The coming week features some long-awaited showdowns that could alter the layout in the respective tournament fields.

In Eastern A, Lewiston plays both Skowhegan and Mt. Ararat in a pair of key KVAC games. Lewiston hosts Skowhegan Saturday and plays at Mt. Ararat Tuesday.

“They realize that those are the teams,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood. “I think we can match up with Skowhegan, but we’ll never know until we get to that game day.”

Hood isn’t too focused on those matchups just yet. His Blue Devils are coming off their first loss Tuesday at Messalonskee and play Medomak Valley tonight. It will be the first time since December that Lewiston has had more than two games in one week. The Blue Devils have had just one week in January where they’ve played two games.

“I think the only factor is whether we’re in game shape to play three games and then have Skowhegan as that third game,” said Hood. “That’s a question that we can’t answer yet.”

While Skowhegan and Mt. Ararat will have a little more time to prepare, the Blue Devils will have just Friday to think about Skowhegan.

“It’s not conducive to us,” said Hood. “People say you’ve had the prep time, but you can also practice too much. (For those games) our prep time is limited. With me being a new coach to the league, that makes things a little different.

Skowhegan was ranked fourth in the latest Eastern A standings and only has a narrow last-second loss to Cony. Unbeaten Mt. Ararat was ranked second and has played well despite losing standout guard Erika Stupinski. The Eagles have ridden the stellar play of Erin Johnson to keep their record intact.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us,” said Hood, whose team hosts Cony the following week. “They’re supposedly better than us. So we want to go out and try to prove them wrong.”

Mt. Ararat and Cony square off Saturday in Augusta.

In Class B and C, the two top squads meet in the coming week. Dirigo and Hall-Dale are scheduled to finally play what was supposed to be their regular season opener. Two previous attempts to play the game were snowed out. Now the Cougars and Bulldogs enter Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. matchup with unbeaten records. Dirigo holds a narrow lead in the Heal Point standings.

The top seeding would be the 10th straight for the Cougars and 12th overall. That top spot is significant considering Dirigo has won seven state titles and 11 regional crowns when ranked No. 1. Hall-Dale hasn’t been a top seed since 1975.

In Class B, Greely and Gray-New Gloucester have their annual late season meeting. It was a year ago that the Patriots handed the Rangers their only regular-season defeat in overtime. Greely answered that with a win over G-NG in the regional final.

This year, both teams are expected to challenge each other for a Western B crown again. Greely already beat G-NG with a 46-29 win in December. G-NG was hampered by illness in that matchup, and Josalee Danieli was the only Patriot in double figures with 11 points.

“They’re a very strong team,” said G-NG guard Dawn Ross. “They have some good height. They’re very well-coached. We’ll have to do the same things we did (against Lake Region Tuesday), come out strong, have a good attitude and play really tough defense and our offense will come.”

Greely and G-NG are ranked first and second respectively in the latest Western B standings. With the exception of 2002 when it ranked first in its bracket, G-NG has never had the top seed.

Coming off a second win over the Lakers and a win over Gorham, the Patriots are getting some fine tuning down the stretch against the WMC’s best.

“We think of these games as just warm-ups for the tournament,” said Ross. “The tournament is going to be so wide open. We’re just working on the things we need to work on so we’re prepared and ready for the tournament.”