Erskine employs special-unit plan ‘Havoc team’ keeps starters fresh

BANGOR – The Erskine Academy Eagles displayed many strengths while overwhelming Maranacook of Readfield 84-46 in their Eastern B boys quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium on Friday.

One was superior depth, in part because of a special unit employed by Eagles coach Tim Bonsant at the end of quarters.

Duy Lyford, Matt Fleming, Levi Dennison, Brett Bagdoyon, and Dustin Heath made three collective appearances, at the end of the first, second, and third quarters.

“I just tell them to go out and play as hard as they can,” said Erskine coach Tim Bonsant. “They’re in full-court man and just running and jumping everywhere and trying to cause havoc. I guess I call them the havoc team.”

Bonsant asked that group to play for 60 to 90 seconds at a time during the latter stages of the regular season, and he liked the results so much he incorporated it into his postseason plans.

“I try to pull something out of my hat the last four or five games of the year,” he said, “and this is what I did, to have these guys come in and do that. It worked well against Camden [Hills] in the conference championship game.”

Bonsant said the contributions of his “havoc team” helped the Erskine starters stay fresh against Maranacook, fresh enough to blow the game open in the second half.

“I played 11 or 12 guys,” he said. “I’m not sure how many [Maranacook] played, but it kind of showed toward the end of the game. We seemed like we were pretty rested.”

MPA revises Western D schedule

The Maine Principals’ Association has altered its Western Maine Class D quarterfinal schedule to accommodate Pine Tree Academy of Freeport, a Seventh-day Adventist school that doesn’t participate in extracurricular activities from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Pine Tree Academy, the fourth seed in Western D, was scheduled to play Vinalhaven at noon Saturday, but the MPA swapped a boys doubleheader Saturday with a girls doubleheader Monday so the Breakers’ game wouldn’t be in conflict with the school’s observance of the Sabbath.

Under the new schedule, Pine Tree Academy will play Vinalhaven at 10 a.m. Monday, followed by top-ranked Hyde of Bath against Rangeley.

The girls games moved to Saturday have Greater Portland Christian against Hyde at noon, followed by Waynflete of Portland against North Yarmouth Academy.

The MPA made a similar accommodation for Pine Tree Academy several years ago, according to executive director Dick Durost.

Durost said this situation was different than one last year involving a basketball player at Mount View High School in Thorndike who sought a schedule change when the Mustangs qualified for an Eastern B quarterfinal that began shortly before sundown Friday, the start of his religion’s Sabbath.

Lynelle Greenlaw later filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission on behalf of her son, Anthony Greenlaw, alleging discrimination resulting from the MPA’s decision not to change the tournament schedule.

The MHRC ruled unanimously in December that there was no discrimination in the Greenlaw case.

In Pine Tree Academy’s case, Durost said the MPA agreed to shift the game because the entire school and team would be affected, rather than making an accommodation for a single person, as would have been the case with Greenlaw.