Sabers take on 6-time champ Valley in ‘D’ Houlton faces Jay for ‘C’ title

The Houlton Shiretowners have waited 74 years to play in another boys basketball state championship game.

For Calvary Chapel of Orrington, the wait has been much, much shorter – the school has been open for just two years.

Both teams get their crack at a gold ball at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday, although the remaining obstacles are formidable.

In Class D, Calvary Chapel will try to dethrone six-time defending state champion Valley High of Bingham in a battle of the only remaining unbeaten teams in Maine schoolboy basketball.

The Sabers won their first EM title with an 86-80 overtime win over Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, capping off a regional tournament in which coach Ross Bradford’s club averaged 86 points per game and set single-game and tourney records for 3-point shooting behind two-time tournament MVP Josh Madden and brothers Kyle and Brock Bradford.

Valley carries a 46-game winning streak into the state final, and is 147-1 since beginning its run of state championships in 1998.

“They’ve got tons of experience,” said Ross Bradford. “There’s a reason they’ve won six times in a row. That’s a very good program.”

Valley, 20-0 this season, is led by WM tourney MVP Mark Gaudet, a 5-9 senior point guard who averaged 20 points per game during the regular season and 23.4 ppg in the regional. Gaudet has both 3-point shooting range (he made five in a quarterfinal win over Richmond) and the ability to get to the basket (he averaged eight made free throws per game in the WM tournament).

Gaudet, who scored 25 points in last year’s state final when the Cavaliers topped Bangor Christian 58-46, is complemented by the inside play of 6-5 sophomore Travis Hovey, who averages 10 points and nine rebounds.

Other key players for Valley include 6-0 junior Lucas Melcher and 5-6 senior Tony Hibbard, although coach Dwight Littlefield will use as many as 10 players.

Calvary Chapel (21-0) has championship-game experience of its own. Madden, a 6-1 senior forward, and 6-0 junior forward Mike Astle both played for Bangor Christian against Valley last year, while Madden and Kyle Bradford were key figures for BC in the 2001 final that Valley won 67-66.

Madden averaged 30 points and 12.3 rebounds per game during this year’s EM tournament. Kyle Bradford, a 6-0 senior guard, averaged 17.7 points and five rebounds, while Brock Bradford, a 6-0 sophomore, contributed 14 points and 9.3 assists per game.

The Sabers also got a big lift on the boards from 6-2 senior Tyler Gans, as well as solid play from Astle and sixth man Bryan Miller, a 5-10 junior.

“They’re a very, very good team,” said Littlefield. “They shoot the ball very well. We’ve got to defend their shooters. We’ve got to close out quickly and be there when they look to shoot.”

In Class C, Houlton is back in the state final for the first time since 1930, and faces a Jay team seeking its second title in three years.

Jay (19-2) secured the Western C championship by outlasting Georges Valley of Thomaston 40-38 on a Marc Kelvey tip-in with two seconds left. That followed a 48-44 overtime victory over St. Dominic of Lewiston in the semifinals.

Coached by Mike Child, who was hired just before preseason practices began, Jay got off to a 3-2 start before Christmas break. Then Sean Fry, a 6-5 senior forward, transferred to the school when his family moved to the area from South Carolina, and the Tigers have won 16 straight games since then.

Fry reminds some observers of Houlton star Mark Socoby, because both have the ability to work in the low post as well as on the perimeter. Fry averaged a team-best 17 points per game during the Western C regional.

Fry teams with Kelvey at forward and guard Justin Wells to give Jay three formidable scoring threats. Zach Charles, a 6-5 senior, is the team’s top interior defender, while junior Ryan DiPompo handles point guard duties.

Charles, Wells, and DiPompo all were contributors on Jay’s 2002 team that edged Calais 48-47 for the state championship.

“We haven’t played a team all season that matches us in height or outsizes us,” said Houlton coach Sean Callahan. “That will not be the case when we play Jay.”

Houlton does have the 6-6 Socoby, a versatile sophomore who earned EM tourney MVP honors by averaging 18.3 points and 12.7 rebounds in the regional. Dustin Edwards, a 6-2 senior, also came up big, averaging 16.7 ppg and making five 3-pointers in the EM final against Washington Academy of East Machias. Jordan Hill, a 6-2 senior, 6-0 junior Brett Miles, and 6-1 senior Danny Bartlett are other key performers for Houlton.

The Shiretowners will be without 6-6 junior forward Leif O’Connell, who was suspended from the team for disciplinary reasons after the EM final, Callahan said.

“It should be a good game,” said Callahan. “Jay seems very similar to us in the type of players they have.”