State champion Rams earn national ranking

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“I know I wouldn’t want to play half the teams in Texas.”

BANGOR COACH ROGER REED

The Bangor High boys basketball team recently added a new gold ball to the school’s trophy case, one of the fruits of the Rams’ run to the 2007 Class A state championship.

Soon they’ll be receiving another trophy, one reflecting a national ranking.

California-based MaxPreps.com, one of the more popular Web sites in the country devoted to high school sports, has placed Bangor 37th among its final ranking of the top 50 schoolboy basketball teams in the country for the 2006-07 season.

As a result, a representative of the company is expected to come to Bangor next week as part of its MaxPreps Tour of Championships to present the team a trophy in recognition of its ranking, according to Rams coach Roger Reed.

Founded in 2003, MaxPreps annually ranks the top 50 boys and girls basketball teams, as well as the top 25 football teams, nationwide. Additional rankings are compiled for teams within each state.

MaxPreps uses a computer program to determine team rankings in basketball and football, according to Stan Grant, the company’s director of media partnerships.

“There’s no human element other than the element that created the criteria,” he added.

Those criteria include strength of schedule, head-to-head competition, playoff success, and margin of victory, Grant said.

MaxPreps ultimately attempts to rank every team in the nation. But comparing teams from different states is a challenge, particularly given that some schools, like Bangor, don’t travel to out-of-state tournaments like teams such as nationally known Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., ranked seventh by MaxPreps.

“I know I wouldn’t want to play half the teams in Texas,” joked Reed.

Grant said some schools in that situation may be aided in that category if teams they played faced out-of-state competition, though that is not believed to be the case in Bangor’s situation.

“Is it perfect? I guarantee that it’s not,” said Grant. “But the fact that someone is trying to rank all 20,000 high school teams in the country is an impressive effort.”

Bangor finished its season with a 21-1 record, a run capped off by a 56-39 victory over Portland in the Class A state championship game.

The Rams were led by a pair of Bangor Daily News All-Maine honorees, senior forward Alex Gallant and junior center Ryan Weston.

The Rams were first in the state rankings, followed by Mt. Blue of Farmington, Deer Isle-Stonington, Calais, and Messalonskee of Oakland.

Western A champion Portland was sixth in the state rankings, with Cheverus of Portland, Schenck of East Millinocket, Mountain Valley of Rumford, and Cony of Augusta completing the top 10.

The MaxPreps ratings do not take into account the size of a school, Grant said, nor does it consider a school’s basketball history, just its success during the current season.

Bangor was one of just two New England teams ranked among MaxPreps’ top 50. Boston College High School in Boston, which won its first Massachusetts Division 1 state title since 1917, was rated just ahead of Bangor in 35th.

Lakewood High School of Artesia, Calif., was the No. 1 team in the MaxPreps.com poll.

Veteran coaches to host camp

Two of the state’s veteran schoolboy basketball coaches are joining forces to bring a summer basketball camp to the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Tony Hamlin of Penquis of Milo and Bill McAvoy of Katahdin of Stacyville – each of whom is a member of the 300-win club – will host the inaugural Skills and Drills Basketball Camp on the UMPI campus beginning Sunday, June 24.

The camp, which will run through the following Thursday, is for boys entering grades 7-12, though Hamlin said if the camp is successful this year the offerings may be expanded to include a girls’ week in 2008.

“It’s something Bill and I have thought about for a couple of years,” said Hamlin.

Registration is $375 per camper, and more information is available by calling Hamlin at 943-2979 or 365-4833.

Ordway at Easter Bowl

While most of Maine’s high school tennis players are dodging snowflakes and otherwise struggling to find practice time in anticipation of the coming season, the reigning state schoolgirl champion has gone cross-country to start her 2007 season.

Christine Ordway of Falmouth, a sophomore at Waynflete School in Portland, is competing this week at the Easter Bowl ITF Tennis Championships under way at Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Ordway, who went on to win the New England singles title last spring after leading Waynflete to the Class C team championship, lost her first-match in the Easter Bowl Girls 16-and-under division to 17th seeded Ashley Miller of Montgomery, N.Y., 6-4, 6-1.

Ordway bounced back to defeat Cindy Labarthe of Oklahoma City 7-5, 7-6 in her first consolation-round match on Tuesday.

The tournament continues throughout this week.

Wrestling rule changes adopted

High school wrestlers will have a new strategic option next season, according to a rule change recently adopted by the National Federation of State High School Associations Wrestling Rules Committee.

Under the new rule, an offensive wrestler may request a neutral position restart by signaling his desire to a referee. Even though the defensive wrestler is awarded an escape if the offensive wrestler uses this option, the option still might provide an advantage to many participants.

“It gives wrestlers another possible choice from the offensive position,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the rules committee, in a press release.

Another new rule gives tournament directors an additional option, allowing them to institute a random draw for the championship final matches in an individual regular-season or state championship tournament series. Previously, this option existed only in dual meets.

Among other approved changes, the committee reverted to wording in its 2005 rules book that specified that a scoring error by the timekeeper, scorer or referee can be corrected as long the wrestler or coach remains in the mat area. No longer must a scoring correction be made before the start of the next period.

Another rule has been adjusted to penalize the head coach if wrestler reports to the scorer’s table and is not in proper uniform, not properly groomed, not properly equipped or not ready to wrestle.

“Head coaches should be accountable,” Colgate said. “They need to have their athletes ready to compete as specified by the rules.”

Prevention of communicable skin conditions was one of the chief points of emphasis issued by the committee for the 2007-08 season. Correction of errors was another point of emphasis, as well as stalling.

“Stalling could be a point of emphasis every year,” Colgate said. “It’s really a work-in-progress.”

The committee’s final point of emphasis was sportsmanship.

“The intensity and contact in wrestling often lead to things getting heated,” Colgate said. “Sportsmanship has been improving, but it’s still something we need to work on in the sport of wrestling.”

Wrestling ranks sixth in popularity, according to the 2005-06 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, with 251,534 boys participating last year. It ranks eighth for boys in school sponsorship, with 9,744 schools offering wrestling. An additional 4,975 girls in 1,081 schools are involved in wrestling.

Warriors, Panthers honored

Six high school wrestling teams have been recognized by the Maine Principals’ Association with good sportsmanship award banners for the 2006-07 season.

Fort Kent Community High School was recognized in Eastern Maine Class C, while Traip Academy of Kittery was the Western C recipient.

In Class B, Medomak Valley of Waldoboro received the banner for Eastern Maine, while York was the winner in Western Maine.

Erskine Academy of South China was the Eastern A winner, with Class A state champion Massabesic of Waterboro also the recipient of the Western A sportsmanship banner.