AUBURN — The Edward Little boys’ basketball team tried to conduct business as usual Friday afternoon.

Key word: Tried.

What the Red Eddies probably wanted to do was pull their hair out and then bang those heads against a wall.

Persuaded by the snowstorm and poor travel conditions, the Maine Principals’ Association postponed the Eastern Class A championship between EL and Bangor from 8:45 p.m. Friday to 7:45 p.m. Monday.

EL originally planned a low-key team shootaround at noon before the trip to Augusta Civic Center.

Coach Mike Adams received word of the postponement at 10:30 a.m. He then quickly notified the team with individual phone calls.

“I told them to get ready for a real practice,” Adams said. “We’ll come in (Saturday) and have another good practice, hopefully.”

Then comes a mandatory off day Sunday — the last day of February vacation — before everyone likely daydreams their way through school on Monday.

Even if he was admittedly stretching to put a positive spin on the circumstances, Adams noted that the change actually furnishes the Eddies with a degree of normalcy.

“In one way, it kind of gets us back into a normal schedule,” he said. “It’s what we’ve done all winter: Go to school, then play a game at night.”

Two extra practices will focus more on staying sharp than specifically preparing for Bangor.

Although the Eddies and Rams didn’t battle this season, they traditionally have faced each other two or three times in recent years, including the 2009 and 2010 regional semifinals.

“The thing with Bangor is that you’re not preparing for a million different defenses or a million different offenses,” Adams said. “They are what they are. They’re big and they’re physical. We could have a year to prepare for them and it wouldn’t change anything.”

EL and Bangor met in the Eastern Class A championship under similar, snowy circumstances in 2008.

That storm was a smaller one that didn’t start until late afternoon. The MPA made the decision to play the game as scheduled. Few Bangor fans made the trip, and EL’s crowd was cut at least in half.

“It was the senior year with Kyle Philbrook and those kids,” Adams said. “I felt bad for them. They spent all those years listening to me talk about how special it is to play in an Eastern Maine final. Then to have that happen, it wasn’t fair to the kids.”

The MPA elected to leave Saturday’s Class C and D championship schedule in place.

Class D games will begin at 1:05 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. Livermore Falls and Hall-Dale play the Western C girls’ final at 7:05 p.m., followed by Dirigo and Boothbay in the Class C boys.

“It seems like there was some time there,” Adams said. “It’s too bad they didn’t make it a true championship Saturday. All the people and teams are there, anyway.”

Vinalhaven’s participation in the Western D boys’ game may have been one factor working against that possibility. The Vikings travel from their island by ferry boat and have a limited window of time to get to and from the mainland.

Bangor’s traditional six-game championship Saturday was birthed many years ago when a midweek storm bunched up the tournament schedule and forced the MPA’s hand.

Friday’s weather cost Eastern Maine fans a chance to see that annual spectacle. There will be six games today at Bangor Auditorium, but the first two will be postponed Class C boys’ semifinals.

Class D and Class B championship doubleheaders will start at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, with the Class C finals beginning at 4 p.m. Monday.

Portland’s Western Class A girls’ semifinal games were postponed Friday. They now will be played Saturday evening, with the boys’ and girls’ finals pushed to Monday.

Leavitt and York will meet today in the Western B girls’ championship as scheduled. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Cumberland County Civic Center.

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