A new era of John Bapst wrestling will begin next winter when the Crusaders will stage home meets for the first time.

That’s because a group of wrestling boosters spearheaded by Maria Franklin, whose son was a freshman wrestler at the Bangor school this winter, recently raised $9,000 for the purchase of a competition-level mat.

“At the beginning of the season we were at an away meet, and one of the parents asked, ‘How come we don’t host meets?” said John Bapst wrestling coach Frank Heaney.

And from that question the fundraising effort began, with a myriad of events ranging from bottle drives to a fish sale generating the needed funds.

As Heaney began exploring the cost of a mat on the Internet, he learned that a decent mat would cost $6,000 while a high-quality mat would cost $15,000.

Then he discovered that the NCAA makes available for sale the mats it uses at its Division I championship meet each year. Those mats are used just at that one meet, then are returned to the manufacturer to be reconditioned for use by the purchasing party.

That’s the route the John Bapst wrestling supporters ultimately took, and their new mat recently was delivered to the school, said John Bapst athletic director Mike Thomas.

The new mat will replace a well-worn predecessor that wasn’t of competition quality.

“We’ve been practicing on a mat that was retired 22 years ago by Maine Maritime Academy,” Heaney said.

John Bapst plans to host meets in the school’s auditorium next year, and Heaney has invited all three reigning state champions – Class A Noble of North Berwick, Class B Mountain Valley of Rumford and Class C Lisbon – to participate in the first home meet of the 2006-07 season. Noble has accepted its invitation, he said.

Heaney hopes having home meets will generate additional interest in the sport at the school.

“It’s going to increase a sense of pride for the kids who are already part of the program, and hopefully it will encourage more guys and girls to come out for wrestling,” Heaney said.

Damon leaves JB hockey post

After more than a quarter-century of coaching hockey at the youth and high school levels, Doug Damon is calling it a career.

Damon, the boys varsity coach at John Bapst of Bangor, is leaving that post after seven seasons.

“I had two boys who came up through the system, and I thought I needed to repay that debt,” said Damon, whose younger son, Derek, is a senior on the University of Maine hockey team that will play Wisconsin in an NCAA Division I semifinal in Milwaukee on Thursday night.

Damon’s older son, Shawn, was a member of John Bapst’s first hockey team in 1989 and played three years for the Crusaders. Derek Damon played at Bapst for two years before transferring to St. Dominic of Lewiston.

This year’s youthful John Bapst squad finished 8-11 and was ranked eighth in Eastern Maine Class B before being ousted by top-ranked and eventual regional champion Brewer in the quarterfinals. The Crusaders’ 27-player roster included 11 freshmen and seven sophomores.

“We had a very good year,” said Damon. “We were very young, but the kids played darned well.”

John Bapst’s best season under Damon came in 2002, when the Crusaders finished 16-7 and reached the Eastern B semifinals.

Morrill leaves Greenville post

Brian Morrill has stepped down as boys varsity basketball coach at Greenville High School after four seasons.

Morrill guided the Lakers to a 35-37 overall record and three trips to postseason play.

Greenville finished the 2005-06 season with a 9-8 record, finishing 11th in Eastern Maine Class D before losing to two-time state champion Central Aroostook of Mars Hill in a preliminary-round game.

Greenville athletic director Jeff Stafford hopes to fill the vacancy soon in order for the new coach to set up a summer basketball program.

Greenville also is in search of a new boys varsity soccer coach. Longtime coach Steve Lizotte stepped down after last season in order to watch his son Jonah pursue a college soccer career.

Robbins to play at Vermont

Kyle Robbins, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound senior center from Cheverus High of Portland, will continue his basketball career at the University of Vermont next year.

Robbins is set to sign a NCAA National Letter of Intent to accept an athletic scholarship from the America East school during the spring signing period that begins later this week, according to Cheverus coach Bob Brown.

Robbins, who played for two years at Falmouth before transferring to Cheverus, averaged 10 points and seven rebounds this season for the Stags despite sitting out considerable chunks of time durign the second half of games because of lopsided scores, Brown said.

Robbins also anchored a Cheverus defense that allowed a Southern Maine Activities Association-fewest 44.5 points per game.

Cheverus finished the regular season with a 16-2 record and reached the Western Maine Class B semifinals before falling to Portland High.

“He’s come light years since he joined us two years ago,” said Brown of Robbins, whose junior year with Cheverus got off to a slow start because of a foot injury. “He’s truly a low post player, and he’s almost ambidextrous because he can make jump hooks with either the right or left hand or drop step and dunk with either hand.

“And this year he started to develop more of a face-up game,” added Brown, a former college coach at Boston University, St. Anselm College and the University of Southern Maine. “I know Vermont is absolutely excited to get him.”

Robbins becomes the fifth member of the Maine schoolboy basketball class of 2006 to firm up plans to accept scholarships to play at the Division I level. He joins Hampden Academy’s Jordan Cook (Maine), Cheverus’ Sean Costigan (Maine), Falmouth’s Bryant Barr (Davidson) and Deering’s Carlos Strong, who has verbally committed to attend Boston University.

In addition, Gardiner junior Sean McNally already has made a verbal commitment to attend Maine beginning in the 2007-08 season.

Farrell new Mount Ararat coach

Robert Farrell, a former assistant coach at Winslow High School, has been named the new varsity football coach at Mount Ararat High in Topsham.

Farrell replaces Erik Sargent, who resigned in January after seven seasons.

Farrell, a fullback at the University of Maine in the late 1960s, joined Mike Siviski’s staff at Winslow in 1988 and served as an assistant coach at Winslow until 1998 and again during the 2002 season. Most recently he has served as an assistant coach in the Freeport football system in 2003 and 2004 as well as an assistant coach for the Maine Freeze women’s professional team in 2003 and 2004.