As the George Stevens Academy boys basketball team was surging toward the 2003 Maine Class C championship last winter, junior varsity coach Dwayne Carter occasionally would break out a symbol of the school’s last state crown – the championship jacket he earned as a member of the 1979 GSA team.

That jacket, and Carter’s presence, were direct links between the Eagles’ basketball past and present.

This winter, he’ll lead the program into the future.

Carter, 41, has been named the Blue Hill school’s new varsity coach, replacing Matt Mattson, who stepped down after five seasons to take a coaching position at Life Christian Academy in Trenton. Mattson guided the Eagles to a 68-22 regular-season record during his tenure, capped by last winter’s state championship run.

“I’ve been with the program for a long time, and this was the right time for me to do this,” said Carter, a Blue Hill native who lives in Orland.

Carter has been somewhat synonymous with George Stevens Academy basketball. A 1980 graduate of the school, he served as girls’ junior varsity coach under Larry Gray for 13 years, helping that team win the Eastern B championship in 1999 and the Eastern C title in 2000.

After taking a year off from coaching, he returned to the sidelines during the 2001-2002 season with the boys’ program.

“Dwayne has been with us for a long time, and he had the inside track all along,” said GSA athletic director Jim Murphy. “We were hoping he was interested in taking the job.”

Last year’s JV team finished 15-3, losing twice to Class B Mount Desert Island and a five-overtime game against Washington Academy.

That squad will make up the bulk of this season’s varsity, given that 10 seniors graduated from last year’s team.

“My expectations are high, but I think the community knows we lost pretty much everyone,” said Carter, who teaches physical education in Brooksville, Sedgwick and Surry, three schools that send students to George Stevens Academy. “There’s no one returning that’s really had any playing time at all.

“I know we’ll be a lot better at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year because we’re so young. Our learning curve should be great.”

Carter doesn’t expect to make significant changes in a program whose recent success is based primarily on halfcourt man-to-man defense and offensive patience.

“My biggest adjustment will be that I’m used to getting off the bus and having to coach immediately with the JVs, but now I’ll have time to sit around and think a lot more [before the varsity game],” he said. “I’ll have to focus differently, and there’s more responsibility.

“There’ll be a little more stress, but I see it as pretty much the same because I know the kids and I’ve coached them already with the JVs.”

Sparacio back on HA sideline

For John Sparacio, there’s nothing like being home, or back on the football field.

Sparacio, the Hampden Academy football coach, returned to the gridiron Monday for the first time since suffering cardiac arrhythmia during a practice session at the school Oct. 2.

With his heart racing at 240 beats per minute, Sparacio drove himself to the police station nearby and then was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he remained hospitalized for nearly a week before being released last Wednesday, one day after undergoing catherization surgery.

Sparacio remains under medication as he works to rebuild his heart’s blood-pumping ability, which was diminished in the aftermath of the arrhythmia episode.

“I’m glad to be back out there,” Sparacio said. “Every day since Wednesday has been a little better.”

Sparacio plans to be on the sidelines Friday when Hampden hosts Mount Desert Island in the Broncos’ Homecoming game. The game is truly a Homecoming, not only for Sparacio but also for the team, which last played on its new, artificial-surface field on Sept. 19.

“The kids are excited,” Sparacio said. “They were a little disturbed after what happened with me, and I think it affected them to a certain point.

“They’re also excited to be back on their home field, because this is the first time we’ve had a game there in a while.”

Hampden lost the two games Sparacio has missed – road contests against Oak Hill of Wales and Winslow – after a 3-0 start, but the Broncos still have some control over their postseason destiny. After facing MDI, Hampden concludes its regular season at 4-1 Brewer and home against 5-1 Belfast.

Hampden will need to win at least two of those three games in order to advance to the Eastern Maine Class B playoffs.

“With Homecoming this week we’re trying to keep the kids focused because there’s so much going on in addition to the game,” Sparacio said. “We’ve got to get ready for MDI and Brewer the next two weeks because this is our season. I told the kids, ‘this is it, period.'”

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net