Game Memories
Favorite Game Memories as submitted by the Fans
A MATCHUP FOR THE AGES
(As Submitted by Steve Brine)
It was five years ago this week, Jan 7th 2004, when the top two teams in Western Maine Class B Boys Basketball, the Gorham Rams, coached by Kevin Jenkins and the Falmouth Yachtsmen, coached by Dave Halligan, both undefeated at the time, squared off in Falmouth, for early season bragging rights. Back in January, these teams' destiny was unknown and both had championship dreams, particularly Falmouth, whose lineup was stocked with numerous future college athletes.
On the Gorham side of the ball, 6 of the 9 players on the court that night went on to college athletic careers, including Tim Atwood & Roger Williams (baseball), Ben Thayer, Bates (basketball and baseball), Brandon Poulin, UMF (golf) , Josh Tanguay, UMF (basketball), Kurt Randall, USM (Basketball), Justin Brown, Wheaton(basketball), and John Mackenzie, Bates (football).
Moreover, what was truly unique about this game and all of Falmouth's games that season, was that Falmouth, a relatively small school with an enrollment of approx 650 kids at the time, had 6 future Division One College athletes on it's roster including Division One Scholarship Basketball players Darren Mastropaolo(Bucknell), Bryant Barr (Davidson), and Kyle Robbins (Vermont), and three other Division One Athletes in other sports Jason Loranger, Quinnipiac (Golf), Jimmy Velas, UMO (soccer), and Nick Babikian, USC (Rowing)! As if that weren't enough, they also had another 5 Division Three athletes on the roster, including two that didn't see action that night. These included Danny Forcella, Vassar (basketball), Casey Brinn, Ithaca (basketball), Chris White, Wentworth (soccer), Connor Martin (DNP), Gaucher (basketball), and JJ Forcella (DNP), USM (cross country), making 11 of the 15 players on the roster going on to collegiate athletic programs. In fact of the 10 Falmouth players who saw action during this Jan 7th matchup, 9 went on to play college athletics!
So, 15 of the 19 players on the court that night went on to play in college programs, a ratio that may be unprecedented in the history of Maine high school athletic contests.
But the truly amazing part was the three Division One basketball players from one team, from Maine, no less, from Class B, no less. This is believed to be the only time in modern Maine history that a single HIGH SCHOOL basketball team PRODUCED three players that went on to play Division One College Basketball.
The game itself, on January 7th more than lived up to its billing, coming down to the final 10 seconds and a two point come from behind win for the home Yachtsmen, 50-48. They held Gorham to 14 points in the second half, playing very inspired defense as they began the third quarter down by 9 points.
What was unusual, was that due to Gorham's stellar box and one defense, Falmouth's big three of senior co-captains Mastropaolo and Forcella, and super sophomore Barr, had a total of 4 points at halftime, yes, four points, in total, all belonging to Darren Mastropaolo. And these were three scorers who averaged close to 13 points per game, each! Barr went on to score all 11 of his points in the second half, leading the Falmouth comeback while Mastropaolo added 6 to end up with 10 for the game, before fouling out with a little over three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Forcella, a thousand point plus scorer in High School, was closely shadowed by Gorham's Max Bass the entire game, and finally got on the board with a single but very key foul shot late in the game. Falmouth's bench, led by Casey Brinn, with 11 points, carried the offensive load at times, with a combined 17 points. Gorham's bench by contrast, chipped in with only eight points for the night. Gorham's big three Brown (17), Thayer (14) and Randall (7) combined for 38 of Gorham's 48 points. Randall, the 6 foot 7 center, fouled out with 5:19 left in the game.
The raucous standing room only crowd was treated to a special show this January night, as this televised game had a little of everything, including a 3 pointer at the buzzer at the end of the third period by Matt Trask, giving Gorham a 7 point cushion and momentum heading to the final stanza, after Falmouth had closed to within 3 pts, from the 9 pt deficit with which it started the period. But Falmouth was relentless. They kept playing pressure team defense, Mastropaolo and starting power forward Eliav Bitan dominated the boards throughout with 17 and 10 rebounds respectively for the game, Velas and Forcella combined for 9 assists for the game and Gorham couldn't buy a basket, with only four points in the fourth quarter to Falmouth's 13. Gorham missed four foul shots in the last two minutes and was also called for a key offensive charge and a lane violation in the final minute. Falmouth needed every bit of this help to end up with the win in a classic battle that would be repeated the very last day of the season in early February, when Falmouth traveled to an even more crowded and louder Gorham High School, still undefeated at 17-0, only to see the Gorham Rams turn the tables, beating the Yachtsmen by 4 points, 51-47 in the second battle of these two Western Maine Class B heavyweights. So after 8 quarters of toe to toe action, these two evenly matched teams ended up separated by one basket! The fans who were lucky enough to see these teams slug it out, couldn't have known at the time that they were witnessing such an unusual and historic array of future college athletic talent all on one floor. It may never be seen again!
When Class B All Stars were selected that season, they included 4 of the 5 players on the First Team All Star Roster being from this matchup (Justin Brown and Kurt Randall from Gorham and Danny Forcella and Darren Mastropaolo from Falmouth) as well as 2 of the 5 Second Team All Stars(including Ben Thayer from Gorham and Bryant Barr from Falmouth) , for a total of 6 of the top 10 Class B players in Western Maine, having competed in these two historic games.
Alas, a third potential and much anticipated matchup in the playoffs never materialized when Falmouth, which ended the regular season ranked atop the Division at 17-1, and was the Number One seed in the Western Maine Tournament in Augusta that season, lost 44-42 in the first round to the Number Eight seed Cape Elizabeth in one of the great upsets in Tournament history. But that is a story for another day. Gorham, which ended up the season at 16-2 was the Number Three seed, and went on to win the Western Maine Class B Playoffs, then lost the State Championship Game to Erskine Academy, the Eastern Maine Champ.
Combined Scoring Totals for Both Falmouth/Gorham Matches
Falmouth
Mastropaolo 22 Barr 19 Brinn 18 Bitan 16 Velas 8 Berube 4 Forcella 3 White 3 Loranger 2 Robbins 2
TOTAL 97
Gorham
Thayer 27 Brown 26 Bass 14 Randall 13 Trask 9 Atwood 5 Mackenzie 3 Tanguay 2
TOTAL 99
(click to enlarge)
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I just found your site and am an avid South Portland High School boys basketball fan and graduate of the class of 1984. I found a poem that I wrote back in 1983 on the way to (or after) the state game in Bangor. SP won. Here is my poem. You are welcome to put it on your site. Also have attached the yearbook photo of the team and the article from the paper when they won (Press Herald).
Ode to the Champs 1983
by Kathy Bolduc (now Amoroso) of South Portland
Riding, riding, Bangor bound
to see the Riots win the crown.
They are the best, we know it’s true
we’ll love them still, whatev'r they do.
Number twenty, a “stick man” he is,
give Steve Gerry the ball and the game is his.
Dougie Buitrago, that swift little guy,
when he handles the ball, he sure seems to fly.
Big Bill Whelan, don’t get in his way,
‘cause if you do, you’ll have to pay.
And then there’s Steve Russell, the bench stayed warm,
but when in the game, he riled up a storm.
They call him Tyrone and he stands at 6-5,
he towers them all and he’s got the drive.
Our winning captain is Johnny McHugh,
he’s swift as a bullet, just ask the “zoo.”
Steve Burnell, he swishes the ball,
his complete control rules every call.
Frank Morang, dunk it he could,
if it wasn’t for his cast, we know he would.
Are there springs on his feet or does he really jump high?
Hodgy, Hodgy, boy can you fly!
Let him play and we can not lose,
he plays fantastic, it’s Randy Hughes.
Spirit and will, Tim Burnell’s got it all,
especially after an occasional fall.
It’s a positive win when he’s in the game,
they call him the “Ace,” Steve Loubier’s his name.
He rebounds, he jumps, he shoots with a score,
from Marty Coyne, who could ask for more.
His knees were a pain but stop him they did not,
When Mike Whitten’s on the court, he really is hot.
And last there’s Paul Reynolds, a great player it’s clear,
he plays a tough game and kept the Riots in gear.
Those were the Champs of 1983,
And if you’re looking for more—wait for ’84!
Write:MaineHighSchoolSports@GMail.Com