Instead of heading straight to college from Old Town High in 2006, Katie Bergeron decided to make a rare move for a Maine schoolgirl basketball player.

She decided to spend a year at a college preparatory school.

Bergeron’s year at The Taft School in Watertown, Conn., has paid off with a solid year of academics – not that her grades needed it – and a chance to play basketball at Bowdoin College next fall.

The former Old Town guard will head back to Maine to play for the Polar Bears of Brunswick. She may also throw the javelin for the Bowdoin outdoor track and field team.

The Bowdoin women’s basketball team is considered one of the top NCAA Division III programs in the nation and was No. 1 in the national polls during the 2006-07 regular season.

The Polar Bears won their seventh straight New England Small Conference Athletic Conference title last winter and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.

That tradition was just one factor in Bergeron’s applying early decision to the school. She didn’t consider other colleges.

“I love the coach,” she said of coach Stefanie Pemper. “She was one of the biggest reasons. And I like the smallness of the school. The academics, too.”

Bergeron didn’t know any of the Polar Bears before meeting them recently, but she was familiar with Dexter High graduate Sabrina Cote and Dirigo of Dixfield’s Alexa Kaubris.

Bergeron has had a successful prep year at Taft both on and off the playing field. She was one of the top scorers on the Taft basketball team and was named to the Founder’s League all-star team, played soccer last fall, and has already placed first in both the javelin and pole vault two weeks in a row for the school’s track team.

The Taft basketball team went 15-7 this year and lost in the quarterfinals of the New England Class A tournament. Bergeron scored 13 points in the 50-39 loss to New Hampton (New Hampton, N.H.). Taft also won a sportsmanship award.

Bergeron’s decision to attend prep school had less to do with her high school grades – she was named to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference all-academic team her senior year at Old Town – and more to do with getting experience away from home in a tough academic setting.

Bergeron, now 18, is relatively young for her grade level. Her birthday is Oct. 14.

Another factor was the attention she would get playing at a prep school in western Connecticut. Old Town struggled her senior year, going 2-16 and finishing 18th out of 19 teams in Eastern Maine Class A.

“It was definitely the right decision,” Bergeron said. “It was more so I could mature and have an extra year of experience.”

As a high-schooler, the Bradley native was named a BDN All-Maine honorable mention and a KVAC North Division first-team player in 2006, as well as a McDonald’s senior all-star and Big East Conference senior all-star.

Bergeron was averaging 14.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists at one point during her senior year at Old Town. She said she averaged around 12 ppg at Taft.

At Old Town she was a second-team Penobscot Valley Conference pick for track and field and was third in the javelin (97 feet, 6 inches) at the Class B state championships.

Bergeron credited Taft basketball coach Jon Willson with helping her find her way, away from home.

“He helped me from Day 1, getting acclimated to the school, basketball, everything,” she said. “I know he talked to [Pemper] a lot. He was a big help.”

Orono seeking boys soccer coach

Whether it’s fishing, carpentry, refereeing, cars and motorcycles or family, Larry Berthiaume will find plenty of ways to fill his spare time now that he’s retired from coaching the Orono High boys soccer team.

“I’ve got other things I’d really like to do,” said Berthiaume, who put in 16 years over two stints with the program. “I felt like I put my body and soul into it, and the time just seemed to fly by.”

Berthiaume announced his retirement last month.

It was a tough fall season for the Old Town resident, who underwent knee surgery last July.

“He never missed a practice,” Orono athletic director Mike Archer said. “I had a golf cart there for him when he needed it. He was just amazing.”

Berthiaume has taught technology education at Orono High for 24 years and has refereed soccer for 25 years. He doubts he’ll do much officiating because of the surgery but wants to remain active in the officials’ association, possibly as an evaluator.

A native of the Worcester, Mass., area, Berthiaume started coaching boys soccer at Washburn in 1979 and compiled a 17-17-5 mark over three seasons.

Berthiaume then coached the Red Riots from 1982 to 1991 and 2001 to 2006 with an overall record of 112-114-16. Orono qualified for the playoffs 12 of his 19 seasons.

He spent 14 seasons with the Orono hockey team, including 1987-1992 as the head coach. During that span Berthiaume’s teams had a 55-48-1 record, including a 17-2 mark and Eastern Maine Class B runner-up honors in 1987.

The Orono soccer position should be an attractive one. The Red Riots have flourished since moving from Class B to Class C two years ago and will have 27 varsity and junior varsity players back in the program next fall.

“It’s a great place to coach, a great team and a great place to live,” he said.

Archer is confident in the wealth of local qualified coaches to replace Berthiaume, but the coach could be back for one more year if no suitable candidates come forward.

“If they need me I’ll be happy to do it,” Berthiaume said. “I’ll also be happy to go fishing.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.