By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – This year’s format change hasn’t done anything to alter the recent custom of favored teams dominating the quarterfinal round in Augusta.

No. 5 Hyde School’s defeat of No. 4 Greater Portland Christian in the first Western Class D girls’ game Tuesday morning represented the first instance of the lower-seeding team winning at the civic center, and it came in the 19th game of the tournament.

With four Western C girls’ quarterfinals remaining to be played, Hyde was one of only two teams outside the top four regional seeds clinching a semifinal berth. Messalonskee, ranked fifth in the Eastern Class A boys’ draw, was the other. The Eagles needed only to defeat No. 12 Oxford Hills and No. 13 Cony to get there after Cony stunned fourth-ranked Edward Little in a prelim.

While conventional wisdom has prevailed, it doesn’t mean there haven’t been any exciting moments. Top-seeded and heavily favored Cony survived an overtime scare from No. 9 Nokomis in the Eastern A girls’ quarterfinal Friday.

Also, Saturday’s Eastern Class A boys’ quadruple-header was the most exciting session in recent memory. Gardiner and Hampden needed overtime to dismiss Mt. Blue and Bangor, respectively, in the afternoon. Messalonskee trailed late in the first evening game before escaping Cony with a four-point win, and Brunswick needed a late run to put away a Morse team that beat the top-seeded Dragons by 16 points in the final game of the regular season.

College can wait

The Western Class C boys’ tournament lost arguably its leading individual talent when Sean Caddigan and No. 5 Telstar were eliminated by North Yarmouth Academy in Monday’s quarterfinals.

Caddigan broke Kinsey Durgin’s two-year-old Telstar career scoring record early in his senior season and put it far enough out of reach to ensure that it should stand for a while. The slender guard with the feathery shooting touch probably could have averaged in the mid-30s this season if unselfishness wasn’t such an integral component of his game.

He scored 22 points in his final stand in a Rebels’ uniform.

The next stop for Caddigan will be prep school, most likely Bridgton or Brewster Academy, before evaluating his college choices next spring.

“I want to go somewhere I can continue growing as a basketball player,” said Caddigan, who is the cousin of T.J. Caouette, the former Winthrop great and four-year contributor at Villanova.

Twice as nice

Dirigo’s Gavin Kane is not the only head coach performing double duty in Augusta this week. Tom Bragg, the longtime boys’ coach at Hyde, added the girls’ program to his plate this season and has guided both teams to the Western Class D semifinals.

Hyde will face Valley in both the boys and girls semis. The Phoenix upset the Cavaliers in last year’s regional final. That rematch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The boys’ showdown is scheduled for the same time today.

Bragg and the Hyde boys won four Western titles from 1993 to 1997. That ’97 triumph represents the last time that a team other than Valley won the Western D crown. Valley coach Dwight Littlefield and the boys from Bingham maintain a 25-game winning streak in regional tournament play, including eight consecutive championships and a quarterfinal rout of North Haven.

Finishing touches

Fans hoping to catch both halves of the Eastern Class A championship doubleheader Friday might have to leave work early and will have to pay twice.

In order to ensure enough seating at both games (considering the strong possibility that hometown favorite Cony will be in the girls’ final), the Maine Principals’ Association will present the games in separate sessions with separate admissions. The girls’ final is set for 4 p.m., with the boys at 7 p.m.

There are no Western A or B games in Portland that day, fueling anticipation of a huge crowd for the relocated Eastern A finals.

TV time

Maine Public Broadcasting Network picks up the Eastern A and Western C and D semifinals starting today, continuing its tradition of covering events at the Augusta Civic Center since the early 1990s.

Coverage is available on Channel 10 in Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford and Cumberland counties. Subscribers to Adelphia digital cable will have the opportunity to choose tournament telecasts from Augusta or Bangor, with Eastern B-C-D games on Channel 180 and Eastern A/Western C-D contests on 181.

Western B fans won’t have a chance to catch their teams on the tube until the state finals.

For a full schedule, viewers are advised to check out the Web at www.mpbn.net/basketball.