Mike Garcelon remembers his first foray into coaching schoolboy basketball at Searsport High.

It was 1988, and he was just learning the ropes.

“It was a long time ago, and I was just a kid out of college coaching against people like Jim Frost and Jim Murphy and Bob Cimbollek,” said Garcelon. “It was definitely a learning experience.”

Garcelon has returned to those basketball roots 16 years later, back on the sidelines as the new boys varsity coach at Searsport.

A middle school teacher in Searsport, Garcelon has coached in the district in a variety of capacities over the last 16 years, including two stints as girls varsity basketball coach and currently as the girls varsity soccer coach – in which he led the Vikings to the 2002 Class C state championship.

He also serves as the middle school softball coach, and has been the junior varsity girls basketball coach for the last four years.

“The [boys] position opened, and there wasn’t a flood of applications, and a couple of the guys asked me about it,” Garcelon said. “So I applied and was fortunate to get the job, and it’s been good for all of us so far.”

Garcelon replaced Josh Tripp, who coached the boys varsity at Searsport for the past five seasons. The Vikings went 7-11 last winter before losing at Calais in an Eastern C preliminary-round game.

Tripp left the Searsport post to become the junior varsity boys basketball coach at Bucksport, where he teaches math.

Searsport returns a young team this winter, with just one upperclassman with considerable varsity experience to go with a solid nucleus up from the junior varsity.

Rams earn All-PTC grid honors

Nine members of the Eastern Maine Class A champion Bangor High football team have earned All-Pine Tree Conference Class A first-team honors.

Six of the selections were on offense, with two others on defense and one special-teams player.

Representing Bangor on the first-team All-PTC offense are junior tailback Nick Payson, senior tight end Aaron Gallant, senior wide receiver Anthony DeRosa, senior guards Eric Anderson and Kyle Oliver, and senior tackle Andrew Trundy.

Senior linebacker Ricky Dexter and senior defensive back T.J. Vanidestine were first-team All-PTC defensive choices from coach Mark Hackett’s club, while junior placekicker Tyson Barron was Bangor’s special teams representative.

Another Ram, senior offensive tackle Jeremy Tyler, earned second-team accolades, while senior quarterback Brian Hackett, junior linebacker Mike McPike, and senior defensive end Nick Buchanan were honorable mention selections.

Mike Marston, who guided Skowhegan High to the Eastern Maine final, was the recipient of the Pete Cooper Award symbolic of the league’s coach of the year. Marston’s club had four first-team honorees: senior center Chris Mitchell, junior safety John MacLean, senior defensive lineman Chris Belyeu, and senior defensive end Devin Provenchal.

Junior tailback Aaron Chambers, junior fullback Josh Whiting, senior tackle Josh Alexander, senior guard Eric McCloud, and senior utility player Jason Lisherness represented the Indians on the second team.

David DiGravio, a halfback-defensive back from Mt. Blue High in Farmington, was the recipient of the Ray Caldwell Award as the PTC’s outstanding player-sportsman.

Wrestling regionals set

Mt. Blue High School of Farmington, Mount Desert Island High School, and Foxcroft Academy will be the host schools for the 2005 Eastern Maine wrestling championship meets to be held Feb. 5.

Mt. Blue will stage the Eastern A championship meet, MDI will host the Eastern B meet, and Foxcroft will be the Eastern C meet site.

The state championships follow a week later, this year to be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Feb. 12.

Western Maine regionals will be held Feb. 5 at Biddeford High School (Class A) and Mountain Valley High School of Rumford (Classes B and C).

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net