Several teams in new classes

A new boys basketball season begins this weekend, with most teams in Eastern Maine opening their seasons tonight or Saturday.

Four familiar programs return as reigning regional champions, with Bangor, Camden Hills of Rockport, Calais and Deer Isle-Stonington all in strong position to match last winter’s hard-fought achievements.

Several other Eastern Maine programs are now in new divisions thanks to reclassification that takes place every other year. Central of Corinth, Old Town, Gardiner and Erskine Academy of South China are new to Eastern B (Central is up from Class C, the others drop from Class A), while Lee Academy and Schenck of East Millinocket will shift from Class D to Class C and Hodgdon will make the reverse move from Class C to Class D.

Many teams have new coaches, among them Bill Brooks of Nokomis of Newport, Peter Austin of Ellsworth, Justin Norwood of Mount Desert Island, Nick DePatsy of Medomak Valley of Waldoboro, Andrew Clavette of Fort Kent, Don Deschenes of Madawaska, Jim Parsons of Searsport, Tyler Putnam of Hodgdon, Randy Norsworthy of Washburn, Shawn Craig of Katahdin of Stacyville, Brad Prout of Machias and Todd Alley of Fort Fairfield. Aaron Wilcox also returns to the varsity post at Bangor Christian.

And perhaps the best thing about opening night is there’s little easing into the schedule to be found.

Calais, the two-time defending Class C state champion, hits the road Friday, taking its 44-game winning streak to Lee Academy.

Lee, now in Class C after reaching the Eastern D semifinals last February, gave the Blue Devils one of their toughest battles of the 2006-07 season in their opener at Calais, but coach Ed Leeman’s club rallied in the final minute for a 70-67 win.

Calais graduated All-Maine swingman Brandon Tomah – now on the postgraduate team at Lee Academy – but the Blue Devils retain a strong cast led by senior guard Sam Bell and junior center Cal Shorey.

Lee suffered significant graduation losses of its own, but coach Randy Harris’ club returns a key starter in senior forward Devan Parker.

Camden Hills begins the defense of its Eastern B title at home Friday against Mount View of Thorndike. Camden Hills is led by junior forward Gordon Fischer and senior guards Paul Campbell and Christian Pieri. Mount View also returns several quality players and hopes to contend in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B division made even more challenging by the additions of Gardiner and Erskine Academy.

Another important opener Friday sends Schenck of East Millinocket to Houlton. Schenck came within an eyelash of winning the Eastern D title last February, dropping a 75-74 decision to Deer Isle-Stonington in the final. Houlton has four starters back from last year’s team that finished fourth in the Heal point ratings and advanced to the semifinals before falling to Calais 54-45. The Shiretowners are one of the few teams with back-to-back games this weekend, with a second straight home game scheduled Saturday against Madawaska.

Another noteworthy game Saturday has reigning Class D state champion Deer Isle-Stonington opening its season at home against Shead of Eastport. The Mariners, 22-0 last year, return just one starter from their championship edition in 6-4 senior Collin Ciomei.

But perhaps the game of the weekend will take place Friday night at Red Barry Gymnasium in Bangor, where Bangor hosts Hampden Academy in a battle of teams that own five of the last eight Class A state championships and six of the last eight Eastern A titles.

Bangor is the defending state champion and has won four state titles in the new millennium (2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007) under longtime coach Roger Reed. The Rams return 11 seniors, a contingent that includes All-Maine center Ryan Weston, Lee Suvlu and University of Maine-bound Jon McAllian.

Hampden, the 2005 and 2006 Eastern A champion and state champ in 2005, had another strong season last winter when it ousted top-ranked Edward Little of Auburn in the regional quarterfinals before being edged by Messalonskee of Oakland in the semifinals.

Hampden features seniors Justin Brown, Brad Haase and Antonio Juco and hopes this early matchup isn’t a repeat of last year’s first meeting, when Bangor rolled to a 65-25 victory.

“It’s a rivalry game,” said HA coach Russ Bartlett, whose team lost a much tighter 57-54 decision to the Rams in their regular-season rematch last winter. “It’s not the ideal place to open your season, I would say, and at the same point people will say it’s a measuring-stick game, but it’s just the first game.

“There’s 17 more games after this one, so win or lose there’s a long way to go.”

Ernie Clark may be reached at eclark@bangordailynews.net or 990-8045.