This is how Ryan Martin always hoped it would end. Wearing a nylon necklace he made himself when he helped cut down the net at the Bangor Auditorium. Waiting for another turn to cradle the Class B Gold Ball.
On Friday night, the Maranacook Community School boys basketball team won its second state championship in three years, beating Cape Elizabeth 56-46. The Black Bears' senior class, led by guards Martin, Mike Poulin and Will Bardaglio, capped their careers with an undefeated 22-0 season. During the last three years, that group led Maranacook to an incredible record of 59-4.
"They have two state championships in four years. There's very few classes that go through a high school in the state that can ever say that," said Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt, the man charged with guiding this talented group through its high school career. "It's just amazing."
When the Black Bears beat Mountain Valley 73-58 for the 2006 state title, they weren't unlikely state champions, but they weren't wire-to-wire favorites either. Maranacook was coming off a 10-9 season in which they lost in the preliminary round.
They were expected to contend in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, but a state title? That was perhaps a year away.
"I think our sophomore year it was all unexpected. We flew under the radar. I don't think anyone expected us to win a state championship that year," Martin said.
That Gold Ball moved Maranacook into the role of front-runner, and had illness not kept Bardaglio from playing in the regional quarterfinals last season, where the Black Bears were upset by Maine Central Institute, then perhaps they would have been playing for a third consecutive state championship.
"I didn't want to watch them lose this year. I tried to stay healthy, and I did. We were able to get it done," said Bardaglio, who scored 13 points in win against Cape Elizabeth.
Martin said it wasn't Bardaglio's absence that hurt the team last season as much as it was the wrong mental approach. For lack of a better phrase, the Black Bears began to believe their own hype.
"Obviously last year, I think we tried to skip right to the state championship game, and this year we took it one game at a time. We played all four (tournament) games very well," Martin said.
This season, the top-seeded Black Bears survived a quarterfinal scare from Rockland before beating Mattanawcook 89-70 and KVAC rival Camden Hills 84-72 to win the Eastern Maine tournament. Up nine points early against Cape Elizabeth, the Black Bears withstood a Capers' rally during which the Western Maine champs took a four-point lead midway through the third quarter.
"They're too good. They have too many weapons. It's hard to defend all those good athletes out there. They're good basketball players," Schmidt said of Cape Elizabeth. "It's just like the Eastern Maine (championship) game with Camden. We knew they'd come back and make a run at us."
Minutes after his team was handed the Gold Ball, Schmidt reflected on its place in Maine high school basketball history. The Black Bears have definitely earned a place among the best teams of the past few decades.
"It's going to take a while to sink in for a lot of people. But if you look at state champions the previous 20 years, there are definitely some schools that have great programs," Schmidt said. "There are classes at the Greelys, Camdens, there's a few others. We're lucky to be a part of it."
You know who's really lucky? The Maranacook fans who were able to witness this three-year run of excellence.
That's not say the Black Bears will fade with the graduation of Martin, Poulin, Bardaglio, Conrad Gilman, Max HoddWells, Corey Stephens, and Brian Bean. There's talent coming back. But Maranacook's Class of 2008 was a joy to watch play basketball, and it won't be forgotten soon.
"We've proven that we can win," Bardaglio said. "We went out on top, and there's no greater thing to do."
Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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