State champions … again

    BANGOR, Maine – It took two trips to Bangor before the Fort Fairfield cheerleading squad got the chance to perform, but according to head coach Kelly Bubar the extra days off may have been just what the Tigers needed.
     “We had a couple of kids with the flu Saturday and they were going to be able to perform, but it just didn’t feel right,” Bubar said. “It was a good test for us.”
The Tigers needed all the energy they could muster for their performance which features movement at all times and a lot of high energy moves and it was the extra energy that pushed Fort Fairfield to their second state championship in as many years.
Fort Fairfield went for the high energy, showy look this year, moving from one element to the next and incorporating tumbling throughout each phase. Though the team doesn’t use as many stunts as their competition, the stunts they used came off flawlessly Monday night and gave them a 122-114.1 win over second-place Bangor Christian.
The Tigers pride themselves on creating their own routine and this year, the credit can be given to one team member in particular.
Senior Josh Barnes began working on the Tigers’ moves over the summer incorporating things he’d find on the internet and from friends on other teams.
“He started bringing me pieces at the beginning of the season,” Bubar said, “and he had a lot of really good material. I added some elements and a couple team members tweaked some thing and we all made it our own. He’s very talented that way and knows the look that would be suitable for our team and our abilities.”
From the beginning, expectations for the group ran high, but according to Bubar, the state championship crown still came as a surprise for a team that had to rebuild after the loss of eight seniors off last year’s  state championship squad.
“Not one stunt group came back from last year,” Bubar said, “so we had to start everything from scratch. We knew we weren’t going to be twisting and doing tosses, so we focused on having very clean stunts and lines and going showy in dance and tumbling, which have been our strengths.”
The Tigers had some stiff competition from Bangor Christian, neighbor’s Central Aroostook and Machias, and Bubar said that the points could have gone to any of the top four. Bangor and Central Aroostook went for the gold with stunts and both pulled off their routines well to keep everyone guessing right up to the final announcement.
“I was comfortable with our first round numbers,” Bubar said, “but I folded up the sheet and stuck it in my purse and didn’t share our number with the team. Our goal was to go clean in the second round. We didn’t want any drops or penalties and we didn’t get any penalties in the second round, so I was confident we were in the top two.”
The team didn’t change the bulk of their routine from the Eastern Maine Championships through the county and state rounds because a busy game schedule didn’t allow much time. The Tigers did add some motion technique for the back lines during the tumble passes to keep everyone moving and the energy up and changed an ending dismount, but largely the performance that the team worked on from practice through study halls all season, did not change.
The win sends Bubar out on top. The coach, who has been with the Tigers through all their ups and downs since 1990 with only two one-year breaks, is stepping away as her own daughter moves up to athletics on the middle and high school levels.
“The winning is wonderful. It’s an excellent way to go out, but I’ve enjoyed every team I’ve been involved with,” Bubar said. “I like doing what I do and it’s fun to watch them grow and work hard and show that level of commitment to something.”
Central Aroostook finished third in the state competition with a score of 113.3 points.