You could forgive Deering girls basketball coach Mike Murphy if he felt mostly relief after the Rams defeated Messalonskee, 49-34, to win the Class A state title on Saturday night.

Murphy was in his first year taking over for former coach Mike D'Andrea, who resigned in August. The Rams won the 2008 state title under D'Andrea, and had a good amount of their team back.

So that meant Murphy was stepping into a job that was both a dream and a potential buzzsaw. Murphy was taking over a team that had the potential to win the state title, and in fact, it was the favorite.

But that meant if Deering didn't win -- even though Murphy wasn't hired until late September and didn't get to work with his new team during the summer -- a lot of people would view that as his fault.

"Since September, believe me, that's been on the back of everyone's mind and my mind," Murphy said.

"I've been telling people in the Portland area, they're almost a prisoner of their success, and not to let that really bug them and take them down. (Play) one game at a time. And (the girls) did a great job of that."