Marshwood, Gorham champs; Old Town 2nd

BANGOR – A winning cheerleading routine is a combination of difficult stunts, clean performances, and smile-inducing moves meant to win over the judges. Old Town had the difficulty in its routine, and there are few teams as clean and steady as the Indians.

But you can always add more of the extras to make each stunt seem seamless and charm the spectators. That’s what Old Town had done in the weeks leading up to Saturday afternoon’s Class B state championship at the Bangor Auditorium.

In hopes of defending last year’s state crown, the Indians added small touches that boosted them into the final round, and helped them earn this year’s state runner-up title.

Old Town actually had a rare fall in the preliminary round, but regrouped in the finals. Gorham had to do some regrouping of its own, and won its first Class B state title.

The Rams scored 831/2 points out of a possible 100 and Old Town finished with 80.

“I feel great. It was hard competition,” Old Town co-captain Missy Dorr said. “It was neck and neck.”

Wells finished third with 781/2 points and Houlton, the Eastern Maine Class B and Aroostook County champ, was fourth (761/2 points).

In the Class A competition, Marshwood of Eliot scored 841/2 points to win its first Class A state title. Oxford Hills of South Paris, last year’s champion, was the runner-up with 83 points. Deering of Portland finished third (821/2) and Bonny Eagle of Standish scored 72 points for fourth place.

Eight teams in each class – four from Eastern Maine and four from Western Maine – vied for the state crowns. The top four teams with the highest preliminary scores, regardless of regional affiliation, were called back for the finals.

More than 5,000 spectators turned out to watch the competitions (the state meet for Classes C and D was held in the morning).

Old Town, which won the Penobscot Valley Conference and Big East Conference championships last month, was tied with Wells going into the final round, and both teams were half a point behind Houlton after prelims.

Gorham was fourth going into the final round because the Rams were penalized for an illegal move which occurred during a 1950s-style dance featuring a male cheerleader and a female cheerleader.

The team scaled back the crowd-pleasing move for the finals and regained the points.

Old Town had a clean performance after the mishap in the prelims, when Dorr’s base tripped over her feet and Dorr, who is a flyer, fell. It wasn’t a routine-breaker because Dorr never hit the ground, but it was the kind of error that can hurt the judges’ impression of the routine.

“There were other things, like energy, tight motions and deepening voices that we worked on,” said Erica Perry, Dorr’s co-captain. “The other team, they did really well and improved things the second time around as well.”

Houlton, the Eastern Maine champion, had plenty of difficulty in its stunts, with scorpions (a move in which a flyer stretches her free leg up to the back of her head) and basket tosses that made the flyers look as if they were floating.

“We worked hard on the scorpions and heel stretches with a twist [in the dismount],” said Houlton coach Julie Dunn-Brown.

In Class A, the Hawks engineered an upset of the Western Maine champion Rams to earn the state title. Marshwood entered the final round in second place, four points behind Deering.

Brewer had the highest Eastern Maine finish in the competition. The Witches scored 71.5 points in the preliminaries, just half a point behind Bonny Eagle but not enough to earn a spot in the finals.

State cheerleading championships

Class A

Final scores: Marshwood 841/2, Oxford Hills 83, Deering 821/2, Bonny Eagle 72

Preliminary: Deering 831/2, Marshwood 791/2, Oxford Hills 751/2, Bonny Eagle 72, Brewer 711/2, Gardiner 651/2, Bangor 63, Nokomis 571/2

Class B

Final scores: Gorham 831/2, Old Town 80, Wells 781/2, Houlton 761/2

Preliminary: Houlton 74, Old Town 731/2, Wells 731/2, Gorham 691/2, Scarborough 69, Rockland 65, Mountain Valley 641/2, Winslow 641/2