It has been over 30 years since Machias Memorial High School sent both the girls and boys basketball teams to the regional finals at the same time, as athletic director Robert Sinford knows all too well.
Sinford was an assistant coach on the boys team the last time both Bulldogs were both in the regional final. That was in 1995, he said.
But now, the Bulldogs have done it again after the boys beat Hodgdon 55-52 on Thursday in a Class D North semifinal. The girls team had already won their semifinal the day before with a 47-38 win over Central Aroostook.
And now both teams will return to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Saturday for a chance at the North regional championship.
Sinford expects plenty of Bulldogs fans to be in attendance for those matchups, given the “tremendous support” that the community shows for the teams.
“This place will be packed Saturday because they really love the kids and they love basketball,” Sinford said.
Boys coach Chad Fitzsimmons said that support was already helping on Thursday.
“We got a great crowd behind us,” Fitzsimmons said. “And I heard them all game, so it was awesome.”
The coach said having both teams in the regional final means a lot to the Machias area.
“It’s great for the community,” Fitzsimmons added. “We start early with youth programs, and it really pays off,” the boys coach said.
Machias boys senior guard Liam O’Connor said his team’s goal this season has been the state championship rather than the regional title game.
“But the regional final is on the way there, and I pray both teams get to the state championship,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor also didn’t mince words when asked what it took for his team to hold off Hodgdon on Thursday.
“Stop playing like people that don’t know how to play basketball, really,” he said. “We were out there playing like fifth graders — no discipline, missing free-throws, not stalling, and not even playing defense on the way back.
So it mattered that they were able to start playing like high school varsity players again, O’Connor said, and it got them the win. Now they get to join the Machias girls in Saturday’s regional finals.
