Leavitt’s Keegan Reny, left, and Oak Hill’s Michael Henry battle for a loose ball during Friday night’s game in Turner. Reny is one of the Hornets’ players whose football season ended in the Class C South finals, which was two days before the start of preseason basketball practices. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Most years, the first winter sports practices are two days after state championship football games are played.

For boys’ basketball coaches at perennial football power schools, like Wells High’s Troy Brown, that means some tired legs and sore bodies are showing up for basketball tryouts.

“Every kid should have a break, and you think about it, in general, these basketball kids are (in season) for Thanksgiving, Christmas and if their team does well, all of February vacation,” Brown said. “So these kids don’t get a break.”

Brown said he recognizes that the football-basketball double typically only affects the eight schools that reach the 11-man football championships.

“But if you figure there’s at minimum 25 kids on a football team, you take eight times 25, that’s still 200 kids that this affects, and I just think we should start basketball season the day after Thanksgiving. I’ve been saying that for years,” Brown said.

Mike Hathaway is Leavitt’s football and boys’ basketball coach. His football teams won state titles in 2022 and 2023 and this year reached the C South regional final.

“When you finish on a Saturday and start on a Monday, that’s a quick turnaround. It’s hard for a number of reasons,” Hathaway said.

For starters, being in shape for football’s seven seconds per play is different than basketball shape that requires full-court endurance. Adjusting the mindset from playoff pressure to preseason practices can be even more difficult, Hathaway said.

The issue was even more pronounced this year. Basketball practice started the Monday before the football finals. That meant the eight regional runner-ups were starting basketball on a two-day rest and basketball players on the eight finalists were missing the entire first week of practice.

At Wells, which won the Class D football title for the second straight season, two varsity players – junior Darion Lemont and Kevin Bolduc – were impacted.

At Thornton, which lost to Portland in the Class A football final, eight of Coach Mike Nelson’s varsity basketball players, including all four senior captains, were on the football team.

During Thornton’s first week-plus of practice, “we did some install stuff, but we really didn’t do anything full. I purposely didn’t schedule any scrimmages that first week,” Nelson said. Thornton’s two scrimmages were the weekend after Thanksgiving. The football kids, such as leading basketball scorer/quarterback Wyatt Benoit, played in one scrimmage, “because their bodies need time.”

The time gap between winter and spring is much greater – more than three weeks before the start of spring full-team workouts with roughly 40 days between the last basketball game and the first spring contests.

Brown and Hathaway said getting more time off after football makes sense and both proposed radical changes to the athletic schedule that would still preserve Maine’s tradition of vacation week basketball tournaments.

“We give all those parents a two-year notice – it would have to be a long notice – and move February vacation a week later,” Brown said.

Hathaway said, “I would rip up the whole school calendar and have one longer vacation in March. Wait to start all winter sports until Dec. 1.” Then teams could play tournament basketball in the first week of a two-week March vacation.

York unbeaten despite injuries

York High was expected to be one of the top Class B South teams this season. Its 4-0 start, 71.8 points-per-game scoring average, and 22.3-point average margin of victory indicated the preseason prognosticators were correct.

What’s impressive is that the Wildcats have not had 6-foot-6 senior center Lukas Bouchard on the court. Bouchard, who averaged 12 points and 13.4 rebounds last season, rolled his ankle in a preseason scrimmage against Noble. York was also without starting point guard Ryan Cummins for its 68-39 win against Poland Regional.

“The kids have been great, as far as stepping up,” said Matt Regan, York’s first-year coach.

Senior Lucas Ketchum, at 6-foot-4, has filled in admirably for Bouchard, consistently scoring 8-10 points and posting a 15-point, 13-rebound game in Saturday’s 82-59 win against Wells.

Reece MacDonald, a 6-1 junior wing, has been outstanding, scoring at least 20 points in each game. Against Poland, MacDonald made six 3-point baskets. In other games, he’s worked his post game for his points.

“He can score from anywhere,” Regan said. “You see the box score at the end of the game and he’s scored 30 points, but it never feels like he’s being selfish or not moving the ball. Just the way he scores in the offense is really fun to watch.”

Bouchard is expected back for Thursday’s home game against Class A Greely (2-0). York figures to have another test on Saturday when it travels to Newcastle to play Lincoln Academy (3-0), the team that knocked the Wildcats out of last year’s regional tournament.

Snubbed Cougars making statement

Tyler Abell won’t lie: When he saw the preseason poll, it fueled him.

After going 16-4 a year ago, Mt. Blue was picked to finish sixth in Class A North in 2024-25. Sure, the Cougars had graduated one of the state’s best players in Evans Sterling, but they felt they were better than that.

“We definitely felt a little disrespected,” said Abell, who made five 3-pointers Friday in Mt. Blue’s 61-30 road win over Maranacook. “Every game, we’re going out to prove ourselves and prove that we’re one of the best teams in our conference.”

They’ve done nothing less in the season’s early stages. They’ve posted a 3-0 record, and all three victories have come by double digits, with Friday’s lopsided win following a 68-50 win over Lawrence and an 80-67 triumph over Camden Hills.

In Abell, Nolan Leso and Carter Norton, Mt. Blue has three consistent 3-point shooters. Freshmen Cam Norton and Evan Drake, meanwhile, have already become consistent contributors. All five are key members of a defense in which Coach Troy Norton says the team takes great pride.

Although Norton doesn’t take too much stock in preseason rankings, he did point out that Mt. Blue was ranked behind multiple teams it beat in summer league play. He also sees being ranked in the bottom half of A North as a potential catalyst for his team’s success.

“If anything, I like being picked lower because we can use it as motivation,” Norton said. “We know who we are; we don’t need anybody to tell us.”

More injury news

Thornton is likely without Trey Eldred, their would-be top forward, for the season. Eldred, one of the Golden Trojans’ four senior captains, suffered a torn ACL in his knee in the second day of summer workouts. Nelson said it is possible Eldred could be back in time for the postseason if his recovery goes extremely well. The injury came on the heels of a junior season when Eldred was dogged by two bouts of sickness. “When he was healthy, we started (2023-24) 4-1,” Nelson said. “Then at the end of the season, he was the one who scored 26 points in our (playoff) loss to Scarborough.” … Scarborough has been the beneficiary of Adam Fitzgerald’s move from Skowhegan. A 6-foot-3 junior guard, Fitzgerald has scored 43 points with seven 3-pointers in Scarborough’s 2-1 start. “He can score the ball. He can shoot,” said Red Storm Coach Phil Conley. “I have a great group of high-character guys and he’s fit in perfectly.” … That Portland is off to an 0-3 start is unusual but not unexpected. The Bulldogs only returned one primary rotation player in Cordell Jones, and he’s been out with a hand injury suffered in the Thanksgiving football game against Deering. Drew Veilleux, who averaged 9.7 points and 3.7 rebounds last season, would have been Portland’s leading returning scorer, but he transferred to Bridgton Academy for his senior season. Another expected starter moved and a fourth is out with an illness. “This is the first time in my coaching career I’m entering the season with players with very little varsity experience,” said Bulldogs Coach Joe Russo.

Central Maine newspapers staff writer Mike Mandell contributed to this story.