Old Town vs. Orono tonight

Jessica Libby remembers well the excitement she felt before games as a member of the Orono High School basketball team – especially before games against rival Old Town.

The former Red Riots standout went on to a playing career at the University of Southern Maine, where she started coaching as an assistant to Gary Fifield, and returned to Orono last year to take over the program she once played for.

When Libby told the current Riots players they’d be opening up the regular season against Old Town, she was a bit puzzled by their reaction.

“They were like, we’re excited because it’s any game,” Libby said Thursday. “It wasn’t just that it was Old Town. … As a former player who came back to coach, you want it to be just like it was when you were there. But it didn’t take me long to figure out things had changed. All of these teams we’re playing now are new to me. The kids almost know more about them than I do.”

Orono-Old Town games may not have the same allure to the players because the two rivals last played in the 2002-03 season. Their first matchup in five years is on the slate tonight as the high school winter sports season opens this weekend.

Ice hockey, indoor track and field, wrestling, cheerleading, swimming, and skiing can also get under way tonight and Saturday.

Old Town won the last of the teams’ matchups 59-39 on Feb. 3, 2003, at Old Town. The stars of that game were Kristi Mitchell (20 points) for Old Town and Stacy Saucier (13 points) for Orono. Old Town also beat Orono 49-44 on Jan. 2, 2003.

Much has changed since Libby’s era. When she graduated as a Miss Maine Basketball finalist in 1999, Old Town was in Class A and Orono was in Class B. Both teams were in strong periods, with the Riots having won state titles in 1996 and 1998 and Old Town making it to the 1998 Eastern Maine Class A title game.

In 2003, the Red Riots posted an 8-10 regular-season record but finished out of the EM Class B tournament. Old Town went 11-7 in the regular season, good for the No. 9 seed in the EM Class A tourney, but lost to No. 8 Messalonskee of Oakland 73-58 in the prelim round.

Flash forward to the 2006-07 season and both teams have struggled a bit. Old Town, which in 2006 dropped its Indian mascot in favor of the Coyote, went 1-17 in its last year as a Class A team. Orono, which moved to Class C in 2005-06, was 8-10 but didn’t make the playoffs.

“We were pretty good, Old Town was good and the rivalry sort of added to it,” Libby said of her era at Orono. “But it’s not the same as it was in 1999. I’m trying to build the program back up and build the rivalries back up.”

Libby has a combined 18 players in her varsity and junior varsity program and is eager to begin her second season as the Orono head coach.

It should be a new-look team – the Red Riots have been impressive in their new weightlifting program and will have new uniforms this season for the first time in 10 years, Libby said.

“It’s been a smooth transition, smoother than I thought it would be,” Libby said of the move from player to coach. “I thought I would miss playing, and do I miss playing, but I also enjoy coaching and being able to give back what I learned from the game.”

Jessica Bloch may be reached at jbloch@bangordailynews.net or 990-8193.