By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

WINTHROP – The Valley High juggernaut commanded statewide respect for Class D boys’ basketball. Still, there’s a tendency to scoff at Nate Damm’s night-in, night-out explosions at Eastgate Christian Academy last winter.

You hear that Damm scored 38 points against Forest Hills. Then you look at the floor at his diminutive former home gymnasium in New Gloucester, where the 3-point arcs aren’t far from half-court, and you snicker. But Winthrop coach Dennis Dacus won’t hear it.

“They say Nate averaged 25 points per game. I don’t care if it’s (Class) D, C, Z or Double-Z,” Dacus said. “If you’re averaging 25, you’re a player.”

Less than a year after Eastgate folded its high school curriculum and its only varsity sport, Damm hasn’t disappeared. The 6-foot-1 junior is a sixth man and lights-out perimeter pest for first-year coach Dacus and the Ramblers.

Joined in Winthrop by his freshman brother, Ezra, Nate Damm topped the team with 13 points in a Jan. 20 triumph over Telstar. He backed that up last Saturday with 17 in a loss at Boothbay.

“I’m happy with my role,” Nate said. “The level of competition is a lot higher. Class C teams are deeper.”

Love of the game

But not many Class C communities are as hoop-ravenous.

When you’re the best player on a Winthrop team that wins a state championship, you’re immortal. The game-worn jerseys of Denis Clark, Jeff Love and T.J. Caouette are preserved in perpetuity above the expansive trophy case in front of the gym at the new high school.

They’re surrounded by literally hundreds of plaques and trophies, celebrating titles in football, field hockey, golf, track and field and more. The school constructed three lockboxes, each mounted just beneath the ceiling, in order to exhibit commemorative basketballs from every championship team.

Hanging elsewhere are dog-eared photos, including one of a girls’ club basketball team from the 1930s, players outfitted in skirts and tights.

“It’s a whole life adjustment for Nate,” Dacus said. “The size of the floor, the crowd, the lights, the bigger school, everything. But he’s definitely come around. We would not be where we are without him.”

In the classroom, the switch from private to public school is going well. Dacus calls Nate a model student. Ezra likes his new environment, too.

“It’s not really harder or easier,” Ezra said. “There can be a lot more distractions in a public school.”

Old tradition, new look

Nate and Ezra considered the move even before Eastgate scaled back to a K-8 program. Their mother lives in Winthrop, and the boys followed the Ramblers’ resounding success in the Western tournament in Augusta for years.

Eastgate’s girls made it to the regionals for eight straight years, but the boys found tougher sledding. When Nate was a freshman, the Eagles made their second and final trip to the civic center.

“I didn’t really get on the floor,” he said. “That’s why I want to get back.”

His own late-season emergence has coincided with a rare losing streak for the Ramblers, who were 7-7 headed into Thursday night’s game at Lisbon.

It’s a wild year in the MVC and Western Class C. The Ramblers could finish as high as fourth and earn a preliminary round bye, or finish low enough to hit the road for a play-in game.

“We have four games left that I think we can win,” Nate said.

Winthrop benefited from three transfer students this season. Tyler Smithgall, a 6-3 forward, migrated from Washington state.

Dacus, who was a referee for 14 years, liked that start to his varsity coaching career.

“I’d never heard of Eastgate Christian,” Dacus said. “For some reason, I stereotyped all Christian schools as being from the Bangor area. But when you’re starting out with a strong program and then you hear you have two kids coming in from Eastgate Christian and one from Seattle, you think to yourself, That’s a pretty good gig.’

“Nate and Ezra have a real bright future at Winthrop.”