By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer
D.J. Gerrish and Andy Shorey hope to win a state title, as their dads did back in 1976.

RUMFORD – Some tight-knit community basketball programs are blessed to have one “Hoosiers” moment in their history.

By the time the horn heralds the end of Friday night’s Class B boys’ basketball championship game at Bangor Auditorium, Mountain Valley High School hopes to add another Team of the Century to a list that’s already too lengthy to enumerate on one hand.

The Shorey and Gerrish families would be indelibly linked, forever, through two of those titles.

Rugged junior Andy Shorey is a top-flight scorer and rebounder, while classmate D.J. Gerrish is a defensive pest and playmaker for Mountain Valley (21-0), which will meet Maranacook (20-1) for state supremacy at 9:05 p.m. Friday.

“I was too young to remember being there, but I’ve seen myself on the video, and I’ve watched Andy Bedard hold up the Gold Ball in 1994,” Shorey said. “I’ve always wanted to be part of a team and hold up one of our own. It’s never been so close.”

Of course, the history of basketball in this blue-collar community pre-dates Bedard and any preschool-aged fans who witnessed his historic performance that night.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Rumford High School team that edged Lawrence for the Class A championship before marching on to the now-defunct New England title, winning a tournament at the University of New Hampshire. Dave Gerrish and Andy Shorey Sr. shared the spotlight on that talent-laden team.

The elder Gerrish and Shorey did more than contribute two sons to a hoop-happy tradition. They jumped back in. Gerrish is Mountain Valley’s first-year head coach. Shorey is one of his four assistants.

“We’ve coached these kids off-and-on since third grade,” Dave Gerrish said. “But this season is something I’ll always remember, that’s for sure.”

FAMILIARITY BREEDS SUCCESS

Elementary school led to junior high, which led to AAU travel teams. And when veteran varsity coach Ryan Casey stepped down after last season to pursue professional opportunities, the two men most familiar with the current players were a natural choice.

Shorey the coach is primarily responsible for supervising Gerrish the player, and vice versa.

“It works out best that way,” Shorey Sr. said.

Basketball has become more of a year-round endeavor than perhaps any other sport.

When the seeds of this championship campaign were planted in summer basketball, the sons noticed there wasn’t any language barrier to overcome with the new brain trust.

“That helps a ton,” said Shorey Jr. “They know us. We know them. They expect a lot out of us, and we like that. We trust them as coaches. I mean, we’re 21-0. We’ll keep trusting them.”

Undefeated seasons are nothing new to the preceding generation.

Rumford took turns with Cony of Augusta, Westbrook and South Portland as the state capital of Maine basketball in the 1970s. If not for an upset loss to Deering in the 1975 regional semifinals, RHS might have won four consecutive state crowns from ’74 to ’77.

But the 1976 squad, led by coach John Shaw and New England Basketball Hall of Famer Doug Roberts in the frontcourt, stands above them all in the minds of most fans in the 40-and-older demographic.

“Of course he talks about it all the time,” the younger Shorey said of his dad. “I’ve watched all the movies.”

You won’t catch the older generation squawking about who might win a mythical game between the two teams. The elder Shorey admitted that he has basically retired from one-on-one games against the kid known around his house as “Little Andy,” all 6-foot-3, 225 pounds of him.

A DIFFERENT GAME

Those numbers neatly summarize the difference between then and now.

“Our big guy was Doug Roberts at 6-5, 195, and he was way bigger than anybody we played against,” coach Shorey said. “Now everybody has kids that size, or bigger.”

Boys’ hoop in Rumford and Mexico maintained a high profile throughout that evolution of the game.

Two other legendary teams stand out in area lore. The two school systems merged prior to the 1989-90 season, becoming Mountain Valley and producing a team with eight returning starters that ran roughshod over Class B. The Falcons, led by Matt Gaudet and Todd Wheeler, routed Rockland in the final, 46-32.

Four years later, in perhaps the greatest individual performance in the history of the hallowed Auditorium, Bedard lit up a snowy night in Bangor with an all-class state finals record of 53 points in an 84-71 clobbering of Camden-Rockport.

Shorey Sr. enjoyed the view from the Mountain Valley bench that night as an assistant to then-head coach and 1976 teammate Matt Kaubris. His role as parent is far more stressful than any experiences as a coach or player.

“I’ll be more nervous Friday night than I was 30 years ago,” admitted Shorey.

Family ties and bragging rights run more deeply than any friendly rivalries between fathers and sons. Dave Gerrish pointed out that D.J.’s older sister, Jill, celebrated the most recent state championship in either family. She was part of Dirigo High School’s 11-year domination of Western Class C girls’ basketball.

“Now he wants his state championship,” Dave Gerrish said.

If the players feel any pressure to live up to the excellence of fathers, siblings or other ghosts of championships past, they aren’t showing it.

Practice adjourned early Wednesday evening and gave way to competitions in horse and finding out who could be first to sink a backwards shot from half court.

“They’ll stay until we make them go home,” Shorey Sr. said.

Sounds like the Spirit of ’76 all over again.