Caribou boys building early season momentum

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Many schoolboy basketball fans anticipated Presque Isle getting off to a quick start this season.

But the Wildcats aren’t the only Class B team from Aroostook County building momentum as Christmas approaches. Caribou also is 3-0 after a come-from-behind 50-47 home-court victory over Ellsworth on Saturday.

“That was a good test for us,” said Caribou coach Chris Casavant, whose team also has defeated Fort Kent and Bucksport. “We trailed for about the whole game, and after we took the lead they took the lead back.

“Last year we would have found a way to lose that game. This year we found a way to win.”

Caribou has six veterans back this season despite having only one senior on its roster.

“We’ve got a core group of kids who played basketball all summer,” he said. “They play other sports, too, but they played a lot of basketball during the summer and they’ve started to learn and think like basketball players.”

The team’s emotional leader is one of its youngest players, 5-foot-9 sophomore Kyle Corrigan, a second-year starter at point guard.

“He’s probably our best all-around player,” said Casavant. “He’s a basketball junkie, and he’s a kid who if you tell him something, he goes out and does it.”

Other key players for the Vikings are 6-2 junior Caleb Rosser, 5-9 Jarryd Rossignol, sophomore Ben Rosser, 6-4 Jeremiah Fitzherbert and twin forwards Jordan Haines and Dustin Haines.

This is a program that has made modest progress the last two seasons, going from 1-17 in 2003-04 to 6-12 last winter.

From that growth has emerged modest goals for this season.

“One of our goals is to host a prelim game,” said Casavant. “We thought we could finish eighth, and that would give us a chance to get to the Auditorium. I thought if we went 9-9, with one of those nine wins a big win like we had Saturday, that would give us a chance to get there.”

Caribou faces a challenging schedule in the next two weeks, beginning with a game against Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln on Friday followed by tests against John Bapst of Bangor, Hermon, Mount Desert Island and Presque Isle.

“It’s a tough stretch,” said Casavant, “but we’re gaining some confidence and hopefully we can build on that.”

Lynx a team in transition

The early stages of the schoolboy basketball season truly are a time of transition for Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.

Not only were the Lynx reclassified via enrollment from Class C to Class B by the slimmest of margins – one student – but the team is learning to adjust to a different brand of basketball.

“The way we looked at it was we knew Class B was going to be more of a slowdown pace, more of a structured offense, and Class C is usually more run and gun,” said senior captain Dylan Hanscom after the team’s 57-45 win at John Bapst of Bangor on Saturday. “We knew we had to work more on our offense and on our defense to play a full game.”

The early results are good for the Lynx, 3-0 before Tuesday night’s game at Hermon.

One reason for that seemingly smooth transition is the veteran nature of the Mattanawcook team, a balanced unit that returned virtually intact from last year’s club that lost at the buzzer in overtime of its Eastern C prelim against Schenck of East Millinocket. Schenck, ironically, is off to an unbeaten start in its new division, Class D.

In addition, MA coach Rick Sinclair is a Class B veteran, having led Hermon to the 2000 Eastern Maine Class B title.

“It’s been a transition for us, and I definitely would say we’re at our best when we’re in transition, not in the half-court,” Sinclair said. “But at some point you’re going to have to play that way, and in February when you’re at the [Bangor] Auditorium whoever can execute best in the half-court is going to be tough to beat.”

Ponies quietly seek three-peat

The Foxcroft Academy wrestling team is taking a low-key approach to its quest for a third consecutive Class C state championship.

In fact, the Ponies will have a considerably different look this winter after graduating seven key performers from a year ago – among them four individual state champions and two others who earned top-three finishes.

“We’re a different team from last year,” said Foxcroft coach Luis Ayala. The chemistry is different, and we don’t have the number of experienced wrestlers we had last year.”

The Ponies still will be among the favorites in Class C statewide, in part because three defending state champions return, albeit to different weight classes.

Senior Josh Pelletier, a two-time state champ at 215 pounds, is now at 275, while defending 189-pound champion James McPhee will wrestle his senior season at 215.

Sophomore Jerod Rideout, tops in the state at 135 last winter, will compete at 140 this season.

Senior Alan Whittemore, at 145, is another key returning veteran, while the Ponies also will rely on a talented sophomore class led by Rideout and also including Chris Steinke (130), Ethan Whittemore (135) and Ben Provost (171).

Ayala expects Lisbon and Dirigo of Dixfield to be among Foxcroft’s chief challengers for the Class C crown, along with Eastern Maine rivals Bucksport, Dexter and Penobscot Valley of Howland.

“We’ve got a good mix of seniors and younger guys, especially the sophomore class,” Ayala said. “But right now our intensity level isn’t where I want it to be, and we need to get our kids some more experience.”