High school sports coverage is proudly supported by Maine State Credit Union. 

GARDINER — This is a sports town, one obsessed with its Tigers. Yet what’s going on now has little historical precedent.

For all of the athletic success Gardiner has had, here hasn’t been much hardware in basketball. In more than 100 years of boys basketball and 50 of girls hoops, the school had just one regional title in each entering the 2025-26 season.

“I think we’re most known for our football back in the day, but I’ve always loved basketball, so it’s great that we’re good in that now, too,” said senior Brady Peacock. “We’ve worked really hard, so it feels good for us to be where we are.”

Where the Tigers are is on the verge of a Gold Ball after years of being miles from playing late-February hoops. Gardiner (18-3) will take on Yarmouth in the Class B state championship game Friday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Entering the season, Gardiner hadn’t won a regional quarterfinal game since it claimed the Class B East crown in 2012. The Tigers put together a few competitive teams between 2012-17 but couldn’t get over the hump at the Augusta Civic Center. Then, from 2017-25, they had eight straight losing seasons.

Aaron Toman has been Gardiner’s coach since 2018. Toman, who played on that 2012 team, hasn’t shied away from referring to some of the seasons before and after the turn of the decade as “lean years.” Yet through it all, he insisted something was building.

“It’s just been a day-to-day thing of us trying to improve each and every day,” Toman said. “It seems like it’s been so long, but it’s gone by so fast at the same time. Our group has just put in so much time and effort to get better, and that’s really where it starts.”

Along the way, Toman saw building blocks. The 2023-24 season ended with Gardiner demolishing rival Cony 57-35 on the road. Last season, the Tigers made their first appearance in a non-open tourney since 2017, going 9-10 with a Class A North quarterfinal loss to Hampden Academy.

Finally, entering 2025-26, the stage was set for Gardiner to chase something more. The Tigers were runners-up in a competitive summer league at Cony that included the host Rams, Camden Hills, Maranacook, Brunswick, Valley, Hall-Dale and Mt. Blue.

Seven months later, they’re B North champs.

“Our kids saw growth here and there, and they were able to find success the way we define success, and celebrate all the little victories we got,” Toman said. “They were able to believe in themselves when not many other people were able to believe in them.”

Although the Tigers have been toward the top of B North all season, they have been at their best in Bangor. Gardiner dominated Erskine Academy in the quarterfinals, controlled a strong Hermon team in the semis and led from midway through the first quarter on to beat Cony in the regional title game.

“We’ve really just focused on being ourselves and playing our style: moving the ball on offense, rebounding, playing defense and really just being everywhere,” said senior Brayden Elliott. “That’s our style, and that’s what we’re able to do.”

Elliott is part of a Gardiner group that’s experienced the full spectrum. He and fellow senior starters Peacock, Brady Atwater and Nick McKay were part of squads that went 7-29 over their freshman and sophomore seasons, which has made Gardiner’s run to a state title game all the more special.

“Going back to where we were freshman year, and seeing how far we’ve come now, it feels amazing,” Atwater said. “We had a really big jump from sophomore to junior year, going from only having four wins all season to making the playoffs. This year, we built on that.”

All that’s left now for Gardiner is Yarmouth, which has won 13 of 14 games since starting the season 4-3. Like the Tigers in the North, the Clippers reached the state championship stage by beating the No. 1 (York) and No. 2 (Medomak Valley) teams in the South tourney.

It’s a full-circle moment for Toman. It was Yarmouth that denied his Gardiner team the state title in 2012, defeating the Tigers 65-53 in the Class B final at the old Bangor Auditorium. Now, in a new building in the Queen City, Toman’s players want to make amends.

“Coach Toman got there, and now he’s our coach after he was there as a player,” Elliott said. “Playing the same team that he did, it’s kind of a revenge game for us.”