Even as Fryeburg Academy’s own Western Class B football conference continued bearing the fruit of expansion, it was easy to wonder if the horrific fire that leveled Gibson Gymnasium and destroyed all the football equipment in the border town last fall might spell the end of the Raiders’ football program.

The blaze further demoralized a team already in the quagmire of an 0-6 start. Fryeburg patched together its next practice in shirt sleeves with an overly inflated football salvaged from the trunk of a player’s vehicle. Three days later came a 56-0 Homecoming loss to Mountain Valley that played out to funereal atmosphere under appropriately dreary, wet conditions.

“Our kids, after the week of that fire, responded well to adversity,” said Fryeburg coach Jim “Fuzzy” Thurston.

Yeah, you might say that. All the Raiders did while wearing Lake Region’s JV uniforms and a mishmash of loaner helmets was beat Gray-New Gloucester and (you guessed it) Lake Region to end the season.

Suddenly a program that hasn’t had much to crow about since the 1960s went into an off-season with momentum. The Raiders hope their rededication to the sport pays dividends Saturday when they christen the 2006 campaign at home against Cape Elizabeth.

With a win, Fryeburg would establish itself as a leading candidate for the fourth playoff spot in the wide-open second division of a Campbell Conference that includes traditional powers Mountain Valley, York and Wells.

None of which is a bad or unrealistic goal for a team whose real resurgence might be an autumn away.

“I think we have 39 kids on the team. Only four of them are seniors,” said Thurston. “Two of those four didn’t play last year, and for one of them this is his first year of football.”

Four of Fryeburg’s top five skill position players are underclassmen, including sophomore quarterback Preston Jones and junior tailback Sequoyah Reynoso. The explosive Reynoso was a Class B state champion and finished 17th in New England during the spring track season.

“After the top three or four teams, the rest of us are fighting for the scraps,” Thurston said.

Less than a year after the Raiders couldn’t say they owned as much as a dry-erase board, that they are fighting for anything and eager to continue a modest winning streak speaks volumes.

He warned them

Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert grimaced a little bit when the newspaper story hailing his hiring quoted him as saying that players who didn’t push themselves to stay in shape in the offseason might end up “puking in the woods” on the first Monday of practice.

So, how did those individual conditioning programs pan out?

“At one point, I looked up and saw guys hunched over and eight or nine rear ends looking back at me,” Gilbert. “They thought I was bluffing.”

The Cougars might start their second season of independent varsity football against Madison in better shape than they were a year ago. More importantly for the long-term health of its revived program, Dirigo’s feeder system appears to be fitter than most rival teams in Western Class C.

Madison played much of the 2005 season with 16 athletes. Even proven powers Lisbon, Jay, Livermore Falls and Winthrop typically struggle to keep 40 kids in uniform from two-a-days to Halloween.

Gilbert welcomed 54 players to camp and lost only three to opening-week attrition.

“I’ve got two full teams,” Gilbert said. “Twenty-five of my kids have pretty good previous football experience.”

Ten starters return to lead the offense, including at least six who will contribute defensively, as well. Dirigo’s depth is decent enough that Spencer Berry will move from quarterback to wingback to make room for junior signal-caller Dakota Holmquist.

Madison, Old Orchard Beach and Winthrop serve as litmus tests on the first half of the schedule. Dirigo lost those contests last fall on its way to s 2-7 mark. If sheer numbers and experience are any indication, though, the Cougars have the potential to turn those L’s to W’s and sneak away with a winning season.

Climbing Staires

Justin Staires emerged as a talent ahead of his years as a freshman last fall at Mountain Valley. He earned most of his accolades on defense, knocking down passes and charging up from the secondary to make big hits and snuff out would-be first downs.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone when the sophomore Staires starts stealing attention for his exploits with the football. His offensive potential is so inspiring that it almost makes Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward break into song.

“He’ll play a little tailback, a little wingback. He’ll be here a back, there a back, everywhere a back for us,” Aylward said.

Mountain Valley opens tonight against Wells, one of the two regular-season Western B opponents potentially capable of knocking off the Falcons. Staires and Devin Roberts are needed to emerge and replace the yardage left behind by conference all-stars Aaron Arsenault and Travis Fergola the last two seasons.