VASSALBORO — The time has come for the Winthrop High School and Maine Central Institute golf teams to find out whether or not they are ready for redemption.

At last season’s Class C team championship, the Ramblers lost to St. Dominic by just a single stroke, while MCI — which had been considered a favorite throughout the regular season — had a rough day in the Class B championship and finished 14 strokes back of 2013 champ Camden Hills.

“Is it a redemption from last year? I hope but (the Windjammers) have their whole six guys back,” MCI coach Paul Greco said. “I don’t think they lost a player.”

Both teams will take to Natanis Golf Course on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. with the Class A, B and C team golf championships being contested. Classes A and B will both compete on the Tomahawk Course, a 6,060-yard par 72 that boasts par 5s on Nos. 1, 3, 14 and 15.

Class C, meanwhile, will compete on the Arrowhead Course — a slightly shorter, yet still challenging par 72 that also features four par 5 holes.

Winthrop should have a good chance of doing what it could not last season in Class C, as seniors Taylor Morang, Adam Hachey, Ben Caprara and junior Anthony Owens all competed in the 2013 championship. Zac Robertson will make his championship debut for the Ramblers.

St. Dom’s once again should be the biggest thorn in Winthrop’s side, but look for a senior-laden Madison team paced by Jared Miller, K.P. Carpenter, Ty Cowan and Tripp Libby — along with sophomore Broc Cambell — to be a potential darkhorse if either of the favorites stumble.

While it is unlikely it will have a chance at competing with the top teams in the class, Forest Hills will make its return to states anchored by the team of Carson Veilleux, Brant Worster, Brandon Ouellette, Javier Padilla and Greg Poulin.

As for MCI, the same question it had at the beginning of the season still remains — who will be its No. 4 golfer? Senior Gavin Dugas and sophomores Carter Pearl and Eric Dugas are as good of a threesome as you’ll find in Class B, but the group will need a good score from either Nate Tilton or Parker Morrison to have a shot at knocking off Camden Hills.

“We’re going to go up and do the best we can,” Greco said. “Obviously Camden will probably be the team to beat.

“…We just have to play the golf course.”

Traditionally strong programs Cape Elizabeth and York will also return, while Gardiner and Erskine are coming off strong regular season campaigns. The Tigers will be paced by Brian Dunn, Logan Peacock, Seth McFarland, Chad Prince and Brady Smith, while Cameron Grass, Trever Browne, Tyler Bailey, Robert Harmon and Aaron Pion will take to the course representing the Eagles.

Messalonskee and the team of Billy Rollins, Nick Labun, Dylan Burton, Reily Campbell and Jason Smith will be the lone local squad competing in a very talented Class A.

“It’s a goal that you have every year and we were pretty competitive and pretty deep this year,” Messalonskee coach Jim Kerschner said. “It’s nice to get us in and we’re really young in terms of our team makeup. It’s a good building block for us.”

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley

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