AUGUSTA — As a young boy, Josh Turbide watched history being made.

Between his sister and two cousins, their Dirigo girls’ basketball team won more games than a young kid could imagine and brought home enough sparkling hardware to make any promising basketball player dream big.

“He was here watching us,” said Nicole Turbide who was a  guard for the Cougars from 2000-03. “He kept saying to me, ‘I’ll be there. We’ll be there someday.’ Who would have thought they’d be there four years in a row.”

Josh Turbide won his first Gold Ball Saturday night. He’s been part of a Dirigo boys’ basketball team that has reached the state game three previous years and lost all three. But the Cougar senior knew this could be the year.

“Watching them with all the success they had, I told myself at a young age, ‘I want to do that someday,'” Josh Turbide said. “My senior year came around and I said, ‘This is the year, and we accomplished it.”

Turbide finally got to share the ultimate thrill he watched others achieve. Winning a regional title and a state championship was a regular occurrence for Nicole Turbide and her cousins, Sheena and Brooke Weston. Those three each won three state titles while the Cougars won a record 11 straight regional championships.

“We told Josh that we won three and lost one, so you can lose three and win one,'” said Brooke Weston, who played for the Dirigo girls from 2002-05. “So he’s got to get one for the guys in our family.”

Brooke and Sheena’s mother, Joanne, won two state titles in the late ’70s and her sister won one. That gives the family’s females  seven state championships.

Rather than tease poor Josh about those numbers, his sister and cousins wanted to include him in that experience. That’s what had them all cheering so hard Saturday night.

“I’m so much more nervous watching him play,” Nicole Turbide said. “I want him to have the same feeling. The feeling you have going out there is incredible. I wanted him to have that experience. He’s been there for Western Maine, but to bring home the Gold Ball, there’s no other feeling. It’s an experience that sets you apart from a lot of people.”

The back-and-forth game with Lee Academy frayed a few nerves but likely raised a few goosebumps, for players and family.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Josh Turbide said. “It’s unexplainable. I love these guys. They’re my family. We just go out there together and have a blast.”

Among the fan faithful in the Dirigo crowd at the Augusta Civic Center was a familiar sight. Like the Turbide and Weston families that were cheering loudly a decade ago, they’ve returned to root on the next generation. They had their cameras and a sign proclaiming the ACC “Our House.” It was like old times but updated.

“We have my sister, my cousins, and the whole family has their Turbide shirts,” said Sheena Weston, who was a Cougar from 2000 to 2003. “That support hasn’t changed since we graduated, which is amazing.”

And that wasn’t lost on Josh Turbide through the past state game defeats and Saturday’s victory.

“I can always count on my whole family being here,” he said. “They went through the same thing. They know the pressure and the hype. I know they’re always by my side and will support me, no matter what happens.”

The family ties in Saturday’s game were much bigger than just the Turbide and Weston families. In a small community like Dixfield, many of the players feel like family.

“I think I baby-sat seven of those kids growing up,” Brooke Weston said of the Dirigo boys’ basketball team. “So I still kind of feel like a parent. We’re such a small community, together, so they all feel like my little cousins.”

As much as things change, they stay the same, as far as the Dirigo fan faithful. There are Facebook pages full of well-wishers, born from an excitement about Dirigo basketball that goes back decades. It includes new players that have done it themselves and know how wonderful it is. Now they want the same for those whom have followed.

“It’s almost more emotional now,” said Sheena Weston, whose father Reggie is the Dirigo girls’ coach. “When you play, you have to be poised and keep that calm. Now that Josh is playing, I can yell at the refs. I can hoot and holler. It’s different from that aspect. You don’t have that calm. You go with the crowd. As a player, you’d tune that out. Now you get to experience all of that.”

While the winning tradition has become a staple for Dirigo basketball, so is the following that celebrates every high and offers encouragement after every low.

Win or lose, the girls always felt that the community had their backs. It wasn’t very often that those Cougars lost. Still, it was comforting to know and empowering to feel that support.

This boys’ team has had that support, as well. The community has cheered on every run to a previous state game. They’ve embraced with pride a team that fell short in the past three attempts.

“Our community is incredible,” Nicole Turbide said. “You can’t ask for a better group of people. We come from a small town. We all know each other and everybody is so supportive. They want to see these boys, and wanted to see us, succeed. That’s an amazing feeling.”

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