It's been eight years for the Winthrop High School football team. Skowhegan Area High School had a 19-year pause between regional titles.

Both are preparing to play in state championship games Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, and both are happy to reset that dubious odometer.

"It's been 19 years since Skowhegan won Eastern Maine. It's been 30 years since we won a state championship. We had some big numbers against us," Skowhegan senior Peter Boardman said after Saturday's 20-0 win over Edward Little in the Pine Tree Conference title game.

Winthrop's wait wasn't even close to as long as Skowhegan's, but that didn't make it any easier for the Ramblers and their fans. Regional final losses in 2001, 2002 and last season made Winthrop feel thisclose.

But if you want to talk about thisclose, then nobody in the state compares to Skowhegan in recent memory.

In 2001, the Indians took a 21-14 lead into the fourth quarter of the PTC final at Bangor, before the Rams' offense went nuts, scoring 35 points in the fourth quarter for a 49-21 win.

In 2004, Skowhegan again played in the conference final at Bangor. The Indians gained 354 yards to Bangor's 231, and held the ball for twice as long as the Rams. Skowhegan took a 22-21 lead with 5:24 left in the game. Bangor, which had big play after big play the entire game, came right back and reclaimed the lead three minutes later, winning 28-22.

In 2005, the Indians played at Mt. Blue, and took a 24-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Cougars' Mike Toothaker scored on a 23-yard run with 4:47 left, giving Mt. Blue a 26-24 win. The Cougars went to the state final. Skowhegan went home.

Skowhegan head coach Mike Marston was the team's head coach in 2004 and 2005, and was the defensive coordinator in 2001. Every summer, Marston gives his time as a coach in the Lobster Bowl, the annual all-star football game to benefit Shriner's hospitals. On Friday, one day before his team had to travel to Auburn to take on Edward Little, Marston was organizing a free Thanksgiving dinner at Messalonskee High School.

"There is nobody in Eastern Maine Class A football that deserves to be in the state championship more than Mike Marston," said Edward Little head coach Darren Hartley, who has coached with and against Marston in numerous Lobster Bowls.

Winthrop head coach Joel Stoneton was an assistant coach when Winthrop won the state championship in 2000, and was on the staff when the Ramblers lost Class C state championship games in 1995 to Stearns and in 1999 to Mattanawcook. He was an assistant coach when Boothbay beat the Ramblers in the regional final in 2001 and 2002.

Last season, the Ramblers lost to Boothbay in the regional final, again. Now in his fifth season as head coach, Stoneton tried to compare this season's team with the Ramblers who won the state title in 2000. It was tough. Every team is different, he said.

"Maybe defensively. That 2000 team was just so solid and stifling," Stoneton said. "Offensively, we're so different. There's no comparison."

In both communities, the almosts and not quites of the past decade didn't dampen the enthusiasm for football. If anything, they made Saturday's regional wins sweeter.

"People in Winthrop have known for a few years that Winthrop football is up and coming," Stoneton said.

In Skowhegan and Winthrop, it will be sweeter still if the regional title plaques are a precursor to gold balls.

Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com