For four quarters Saturday, South Portland and Bonny Eagle traded scores and scoring runs, with stars Tanner Hyland and Dustin Cole doing much of the trading. In the end, it was the Red Riots holding the Western Class A trophy, as Hyland’s steely foul shooting held the lead despite Cole’s 3-point heroics.
It was the kind of game that you wish both teams could win. After a week of news that started with concealed weapons permits and ended with threats of a state government shutdown, it was practically an oasis.
Each year the tourney games in Portland, Bangor and Augusta draw thousand of fans, from students on school vacation to old-timers and basketball lifers who remember the buildings’ biggest moments. The tournament connects those generations, and all in between. It takes two groups of fans, one on each side, each in their own colors, and throws them together amid all the triumph and heartbreak.
These fans, who in southern Maine have followed the teams from the preliminary “play-in” games to the Portland Expo and on to the Cumberland County Civic Center, feel like they know the kids intimately. They compare teams and players to the ones that have come before. They use the occasion each year to remember past champions and high school memories from the same time.
These kids, who’ve spent Monday through Friday navigating calculus, English and biology, are asked to represent their schools and their communities on what must seem like the biggest stage of their lives, with everything on the line. The spotlight more often than not gets the best out of them, in determination, teamwork and sportsmanship.
In the coming years, the players will return to the court as spectators. Many of them will some day watch their kids and nieces and nephews play in the tournament. They will become the fans, forming the latest link in a chain that stretches way back. The tournament breeds this kind of community, something South Portland coach Phil Conley referred to following his team’s win over Bonny Eagle.
“It’s been a long time since South Portland won a regional title – 20 years,” Conley said. “I’m happy for our team, my coaches, I’m happy for the school. I’m happy for the city of South Portland. They stayed with me, stayed with our program, have been so supportive.
“This is a city championship.”
Ben Bragdon, managing editor
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