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That Travis and Karen Magnusson would become high school basketball coaches, given their backgrounds as point guards and students of the game, seemed inevitable. So does the success that the husband and wife coaches are having this season at their respective schools.

Travis, who coaches the Dirigo High School boys team, came within a whisker of a perfect season before falling to Spruce Mountain, 39-34 Wednesday night. Still, his Cougars finished the regular season at 17-1 and enter the upcoming Western Maine Class C tournament as the top seed. Karen, who coaches the Cony High School girls team, finished at 18-0 Thursday and her Rams will enter the Eastern Maine Class A tournament as the top-seeded team.

There wasn’t much talk between Karen and Travis about going unbeaten this season — both recognize winning a state title as a larger goal — but it’s still hard to avoid.

“Honestly we try not to do it,” Karen said. “But it’s something that comes up with other people.”

The couple rarely get to see one another’s teams play since they usually play on the same night. Fans at both schools, however, recognize what’s going on.



“It’s almost like we share our programs with each other,” Karen said. “His fans ask how I’m doing and my fans ask how Trav’s doing.”

The Magnussons are both basketball junkies, a passion that began long before they met at the University of Maine at Farmington a few years ago. Karen Sirois starred at Cony in Augusta while Travis played for Georges Valley in Thomaston. Both played point guard at UMF and each of them totaled over 1,000 points and 500 assists in their careers.

Farmington women’s coach Jamie Beaudoin and men’s coach Dick Meader saw coaches in the two long before their playing careers ended.

"I knew from the first moment I watched her play that she was going to be a coach," Beaudoin said. "She was able to see things on the floor that many times an experienced coach wouldn't pick up on. She's just a student of the game."

Meader echoed those thoughts about Travis, who served as a varsity assistant at UMF the year after he graduated. Travis was hired as boys coach at Livermore Falls a year before Karen go the job at Cony so she helped him out and gave him an unbiased look at the players and the team.

"There was nobody I listened to more, especially with my team that first year," Travis said.

Travis turned the Livermore program around, reaching a tournament prelim game his first year in 2009 and the tournament itself the next two. He lost his job when Livermore and Jay high schools combined this year to form Spruce Mountain, but when the Dirigo job opened up he applied. The Cougars reached the state final last year and return many of those players.

The Magnussons talk basketball most of the time, often while breaking down film at home another or swapping drills.

"I get some of my plays and sets from him," Karen said. "I know his personnel, we definitely help each other out. Sometimes we sit up until 11:30 or 12 talking about it. We watch game film together. It's like having an assistant coach at home."

They also share a similar philosophy, borne from the way they played the game.

"We both like to run and gun, play pressure defense and give our players freedom to take shots." Travis said. "As I've gotten older I've realized the importance of quality shots."

The Magnussons are competitive by nature and haven’t played a serious game of 1 on since Travis came away with a bloody nose when the got together on the court in college.

"He's competitive and I'm competitive so we never really have the fun 1-on-1," Karen said.

Well, they did have a little fun on the court on the day they were married, playing a friendly game, she in her wedding dress and he in his tuxedo.

They’ll get a chance to watch the other’s team play in about 10 days when their teams will be favored to win regional championships at the Augusta Civic Center.

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Although the Maine Principals’ Association voted down adding a fourth class to Maine high school football earlier this year, there are still
plenty of changes awaiting teams and their fans this season.

The classification committee of the MPA decided not to include a fourth class, perhaps waiting for a few more schools to adopt the sport to push the number to 80. There are currently 76 football playing schools in the state, with some schools combining teams this year and others playing for the first time.

Class A saw the fewest changes with four schools — Brewer, Mt. Blue, Marshwood and Westbrook — dropping to Class B. Marshwood is the only Maine high school to have won a state football championship in each of four classes, including the now-defunct Class D. Marshwood and Westbrook will play in Western Maine Class B where they’ll be joined by Spruce Mountain, a new school combining former Class C rivals Jay and Livermore Falls.

Brewer and Mt. Blue will play in Eastern Maine Class B that now includes Oceanside, a new school combining Rockland and Georges Valley. Rockland previously played in Class C while Georges Valley did not have football. Also joining Class B East this season are Old Town and Madison/Carrabec, both of whom played in Class C last season.

Eastern Maine Class C is adding two new programs in Hermon and Washington Academy while Telstar is also playing varsity football after
fielding a club team the past few seasons and will compete in Western C. The West also includes two teams that have dropped from the B ranks in Winslow and Poland.

Here’s a look at some of the top teams in each class who get under way Friday night:

CLASS A EAST
Lewiston: The Blue Devils return eight starters on offense and defense from a team that lost 28-25 to Bangor in the conference final. Quarterback Chris Madden highlights a returning backfield that includes tailbacks Jeff Turcotte and Matt Therrien. Rudy Pandora, a 6-foot-5 two way tackle, returns to the line.

Lawrence: The last East team to win a state title (2006), the Bulldogs have been upset in the playoffs the past two seasons after going
unbeaten in the regular season. Junior Spencer Carey returns at quarterback while senior Shaun Carroll and junior Anthony Sementelli are
the top returning rushers. The defensive line is new but the secondary is experienced.

Brunswick: The Dragons upset Lawrence in the playoffs and nearly knocked off Bangor. They return one of the top backs in the conference in senior Dylan Walton who was injured midway through last season. Also returning to the backfield is Keith Kitchens.

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Waterville High School track and field coach Ian Wilson deflects credit when it comes to the championships his teams have enjoyed during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. But he’s been the driving force behind the Purple Panthers’ success since taking over in the late 1990s.

The Waterville girls are a solid favorite at this weekend’s Class B state championships at Cony High School in Augusta. A win would give the team its fourth straight state championship. Under Wilson, the Waterville girls won a state Class A championship in 2002 as well as indoor titles 2000-02 and 2011.

“The girls look to be in a strong position,” Wilson said. “The guys have a good chance [although] I would say Falmouth in probably the favorite.”

Wilson has built the program through hard work and enthusiasm for his sport. Since he began, Waterville’s enrollment has dropped from 850 students to about 600 and the team dropped to Class B in 2006 in outdoor track after petitioning up to Class A for several years.

“We were so far below the cutoff [for Class A],” Wilson explained.

The number of participants remains high, however, particularly at the junior high level where there are between 70 and 90 kids out for track.

“I really try to beat the bushes and try to encourage kids to give it a shot,” Wilson said. “Once they see the benefits, they’ll stick it out. If they start to experience success, you get them back for another year.”

Wilson said he had no master plan when he started, but he did build gradually, first focusing on winning regular season meets, followed by conference championships.

“Then you can focus on state championships,” he said.

These days, state championships are the goal, although the Panthers haven’t lost a regular season meet in some time. Wilson has no problem resting his athletes for the big meets, however.

“Once kids have faith in the program, you can rest,” he said.

Once Wilson gets the athletes, he and his staff knows how to train and motivate them. In a place deep inside the school known as “The Cage,” Wilson often has his athletes lay on a cement floor and pretend they’re at the beach while visualizing their events and their performance.

Skepticism soon turned into enthusiasm once they saw the results.

“Track is a sport you don’t have to work at from age 5,” Wilson said. “It’s a combination of personality and physical skills.”

Certain personality traits favor particular events Wilson said.

“If you want to find distance runners go into the AP classes and get the skinny kid,” he said. (They) tend to be cerebral kids.”

Wilson, who also coached the girls soccer team to State Class A title in 2009, borrows kids from other sports for his track team. All of the throwers on the boys team come from the football team, he said, while sprinters and hurdlers often have soccer and basketball backgrounds.

Wilson and one of his assistants work with the sprints, jumps and throws while another works with distance runners and another with throwers.

“That really seems to work well,” he said. “Sometimes too many cooks spoil the stew.”

Although all events are covered evenly, Waterville has always produced excellent results in the hurdles, an event where improved technique can earn valuable tenths and hundredths of seconds. Wilson is continually trying to improve himself as a coach, too, attending clinics and seminars each summer

“The best thing I ever did was get involved in the USATF coaching courses,” he said. “I began going and realized I knew very little. Those people are incredible. They’ll share anything with you.”

Waterville success in track and field hasn’t precluded championships in other sports. The baseball team won a state title last spring and is favored to repeat this year and the girls basketball team won three state titles while the indoor track teams continued to thrive.

BASEBALL WRAPUP
The regular season ended this week with conference titles scheduled for the weekend and tournament play to begin next week.

In Class A, Cheverus is the top-seeded team in the West, thanks to Tuesday’s 6-2 win against Westbrook. Both teams are 14-2. In the East, Lewiston, at 15-1, is seeded No. 1. Foxcroft Academy (15-0), which competes in Class C East, was the only baseball team inthe state to finish the regualr seaosn unbeaten.

Top 10
1. Cheverus
2. Westbrook
3. Lewiston
4. Deering
5. Bangor
6. Scarborough
7. Waterville
8. Cape Elizabeth
9. Greely
10. St. Dominic

BATTLE OF THE UNBEATENS
Four teams finished the regular season unbeaten including defending Class A champion South Portland and defending Class D champ Richmond. Georges Valley, in Class C West, and Fryeburg, in Class B, also went undefeated.

Top 10
1. South Portland
2. Scarborough
3. Fryeburg
4. Brewer
5. Messalonskee
6. Thornton
7. Cony
8. McAuley
9. Medomak
10. Yarmouth

High school players who have been rivals through the years will join one another next season as four schools consolidate into two.

The neighboring communities of Livermore Falls and Jay recently decided to consolidate into one school which will be known as Spruce Mountain High School.

The adjoining towns have played in a long-standing football rivalry that goes back 72 years. The Black and Orange of the Jay Tigers and the green and yellow of the Livermore Falls Andies will be replaced by the black and green of the Spruce Mountain Phoenix.

The schools, which competed for years in the Class C Mountain Valley Conference will move to Class B next season.

Georges Valley and Rockland high schools decided several months ago to merge into one school known as Oceanside. The Black and Orange of the Rockland Tigers and the green and white of the Georges Valley Buccaneers will soon become the dark blue, light blue and white of the Oceanside Mariners.

Students will attend their last three years of high school in Rockland while freshmen classes from both communities will combine at Georges Valley High in Thomaston. Although the schools are only five miles apart, their athletic rivalry generally ended in middle school. Georges Valley has competed in Class C in Western Maine while Rockland has largely competed in Class B in Eastern Maine. With the enrollment at Oceanside expected to be in the upper 600s, the schools will compete in Eastern Maine in the Class B division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference.

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On Aug. 13, three days before fall practices got under way for Maine high school sports, the Maine Principals Association moved forward with its plan to divide football teams in the state into four divisions.

The MPA, which oversees high school sports in the state, reviewed feedback from football playing schools, and according to assistant executive director Mike Burnham, 72 percent of the schools were in favor of reclassification.

Under the current plan, teams are divided into three classes. The new plan, which is expected to go into effect in 2011, would create four classes — AA, A, B and C. This would help eliminate some of the disparities in enrollment, particularly among Class A schools where the current threshold is 800 or more students.

Since the current three class program was instituted in 1987, schools that would qualify for the new AA class have won 21 of 23 state championships. There are currently 78 football playing schools within the state with two or three more expected to adopt the sport soon which would give each class approximately 20 schools under the new alignment.

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