Talented D squads must survive playoffs

Coaches say almost the the same thing almost every year when it gets close to Tournament Time: Almost anyone can win this thing. The tournament is wide open.

Well guess what. When it comes to the 2003 Eastern Maine Class D boys hoop tournament … It’s actually true.

“I think there’s a lot more parity this year,” said Gary Colson, coach of the defending Eastern Class D champion. “I think anyone, one through eight, could win it all, especially if someone takes someone else lightly. I really think there will be an upset in the preliminary round too.”

Colson just hopes his No. 7 Bangor Christian Patriots aren’t the upset victims.

“Katahdin and Southern Aroostook could both give people troubles, especially if they put it all together. I wouldn’t look by Jonesport-Beals either, especially with Ordie [Alley] coaching them.”

There’s another team that might be tempting to take lightly, but that could prove to be a big mistake. Colson isn’t about to, because even though his Patriots haven’t played it, he knows this team too well.

This team is Calvary Chapel Christian School in Orrington.

The Sabers have no tournament history, no postseason experience, no home gym … Heck, they only have one set of jerseys, but they do have a 13-3 record, 82.4364 tournament index points, and a comfy position as the number two seed in the Heal point rankings.

They also have a couple of players Colson is very familiar with because he’s coached them both. One of them even played for him the last two years at Bangor Christian.

Kyle Bradford, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, and his younger brother Brock, a freshman point guard, decided to follow their hearts after weeks of soul searching and transfer from Bangor Christian to a brand new private school in Orrington with no gym, no basketball team (last summer) and no coach (last fall).

“My church started the school and I knew a lot of the teachers and some of the kids,” said Kyle Bradford, the team’s leading scorer at 20 points per game. “I prayed about it and it just seemed like this is where I should go.”

Since the team didn’t have a coach, Kyle’s father Ross decided it would be a good idea to check on what needed to be done to get a schedule together.

“We wanted to have a team, so I went down to talk to the MPA [Maine Principals’ Association] June 6 and they told me there was a six-month waiting period,” Ross Bradford recalled. “Well, that made it Dec. 6 when we could start and that happened to be the first day in Class D you could schedule a game. I guess the Lord led me there at the right time.”

Bradford also had good luck finding teams with open dates to fill his schedule and was able to get a full 18-game schedule together. One of his opponents, Liberty School of Blue Hill, dropped out of the MPA schedule, but the Sabers still had 16 games. All they needed now was a coach and enough players to have a team.

When no one else stepped up, Ross Bradford decided to take his first high school varsity coaching job. Another problem was solved when the Sabers secured a gym at Penobscot Job Corps in Bangor for practices and the Old Town YMCA gym for home games.

“We had to split the gym with the girls and each team practiced on halfcourt,” Ross Bradford said.

All that was left was for kids to come to tryouts/practices. Although they didn’t have much experience as a group, enough boys came out to make a team a reality.

Three months later, the Sabers are a win away from their first tournament game in the Bangor Auditorium.

If that’s not enough to convince the skeptics that someone up there likes this Vegas gold-and-forest green clad Calvary Chapel team, consider this: if Calvary’s 12-player team can beat Machias at home and No. 7 Bangor Christian knocks off Shead of Eastport in a home prelim game, Bradford will play against his former teammates in the quarterfinals.

“It will probably be kind of strange, but we’d love a chance to be able to play them in the tournament,” said Kyle Bradford, who has attended several BC games this season as a fan.

Watching someone else play in his No. 40 jersey has been a strange experience for Kyle. Watching BC play without his son has been strange for Ross Bradford as well.

“It would be an honor to play them. I know those guys and I even coached them in peewee ball at Bangor Christian,” said the elder Bradford.