Fontaine Stole the Ball!

First: a correction.

In yesterday's newsletter, I wrote that Nolan Ames had broken Camden's all-time scoring record. That was only partially true. He broke the boys record. Still left to chase is the overall record, held by Jordan Jones (Knowlton). She scored 1,532. I regret the error. But also, if podcast ombudsman Jon Duke had posted the graphic before I published the newsletter, this never would have happened.

In the Game of the Day--a rematch of a December triple overtime thriller--Hermon beat MDI in regulation to move into first place in B North.

They probably won't stay there long. Heal Points!

Let's go to Farmingdale, where Maranacook and Hall-Dale played a big Heal Point game in C South. This was a game of mini runs. Maranacook would build a small lead and Hall-Dale would answer. Then Hall-Dale flipped the script in the 4th quarter, going on an 8-0 run to take the lead. But Maranacook answered with an 11-4 run.

Cut to: 12 seconds left. Gage Mattson gets fouled up 1 and makes 1 of 2 free throws, leaving Hall-Dale one last chance:

That's Jack Fontaine with the steal and layup to seal the W.

Fontaine finished with 17. Freshman Gage Mattson exploded for 27.

The win keeps Maranacook's dream of a 1 seed ever slightly alive, but it primarily cleans up the back-end scenarios. We know the Top 3. We just don't know the order. What it really did was turn the 1 seed into essentially a coin flip between Spruce and Hall-Dale, with the Maranacook option where the coin comes to rest on its side.

With the caveat that coming out of the 4/5 game could be Mount View and there's a bunch of C North teams that have horror stories about Tourney Week Mount View, you really want to grab that 1 seed so the other 2 of this trio will beat up on each other in a semi-final.

Mike Mandell was there.

Maranacook boys basketball edges Hall-Dale in back-and-forth C South battle

Jack Fontaine’s steal and layup in the final seconds seals another thrilling win for the Black Bears.

Centralmaine.comMike MandellStaff Writer

I've been doing Tourney Odds for a long time and the number of times a team has rallied when under 10% to make the tourney I can count on one hand. I call it "pulling a Brewer".

Well the Morse girls might be pulling a Brewer.

I'm not even sure what their Tourney Odds were at three days ago, but they've beaten a 9 win Winslow team on back to back days to revive their playoff chances. They were at 12% yesterday and are at 47% today and a number of B South teams are freaking out.

Elsewhere

Cyran Cairleglio exploded for 25 points and 25 boards, but it wasn't enough for Hodgdon. They were upset by Central Aroostook, who got 21 from Kellen McCrum. Cairleglio is 8 from 1K...Freshman Emma Michaud had 16 points as Brunswick gave 13-1 Edward Little their second loss of the year...Jack Flaherty scored 15 as Winslow held off Morse...Owen Kelvey (14) led a balanced Spruce Mountain attack over Lisbon...Kirsten Bigelow's 16 led Valley's win over OOB...Chloee Bennett had 15 and Buckfield posted a 22-0 first quarter over Pine Tree...Jacob Linkletter's 17 led Madison over Winthrop...Monmouth's Levi Laverdiere dropped 22 on Mountain Valley...Braden New went off for 30 in Oak Hill's win over Dirigo...Lily Bell had 15 in Caribou's win over Houlton...Ethan Walsh had 18 in Fort Fairfield's win over Washburn...Presque Isle's Kason Bua dropped 26 on Fort Kent...Lilly Burtt had 24 in Central Aroostook's win over Hodgdon...

In a passing of the Mikes, Mike Burnham announced his retirement as Executive Director of the MPA. Mike Bisson will be elevated to the position for the 2026-27 school year.

During Burnham’s time as assistant executive director and executive director, the MPA ushered in the inclusion of Unified sports, eight-player football and soccer and girls hockey. Unified sports are designed for the benefit of students with intellectual disabilities who compete with student partners, promoting inclusion in a school activity.

Under Burnham's leadership, the MPA has also navigated several thorny issues more deftly than you might expect. And we'll leave it at that.

In the early days of this spreadsheet that hates your team, my interactions with the MPA were...not great. For a number of reasons, that changed when Mike Burnham took over and both he and Mike Bisson have been great to communicate with and, in the upset of the decade, work with. I've always enjoyed talking to Burnham at games and I hope his future travel plans don't happen during Tourney Week.

But...why would you ever leave Maine during Tourney Week?

Mike Burnham, Maine Principals’ Association executive director, to retire

Burnham, who has headed the group that oversees interscholastic athletics for seven years, will be succeeded by his assistant, Mike Bisson.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

I'm guessing they're going to be changing the Football HOF voting procedure soon.

We're back in A North girls. After Mt. Ararat took care of Camden the other day, let's get an updated look at where the top 4 seeds stand in the Tourney Odds.

Mt. Ararat now has a pretty good handle on the 1 seed, especially with Edward Little losing to Brunswick last night. Hampden's distribution is pretty even across the top 4 seeds, which is unusual this late in the season.

I covered this a little last time, but Mt. Ararat's dominance is impressive. Top 10 in the state in scoring offense, scoring defense, point differential, and %Perfect. If we take an early look at the Media Guide (coming soon and I haven't updated the "Last Gold Ball" part yet), they're just obliterating everyone.

The quibble is the Strength of Schedule, but they're also the second best team in the state against teams in the Top 25, so I think I'm done worrying about that.

As for Hampden, they're not so bad either. A point differential of +18.67 per game in Class A is pretty awesome. They've also done well against the good teams on their schedule, but have struggled against Camden and Edward Little. They do, however, have 8 games against the top 25 (they're 5-3 in those games).

I think the edge here has to go to Mt. Ararat, especially at home.

The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.