Has a new era begun in Western Class D? Is the Valley of Bingham dynasty, which dates back to the late 1990s, yesterday’s news? If so, who will follow in the Cavaliers’ giant footsteps?
We’ll start to get the answers to those questions Saturday with the tipoff of the quarterfinals. Two games will be played Saturday, with the others moved to Monday to accommodate Pine Tree Academy’s observance of the Sabbath.
The seedings indicate a new king may be crowned in the regional. Valley, winners of seven consecutive Western D titles, is seeded third. Pine Tree Academy earned the top seed by virtue of a 16-2 record. Despite posting the same record, North Yarmouth Academy claimed the No. 2 spot by less than seven-tenths of a point. No. 4 Hyde, Valley’s most dangerous challenger in the early and late stages of its remarkable run, cannot be dismissed.
It all adds up to what should be the most competitive regional among the small schools in years.
Favorites
Pine Tree’s No. 1 ranking is no fluke. The Freeport school beat Hyde, Richmond, Buckfield, Gould and Greater Portland Christian during the regular season and boasts perhaps the best player in the tournament in senior Jerod Verrill. NYA’s Tim DeLuca can stake the same claim, and the Panthers should have plenty of confidence coming off a regular season in which they finally knocked off Valley after a couple of frustrating close calls.
Dark horses
Valley falls from favorite to darkhorse only because its three losses were more than it had collected in the first four years of the millennium combined. The Cavaliers still consider the Augusta Civic Center their home away from home and may have one more dominant tournament run left in them. Hyde, the last school to beat Valley in the regional, boasts a track record at the ACC that is second only to the Cavaliers and is led by one of the underrated players in Class D, junior Tom Bragg.
Players to watch: Pine Tree: Verrill (Sr. forward), Ben Goodall (Soph. guard); NYA: Tim DeLuca (Sr. guard/forward), Brian Chin (Jr. forward); Valley: Travis Hovey (Jr. center), Mark Hyland (Sr. forward); Hyde: Tom Bragg (Jr. guard); Richmond: Glendon Kendrick (Soph. forward), Stephen Webb (Sr. forward); Buckfield: Jamie Henderson (Soph. guard/forward), Danny Hayes (Soph. center); Greater Portland Christian: Andy Foss (Sr. forward), Jeff Sparks (Sr. center); Gould: Karl Olson (Sr. guard), T.J. Savage (Jr. forward).
Best quarterfinal: North Yarmouth vs. Greater Portland Christian. If nothing else, this promises to be a high-scoring affair. NYA won the only regular season meeting, 87-76, thanks to 45 points from DeLuca, just two points less than Sparks (27) and Foss (20) tallied together.
Overview: Even if Valley’s dominance finally ends, chances are this regional will be remembered just as much for remarkable individual performances. Verrill and DeLuca are two of the state’s most explosive scorers. Chin is bound to impress with his leaping and shot-blocking ability. Hovey is a terror in the low post. Bragg, the son of coach Tom Bragg, plays with the headiness of a coach’s son. Sophomores Henderson and Kendrick may use this weekend as their own personal coming-out parties. Hopefully, with this weekend serving as a showcase, some of the talent in Western D will finally start to receive some long-overdue recognition.
At the very least, this will be the first regional in some time where the outcome is not a foregone conclusion. Four teams have a legitimate shot. The Western Maine championship still goes through Valley, certainly, but NYA finally has the horses, the experience, and the knowledge that it can knock off the defending champs when it counts the most. They’ll knock off the Cavs in the semifinals and drop Hyde in the finals.
Prediction: NYA
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