Victory adds to joyous week for Marshall family

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BANGOR – Wednesday was a particularly good day during what already shaped up as a good week for Ed Marshall’s family.

The affable Marshall, who has been Madawaska High School’s athletic director for 32 years, saw a sore spot for his school’s community cured when the Madawaska boys defeated George Stevens Academy 56-47 in a Wednesday morning Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal playoff game.

It was the first-ever tourney victory for a Madawaska boys or girls basketball team.

“We’ve been waiting a long time to get this one,” said Marshall. “I’ve been researching this, and I think we’ve now become the last school [in existence since the tournament began] to win at least one tournament game in Eastern Maine.”

Marshall was already ecstatic after the boys’ win, but he could barely contain his excitement and joy after he received a surprise phone call from 23-year-old son Benjamin during halftime of Wednesday’s second tournament game.

“He’s been on active duty in Iraq for the last 14 months and he just called me,” Marshall said. “He just touched down in Dallas and he’s finally home. His wife was also on active duty and she got back recently after 12 months over there. Life is good!”

Ben – a senior forward on the last Owls boys team to make the tournament (in 2000) – is Marshall’s middle child. Eldest son Edward is 28 and daughter Meghan, a junior guard on Maine Maritime Academy’s varsity basketball team, just turned 21.

Meghan is another source of excitement for Marshall as her Mariners will be playing in a 6 p.m. North Atlantic Conference semifinal against Mount Ida College Friday.

“It’ll be a busy day for me on Friday,” Marshall said. “I’m going to see my daughter play and then I’ve got to run back here [Bangor] to see the [Madawaska] boys play in the semis.”

First the Red Sox and now the Owls. Are these signs of the apocalypse?

“You laugh, but that was our theme coming in. If the Red Sox did it, why can’t we?,” Marshall said. “I got a phone call from a friend up there and he said ‘The world’s going to end, isn’t it?’ If it does, at least everyone up our way will be happy when it does end.”

Friendly Foes

Senior guards Amanda Byrne of Winslow and Toby Martin of Maranacook of Readfield are more than just opponents on the basketball court.

They’re the best of friends.

“I’ve played AAU [basketball] with her for three years, and premier soccer with her for three years, we’ve been on the same team,” said Byrne after her Black Raiders edged Martin’s Black Bears 41-36 in an Eastern B girls semifinal Wednesday afternoon. “And on weekends we hang out.”

But on Wednesday, before their teams’ fourth meeting of the season, the friendship took a back seat to competition.

“When it’s game day we don’t talk to each other until after we play,” Byrne said. “Then we’ll talk.”

Byrne and Martin matched up head-to-head on the court as Winslow sought to defeat Maranacook for the first time this winter. On this day, Byrne won the battle with her defense, limiting the 2004 first-team NEWS All-Maine honoree to 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field.

“If there is a better defensive player, boy or girl, on the ball than Amanda, I don’t know who it is,” said Winslow coach Jim Richards. “Martin is a three-time conference player of the year, and that’s not by accident. She scored a couple of baskets in transition against us today, but we did a good job against her in the halfcourt.”

After the game, Byrne felt sympathy for her friend, but anticipation for her Winslow comrades as they move on in a bid to win the program’s first Eastern B title.

“As much as it hurts me to have her lose, I’m excited for our team,” said Byrne. “But I love her and she’s a really good player. She has a big future in front of her.”

MDI nets another shocker

The No. 5 MDI girls basketball team pulled out its second straight buzzer-beating win with Wednesday’s 48-47 victory over No. 8 Rockland, but the Trojans have some experience with buzzer-beaters this year.

MDI notched a 56-55 double-overtime win over Presque Isle on Jan. 14. It was the first regular-season loss for the Wildcats in two years, and it came on a Katie Hodgdon shot with 10 seconds left in the second OT.

“A lot of people make a big deal about Rockland beating Presque Isle [in the quarterfinals],” Trojans coach Chip Taylor said. “But I think a lot of people forgot we were first the ones to beat Presque Isle this year. … I think that gave the girls a lot of confidence.”

Taylor was relieved to come away with the win Wednesday. He had plenty to say about how the Trojans executed – they haven’t played their best ball yet in the tourney, he added – but he did learn a lot about how resilient his team can be.

“I don’t know if I can take many more of these. I can’t live through this every night,” Taylor said. “But the last two, I think it shows our girls can stay focused until the last [seconds]. It just keeps working.

Richards admirable as sub

Winslow freshman Lin Richards got valuable playing time in Wednesday’s semifinal against Maranacook because junior center Stephanie Bossie got into some foul trouble.

Luckily, Richards had some experience in big situations. She started a regular-season game against Mount View of Thorndike because Bossie was recovering from a head injury. It was the first game Bossie had missed in her three-year career, but it gave Richards a chance to get game experience. That paid off Wednesday as Bossie had to sit for a while.

Richards scored six points.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be on varsity but I worked my way up so it was a big accomplishment for me,” said Richards, who is the daughter of Winslow coach J.R. Richards. “Our last game I was really nervous, but for this game I wanted to show everybody that just because I’m a freshman it doesn’t really matter and I can play with everybody else.”