By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
The buzz from last month’s state championships is finally starting to calm down for the Houlton and Hodgdon basketball teams, but the celebrations continue.
Houlton coach Rob Moran and Hodgdon skipper Robbie Smith have been busy over the past few weeks showing off their respective championship trophies to area school children, while social media sites have been flooded with photographs of happy fans posing with the gold ball.
Having two state basketball champions less than six miles apart is unprecedented in southern Aroostook County. Hodgdon defeated Valley of Bingham, 51-46, for the Class D crown, while Houlton bested Waynflete of Portland, 58-56, in overtime for the Class C title.
“It’s a testament to both teams having a lot of good players,” said Moran, who was also chosen as the Class C boys Coach of the Year. “Having a good recreation program, as well as a strong AYBL (Aroostook Youth Basketball League) has helped. There are just a lot of things that contributed to the success.”
“The other thing that makes this neat is the fact that most of the kids on these two teams played together at some point,” added Smith.
Many of the players on the two squads can be found at the Houlton Recreation Department for games of pick-up basketball, and many got their starts at the rec in the peewee program.
Both coaches said the jubilation of winning the state title has yet to wear off.
“The community support has just been fantastic,” coach Moran said.
“What was neat was after the game, both teams got to spend a little extra time on the court, getting pictures taken with the gold ball,” coach Smith added. “You just try to soak everything in, because you just never know when you will get there again. It took Hodgdon 18 years to get back to a state championship game.”
Following Houlton’s win, the team had a celebration at the hotel adjacent to the Augusta Civic Center. The next day, the team enjoyed a caravan home, complete with a police and fire escort to the high school for a reception.
Since Hodgdon played its game in the afternoon, and had spent the previous night in Augusta, the Hawks jumped on a bus and headed to Texas Roadhouse in Bangor, the same restaurant the Hawks ate at following their regional championship, before heading home to a victory parade and celebration that same night at the high school.
“It was a long time coming,” Moran said. “We felt like last year we had a great chance to do something, and I’m sure coach Smith felt the same way. Both teams kind of let that slip away.”
A year ago, Hodgdon saw an Eastern Maine championship slip through its fingers after suffering a heart-breaking, 58-55, loss to Central Aroostook. Houlton had its regional title hopes dashed when it fell to Penquis, 46-41, in the Eastern Class C championship. Both teams held late leads, only to see their opponents steal the game away in the waning moments.
This year, the Hawks and Shires were not to be denied.
Houlton exacted a small amount of revenge in its victory over Waynflete. The Flyers beat Houlton two years ago in the state soccer championship.
There are numerous similarities between the two teams.
Both squads had the Most Valuable Player for their respective divisions on their rosters in the form of Houlton’s Kyle Bouchard (Class C MVP) and Hodgdon’s Chris Hudson (Class D MVP). Both players are juniors and will have an opportunity to defend their state crowns next season.
The titles marked the first state championships for Moran and Smith.
Coach Moran began his coaching career in 1982, while an eighth-grader in the Houlton system, coaching a sixth-grade boys team at the Houlton recreation center. When he graduated from Houlton in 1985, he was offered a junior high coaching job at Hodgdon.
A few years later, he became a junior varsity coach at Houlton. He got his first varsity experience coaching at East Grand School in Danforth, before taking a similar position at Hodgdon High School, where he remained for seven years.
Moran became the Houlton boys coach in 2011 and has spent the past three years with the team.
“I knew this was a good group of kids that had some potential,” Moran said. “We have three Eastern Class C finals appearances and a state title, so it has been a pretty good run.”
Smith got his start in coaching during his senior year in college at Southern Wesleyan University. He worked with the men’s basketball team, assisting the head coach with video and scouting reports.
He moved to The County in 2007 and started working with the Hodgdon program. He started out as the girls junior varsity coach for two years and spent a year as the junior varsity boys team, working with varsity coach Jerry Adams. In 2010, he became the boys varsity coach.
Basketball is a huge part of both coaches’ lives. The two invest a great deal of time beyond the games and the practices doing their research, scouting or volunteering at summer camps and recreation programs.
Preparing for the state games, however, required even more time.
“I probably watched tapes of Waynflete 15 times before the state game,” Moran said.
Smith said it was commonplace for him to come to practice an hour early and stay hours afterward if players wanted to shoot around. He added, following the birth of his son in February, the time away from his wife and children (the couple also has two girls) was the hardest aspect of coaching.
“We try to arrange schedules so I can be a part of all the things they are involved in like dances and concerts,” Smith said. “Our wives and kids are usually right there in the gym with us during games.”
“There are a lot of sacrifices,” Moran added. “There is a lot of stress as well. When things aren’t going well, it can be stressful.”
Exactly how long both coaches will continue to coach remains an unanswered question, but for now, the two said they were committed.
“Even when I’m not the head guy, I will probably always be involved in some way,” Moran said.
