As the regular Winter Sport season for 2025-26 comes to an end, Sanford High School’s varsity teams are beginning to look forward to the postseason.

The Spartan athletic teams have had a strong presence, so we’ve interviewed our coaches to find out what their goals are for the playoffs.

This season is especially memorable for the SHS basketball teams both ranking in the top of Class A South. Athletic Director Zach Lemelin asked us to share that fan buses will be provided for the length of the basketball playoff postseason to students, leaving from SHS, as far as the teams make it. We will provide more information on that soon. 

By Eliza Allen

Girls Basketball

The girls team will have their last regular season game on Feb. 5th at home. Be sure to support your Spartans for their senior night! Their first game in the playoffs will be on Feb. 17, at the Portland Expo time TBD. They are presently sitting at 15-2 with 1 game left to play. Tonight’s final home contest will be against Biddeford High School, celebrating senior night. Their current record puts them at the top of their class, ranking as #3 in their division.  “This team is primed for a good playoff run.” Says Coach Kearson when asked about his hopes for his team in the playoffs. “The girls have been working hard and understand what it will take to see success in the playoffs. We are going to need the scoring from Paige & Mollie, the rebounding from Ava & Ella, and the defense of Annie & Jaslinn. But most importantly we will need the hard work from Lyla, Zoey, Rihanna, Peyton, and Miranda to help push them to make us a well oiled machine. As long as we are mentally tough and play smart basketball we should be okay for a strong playoff push.” 

Boys Basketball

The boys team will have their last game of the regular season on Feb. 5, away at Biddeford High School. Their first game of the playoff season will be on Feb. 14, the location is still TBD. Their current record has them ranked at 16-1, placing them as 1 in the division, a spot they’ve kept for much of the season, swapping occasionaly for 2 with Windham, last year’s State Championship winning Team. “The end goal for our team is playing the right brand of basketball that will get us through the playoffs to get the gold ball,” says Sophomore Luke Gendron about his hopes for the team going into the playoff season. “One thing that we have that a lot of other teams may not is the trust we hold within each other. Also, our chemistry on and off the court. This isn’t just a basketball team to us, it’s a family.” 

Indoor Track

The Indoor Track Team had their last regular season meet on Jan. 26th at USM, Gorham campus. Southwestern’s qualifiers will be travelling to USM for the SMAA Championship meet on Feb. 7th. Some of the athletes who are expected to be top-performers in their events include:

• Mattea Peters- 400m
• Lily Peters- Long Jump and Triple Jump
• Bella McCall- 800m
• Avery Wedge- 55m
• Isaac Pelletier- 800m
• Dezmend Donegan- 55m

Be sure to support your Spartans while they are away!

Wrestling

The Varsity Wrestling team had their last regular season meet on Jan. 31st. Their Regional tournament will take place on Feb. 7th at Noble High School. The Maine State Championship meet will be held at Cony High School on Feb. 14th. “Going into Regionals, we should have a few really high seeds, Ricky Callais, Ryder LaChance, Gabe Williams and William Morin.” says Coach Smith about his expectations for this playoff season. “We have a good shot to be able to qualify more than half the kids for the state meet. We should be top five in the region.”  Make sure to support your Spartans while they are competing away! 

Cheer

The Sanford Cheer Team had their last regular season competition virtually on Jan. 26th.. The Regional Championship was held on Jan. 31st at Sanford High School, they placed 5th out of eight teams. The State Championship competition will be held on Feb. 7th at the Augusta Civic Center. “I am expecting that the girls will be able to go out there with confidence, and wherever they place is where they place. I’ll be happy as long as they can come off the mat excited about what they put out there.” says cheer Coach Wade about her expectations for the upcoming state meet. Be sure to attend and support your Spartan Cheer Team!