Father, daughter on opposite sides for today’s final Camden Hills vs. Belfast in ‘B’

The members of the No. 1 Belfast field hockey team packed up their equipment and mingled near their bench, reveling in the moments after Saturday’s 4-1 Eastern Maine Class B semifinal win over No. 5 Foxcroft.

Coach Allen Holmes had something else on his mind.

“Did you hear anything?” he asked a few parents and onlookers.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what “anything” was. Holmes was wondering about the outcome of Saturday’s other semifinal between No. 2 Camden Hills and No. 3 Waterville.

Then he got the news. The Lions will play the Windjammers Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The Belfast-Camden Hills matchup pits the two rival schools in Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class B final. It also means Holmes will face his daughter, ‘Jammers coach Jan Holmes-Jackson, for the first time at this level.

The normally effusive Holmes wasn’t sure what to make of the matchup.

“Well, I don’t know. It’s new territory,” he said. “I was just worried about today because Foxcroft was a good team.”

Holmes-Jackson said she’s nervous, and she’s sure her father is, too.

“It is pretty nerve-wracking when we have to play each other,” she said. “Usually we root for each other, but we both want to win. … I’m excited, too. Hopefully we’ll be able to put a scare into him.”

Both teams are on a roll, although Belfast’s is a significantly longer one. Saturday’s semifinal win was the Lions’ 52nd straight, while the Windjammers won their eighth straight Saturday.

The game will be the third straight playoff meeting between the father and daughter. In 2004, Belfast beat Camden Hills 2-0 in a quarterfinal. Last season the Lions beat the Windjammers 5-0 in the semis.

“It’s taken her a while to get her team where she’s got ’em,” Holmes said.

Holmes-Jackson was voted the KVAC Class B Coach of the Year for the first time.

The matchup has the Belfast players a bit worried, and not only because of the Holmes family rivalry. The Lions managed just a 1-0 win over the Windjammers on Sept. 21.

That loss sparked Camden Hills’ eight-game streak.

“I’m kind of nervous,” senior Britt Cummings said. “They’re going to come out extra-hard at us.”