 in the finals, the Indians didn’t have enough to overtake Houlton.

“They were very solid in all their material and their energy level was very high,” said Indians coach Kristen Braun. “I hadn’t seen them before, but I’d heard they were talented. Now I know that to be true.”

The senior Shires said the key to their success was incorporating more complexity into things.

“We definitely had a lot of difficulty in our routine this year,” said Lindsey Jewell. “Our stunts were very advanced compared to what we’ve done before. We twisted out of everything and we had scorpions [one-legged stunt lifts in which the fliers grab their free leg and stretch it back toward their heads], which are very hard to do, but we nailed everything.”

“When we left the floor, I knew even if we didn’t win, we had done our best,” added Houlton’s Annie Wilson.

Wilson, Jewell and Lynds and fellow seniors Amanda Varney and Robyn Zetts led the way with plenty of help from juniors Natalia Anderson, Kate Cummings, Kellie Doolin, Melissa Farrell and Kathleen Howland; sophomores Whitney Brown, Emily Cole, Tiffany Harvey, Pattie Howe, and Jessica Pasquarelli; plus freshmen Jodi Anderson and Kristin Lincoln.

In Class C, former Raiders cheerleader and current coach Laurie Schoppee led Washington Academy back to the glory she remembered from her days on the team.

“I graduated in 1992 and we won three Easterns and one state plus a state runnerup when I was cheering for [coach] Kathy Harmon,” said Schoppee, now in her second season at WA. “It’s great for these girls to have the same success.”

This time, Schoppee’s team did it with a little help from the angels … Charlie’s Angels, that is.

“I think what did it for us was the work we put in this summer [Husson College cheering camp] and our routine’s theme [Charlie’s Angels],” she said. “We wanted to be different and we were. I think we stood out… We really went for difference. One judge even commented that it was the most creative theme yet.”

Their score reflected that as WA was the only C team to improve its score in the finals.

The routine involved several sound bites from the popular 70’s TV show and recent movie release, several angel or flight-related song cuts, and numerous lifts, throws, fallaway catches, and spin catches.

The Raiders look to have some staying power too with only three seniors (captain Jessica Wood, Tara Inman, and Amanda Sawyer) on the team. The rest of the squad includes cousins Jesstine Albee and Katie Albee, Amber Barrett, Heather Cramer, Amy Dowley, Danielle Emery, Heidi Espling, Meredith Guptill, Karami Ham, Katie Holmes, Emily Huffman, Katie Miller, Ashley Ross, and Laura Huntley.

Eastern Maine Championships

Class B

Finals: 1. Houlton 85.0, 2. Old Town 80.0, 3. Winslow 74.0, 4. Rockland 73.5, 5. John Bapst 70.5, 6. Waterville 64.5, 7. Ellsworth 62.5, 8. Ellsworth 62.5

Preliminary round: 1. Old Town 78.0, 2. Houlton 75.0, 3. Rockland 73, 4. Winslow 69.5, 5. John Bapst 65.0, 6. Ellsworth 63.5, 7. Waterville 62.0, 8. Bucksport 61, 9. Presque Isle 59.5, 10. Hermon 51.5, 11. Erskine Academy 48.5, 12. Maine Central Institute 45.5, 13. Foxcroft Academy 44.0, 14. Belfast 32.0

Class C

Finals: 1. Washington Academy 73.5, 2. Sumner 68.5, 3. Central 67.0, 4. Dexter 59.0, 5. Penobscot Valley 58.5, 6. Penquis 57.0, 7. Piscataquis 50.0

Preliminary round: 1. Central 77.5, 2. Washington Academy 71.5, 3. Sumner 70.5, 4. Penobscot Valley 67.0, 5. Dexter 64.0, 6. Penquis 56.5, 7. Piscataquis 50.5, 8. Mattanawcook Academy 49.0, 9. Orono 47.0, 10. (tie) Narraguagus 46.5 and Stearns 46.5, 12. Madawaska 38, 13. Calais 34

East-West Regional Championships

At Augusta Civic Center

Class D

Finals: 1. Monmouth 78.5, 2. Bangor Christian 67.5, 3. (tie broken by penalty point deductions) Deer Isle-Stonington 58.5, 4. Central Aroostook 58.5, 5. (tie broken by penalty points) Buckfield 54.0, 6. Machias 54.0, 7. Jonesport-Beals 49.0, 8. Fort Fairfield 45.5

Preliminary round: 1. Monmouth Academy 79.5, 2. Bangor Christian 62.0, 3. Jonesport-Beals 59.5, 4. Deer Isle-Stonington 56.0, 5. Fort Fairfield 54.0, 6. Central Aroostook 53.5, 7. Machias 52.5, 8. Buckfield 48.5, 9. Rangeley 47.5, 10. Katahdin 44.5, 11. Easton 41.5, 12. Southern Aroostook 38.5