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The John Bapst of Bangor boys basketball team entered weekend play on the outside looking in on Eastern Maine Class B postseason play, but now are clearly in the playoff hunt after a 46-44 victory at previously unbeaten Presque Isle on Saturday.
“It’s obviously a big win for us,” said John Bapst coach Jason Mills. “We went up there in a situation where if the postseason had started before the game, we would have been out, but now we’ve got a chance to host a prelim if we take care of business the rest of the way.”
The Crusaders never led 13-1 Presque Isle until guard Logan Adams scored the game-winning points with six seconds left, but they never trailed by more than seven – the final time midway through the fourth quarter.
“The kids kept hanging around,” said Mills, whose 6-7 John Bapst team hosted Foxcroft Academy on Tuesday night. “We were coming off a loss to MDI where we played pretty well but didn’t finish well, and the kids took that to heart.”
Presque Isle was hampered by an ankle injury to Chris Coffin that sidelined the senior center for most of the game, and John Bapst was able to keep the contest at a half-court pace more to its liking.
“We had to take care of the ball and be patient on offense,” said Mills. “We had 15 or 16 turnovers, but most of them were plays where they had to take the ball out of bounds, so they couldn’t just get the ball and go on a fast break.”
Presque Isle did jump out to a 5-0 lead, but Mills called three timeouts in the first quarter in an effort to stem the Wildcats’ momentum. The strategy paid off as John Bapst rallied to within 11-8 by the end of the first quarter and trailed just 24-21 at halftime.
“I think one of the keys was at the end of the first quarter being down only three points,” Mills said.
Baker leaves OT football post
The Pine Tree Conference Class B football ranks will have at least two new head coaches next season.
Ed Ortego, who guided Brewer High to the 2005 Class B state championship, has returned to his native Louisiana to rejoin his family there, while Dan Baker has resigned from his post at Old Town, according to OTHS athletic director Greg Thibodeau.
Baker became Old Town’s head coach in 2003, after serving as a varsity assistant coach at his alma mater from 1997 to 2000.
Old Town went winless in 2003, but broke through with a 12-6 win against Poland on Sept. 17, 2004, to end a 19-game losing streak that had dated from late in the 2001 season.
Old Town finished the 2004 season with a 2-7 record, and went 1-7 last fall in the Pine Tree Conference Class B ranks.
Baker is a 1992 graduate of Old Town, where he was an all-conference and all-state linebacker for football teams that won the LTC championship and was the state Class B runner-up in 1991 and reached the conference championship game in 1989 and 1990.
Old Town High currently is advertising for Baker’s successor.
Wins aplenty for Reed, Bessey
Friday night’s Class A boys basketball game at Red Barry Gymnasium in Bangor between Bangor High and Mt. Blue of Farmington matched two head coaches who now have a combined 847 victories at the varsity level, counting only Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned regular-season and tournament games.
Bangor coach Roger Reed took a 458-179 record into Tuesday night’s game at Erskine Academy of South China, while Mt. Blue’s 57-42 win at Bangor marked the 389th victory of Cougars coach Jim Bessey’s career.
Both coaches have compiled their impressive win totals at just two schools.
Reed coached from the 1971-72 season through 1978-79 and from 1981-82 through 1984-85 at Bangor Christian, amassing a 115-99 record with the Patriots and winning an Eastern Maine Class D championship in 1979.
Since becoming the head coach at Bangor for the 1985-86 season, Reed’s teams have compiled a 343-80 record to go with six state championships and seven Eastern Maine Class A titles.
Bessey is in his second stint at Mt. Blue covering 30 years, having coached the Cougars from the 1972-73 through the 1981-82 campaigns and from 1986-87 to the present, a run highlighted by the 1997 Eastern A title.
He also coached at Madison High from 1982-83 through 1985-86, leading the Bulldogs to the 1985 Western C crown.
Mt. Blue 9-3 entering Tuesday night’s play, is ranked fourth in the latest Eastern A Heal point ratings this season, while Bangor is fifth at 8-4.
Wilson makes ‘Faces’
Gorham soccer star Kelsey Wilson’s goal in the Class A state final against Bangor garnered her an appearance in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of Sports Illustrated’s most recent edition.
Wilson scored with 8:26 left in the first half of the Nov. 5 game to give Gorham the Class A title and a 16-1 record. She led the Rams with 32 goals and earned Maine Soccer Coaches Association All-New England honors.
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