Windjamming
A buzzer-beater on day 1!
The early season chatter on the new-look A North is that Camden Hills and Edward Little were two of the top three teams in the region, featuring two of the top players in the state.
So expectations were high for an Opening Night tilt in Auburn and it didn't disappoint.
Camden opened a lead that stretched to double digits in the third quarter...and then Akol Maiwen got going. The senior hit 3 straight from deep to cut the lead to 2. Maiwen and Nolan Ames proceeded to trade punches.
Let's go to the end. Tie game. Edward Little ball.
That's Nolan Ames to Hollis Schwalm for the layup with 1.2 seconds left and a 61-59 Opening Night win.
Drew Bonifant was there for Varsity Maine.
Drew BonifantStaff Writer
Up in Howland, Calais got a steal in the backcourt, but their desperation heave at the buzzer was no good. Penobscot Valley escaped with a 52-51 win.
I signed up for NFHS so you don't have to. But if you have to, follow this affiliate link.
Other games were...less close.
Elsewhere
Emma Witas scored 17 as Dirigo held Mountain Valley to 8 points in the first 3 quarters...Paloma Schair-Cardona had 19 in Waynflete's win over Pine Tree...Madison Bennett's 21 led Mount View past Waterville...Abi Livingston's 15 wasn't enough for Greely to pull off a comeback against Brunswick...Stuart Knowlton and Wyatt Bennett had 15 each in Mount View's win over Waterville...Logan Grey had 14 as Brunswick blew out Greely...Jesse Booker had 21 & 14 in Bangor Christian's win over Stearns.
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So this is an interesting news item.
Three Aroostook County school are toying with the idea of consolidation--and it's three pretty important ones: Caribou, Presque Isle, and Fort Kent. Yikes.
Cameron Levasseur
Combining the three schools would make the 6th largest school in the state, at least by the current MPA numbers. I'm sure consolidating has a number of benefits in terms of resources and all that other school stuff that isn't basketball, but it'd be a shame to take the Caribou/PI rivalry off the board and scheduling for sports would kind of be a disaster. They have trouble scheduling now. I'm not sure Old Town and Foxcroft Academy are going to be interested in playing this new school.
So let's say you play 2 each against Bangor, Brewer, and Hampden (almost 3 hours each way). Then what? Is Houlton going to play them? Messo is almost 4 hours. Lewiston and Edward Little are 4 1/2 hours each way. Oxford Hills is 5 1/2.
Who are they playing on a weeknight? And who would want to go there when they don't have to? Seems like that could be an issue. What's a reverse co-op?
But it's far from a done deal.
From a post on MSAD #11's Facebook page:
Filling out this application does not require us to commit to anything in the long term and each district reserves the right to back out at any point in the application process. It simply allows us to continue the conversation about the possibility of a shared regional high school and CTE center. The second part of the application is not due until October 31, 2026. The second part of the application is where a lot of the details regarding a plan for a new school would be determined.
I'm still working on getting the girls schedules up and running (the schedules are particularly bad this year), but it's a fantastic slate, led off by South Portland @ Cheverus in the loaded A South.
The boys game (also at Cheverus) also looks promising.
The Model's picks for today's (boys) games are after the jump.