FARMINGTON – The 18 Mt. Blue High School home varsity and junior varsity basketball games will be held in the district, the RSU 9 board voted unanimously Tuesday.

The decision ended weeks of controversy over where the teams would play. It was followed by loud cheering and applause from a meeting room crowded with more than 75 athletes, parents, community members and coaches.

The games will primarily be played in the Mt. Blue Middle School gym but the final decisions on the venue for each game rests with the administration. The other option will be Academy Hill School in Wilton.

The administration, including Superintendent Michael Cormier and Athletic Director Todd Demmons, had recommended the board accept the offer from RSU 73 in Livermore Falls to use the gym at Spruce Mountain High School. The games could not be played at Mt. Blue after the roof trusses in the new gym collapsed during construction earlier this fall, an accident that has delayed that phase of the project.

The Academy Hill School had been the primary focus of countless volunteer hours donated by parents, students and coaches who had lined up parking locales, contractors who volunteered to remove or replace the existing bleachers that have been condemned, and had talked to the Wilton business community to garner support.

The administration’s main concerns over the Academy Hill School gym were lack of adequate parking and seating capacity, and the court not being large enough.

A well-attended Mt. Blue varsity home game last year attracted more than 500 fans to some games, attendance that exceeds the capacity of any school except Spruce Mountain, Demmons said.

“I am so excited. This is our community and what we achieved here — I can’t begin to describe what it means,” said senior varsity player Corinne Dingley after the vote.

Dingley was among several speakers who addressed the board, urging them to allow the teams to stay in the district for their games.

She said a petition was signed Tuesday by 325 students who opposed having home games at Spruce Mountain, a school in another town and in another county that has a gym decorated in green and yellow, not the blue and gold colors of Mt. Blue.

School board director Robert Flick of Farmington, after hearing the comments from the audience, was applauded when he said: “We should follow the needs of the students. We are here to serve.”

Director Helen Wilkey of Vienna who made the motion to keep the games in the district said the community would make it happen.

Another student-athlete, senior Cameron Sennick, told the board how much it means to the teams to have a community behind them, and that moving the games to Livermore Falls would cut attendance and diminish an already-dampened school spirit as students try to adjust to the construction and disruption.

He said the teams are ready to work out any arrangement that is needed so they can stay in the district.

“We are here to make anything work,” he told the board. “Having a home gym creates an energizing atmosphere.”

With Mt. Blue in its second year of a two-year expansion and renovation, he said everyone knew the upheaval would require sacrifices.

“We didn’t realize how bad it would be. But every obstacle placed in front of us, we came up with a solution because we wanted a senior year to remember,” he said.

For weeks, parents, community members and students have been focused on addressing the administration’s concerns over size of the available courts, safety of the players, location of the school that would encourage attendance, seating capacity, parking, and space for concessions.

“The most important thing said tonight was about honoring the students in terms of support school spirit. That is really crucial,” said Director Iris Silverstein from Farmington before the board vote.

Parent Beth Evans, who also addressed the board, said after the vote that the students had been galvanized by the controversy.

“They saw a need and went for it. They sought support and they found it. Our work is just beginning to make this a success, but the kids have become so involved and have increased their community spirit. There is a real groundswell of support,” she said.