BANGOR – The Brewer cheerleading team has been a strong favorite going into the Eastern Maine Class A competition over the years, and this season was no different as the Witches garnered a win in last week’s Penobscot Valley Conference meet.

This year, however, a lot of the pre-regional buzz seemed to be about Lewiston. The Blue Devils, who made the transition from Western Maine to Eastern Maine this year, won the 2003 Class A state title and had rolled in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet earlier in the week.

Even in the tense moments before the scores were announced at Saturday’s Eastern A competition, the Devils were still on everyone’s minds.

“That’s all we heard all competition, too,” Brewer senior Melissa Jacobs said. “We were expecting to get second.

“But when we heard the scores, and Lewiston was second, we couldn’t believe it.”

The Witches earned 156.8 points to edge Lewiston for their second regional title in three years. The Blue Devils scored 155 points.

Rockland, meanwhile, took another step toward defending its Class B state title with a win in the Class B regional. The Tigers scored 140.2 points with Ellsworth second with 133 points.

The top six teams in each classification advance to the Feb. 7 state championship meet at the Augusta Civic Center.

There were no callbacks at the regional level this year. Instead, each team performed its routine once and the top six teams advanced.

In the Class A competition, PVC runner-up Hampden finished third with 150.1 points and Bangor was fourth with 146.7. It was the highest score for either team so far in the competitive cheerleading season.

Fifth-place Oxford Hills (139.4) and sixth-place Gardiner (135.3) also earned spots at the state competition.

The Witches didn’t feel completely happy with their routine, which also contributed to the feeling that they had finished behind Lewiston. And the Blue Devils had tipped the Witches in last year’s state final.

“There were a few little things that went wrong,” Jacobs said. “We weren’t so excited at the end so we weren’t expecting this at all. I don’t feel like we didn’t hit a perfect routine. I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

But Brewer did have a clean routine with no penalties.

The Witches didn’t change a lot in the week after the PVC competition, senior Whitney Boudreau said, aside from adding more difficult tuck landings to some tumbling sequences and some small adjustments to the dance segment.

The rest of the Brewer team includes Ali Caron, Jillian Dougherty, Holly Dumond, Riley Godley, Erica Hart, Danielle King, Libbi Lingley, Hannah Mahon, Kiley McCloskey, Nikole Noddin, Erin Smith, Ashley Spencer, Hannah Taylor and Kristin Wood.

Lewiston was issued a five-point deduction for having an extra spotter on a stunt, and it’s something coach Deneka Fortier plans to make sure the Devils get right for states.

“I’m kind of questioning that,” she said. “But other than that, I thought they did an excellent job. They just lit up this place. We got a standing ovation, so that’s pretty good.”

In Class B, Big East Conference runner-up John Bapst of Bangor scored 128.4 to finish third overall. Hermon (124.3) was fourth, Bucksport (117.2) was fifth, and Caribou (115.7) rounded out the group of teams headed to states.

This year, coaches are allowed to look at their scores before the final results are announced (teams can only see their scores so they still don’t know where they placed). Some coaches choose to tell their teams beforehand, but Rockland co-coaches Mary Sidelinger and Rachel Collamore didn’t say anything to the Tigers before the scores were read.

Rockland had plenty of confidence going into the competition. The Tigers won the KVAC Class B title earlier in the week.

“We have the tumbling, the experience of performing in front of the crowd,” senior Dianne Grade said. “I think Rockland just has its own confidence, with how we’ve done in the past. We knew we had it and we wanted it again.”

In terms of tumbling in its old-time rock-and-roll-themed routine, the Tigers had some difficult passes that helped them earn points.

“We had two tucks today, and we thought about adding a third,” Grade said. “We didn’t dare put it in today but it’s still a little shaky and we didn’t want to risk it. Our flexibility in our stunts helps us, and having the boys steady us as the bases really helps.”

Rockland’s other team members are Beth Allen, Gretchen Appleby, Lindsey Appleby, Heather Brown, Charissa Cayouette, Samantha Cloutier, Pinky Curtin, Sean Curtin, Matthew Haj, Melissa Leiter, Stacia Matthews, Amanda Myrick and Ashley Whiffen.

Ellsworth has shown big improvement at each meet this season. The Eagles were sixth at the Big East competition, fourth at PVCs, and had their highest-ever regional finish Saturday.

The squad has tried to use its strong tumbling sequences to its advantage this year.

“Our scores have been pretty consistent,” said 10th year-Ellsworth coach Shannon Snurkowski. “Our tumbling is strong so we worked on cleaning that up this week. We have three girls that do tucks, a girl that does a layout, and numerous girls that can do back handsprings.”