AUGUSTA

For the past four years, the Maine Principals Association football committee has worked diligently to establish a four-class Maine high school football reclassification.

There were surveys, calls from concerned athletic directors, booster club members and fans, and several meetings, but on Wednesday the committee released its final proposal, with two nine-team conferences in Classes A, B and C, along with two 11-team conferences in Class D.

“I think the committee looked at all the proposals over the past four years and have come up with a great solution,” said Mike Burnham, assistant executive director of the MPA.

“Personally, I feel the time and energy in the previous cycles put us in a good spot to examine this,” said Todd Livingston, a member of the football committee and the South Portland High School athletic director. “I expected things to be a little more difficult today, but we received transparent feedback throughout this process and made our work today easy.”

There were a few surprises.

For example Mt. Ararat, which requested to be dropped down from Class A to Class C after several years of gridiron struggles, was moved down just one class, to Western B, joining Morse, which moves from Eastern B to Western B.

“We discussed moving Mt. Ararat to Class C, but decided moving down one class was the better way to go,” said Burhham.

Mt. Ararat, which has 867 students, requested the move down. Because the MPA complied, the Eagles will be ineligible for the postseason over the next two seasons if the proposal passes.

“I feel this will create new, exciting rivalries, like Morse and Mt. Ararat playing each season,” said Burnham. “Throughout this process, there was a give-and-take, with teams requesting to be moved up or down. We did some amending and came up with this proposal today.”

Tale of the tape

The breakdown in school numbers between the classes goes like this:

Class A – 850 and greater.

Class B – 600-849

Class C – 460-599

Class D – 459 and less.

“With the growth of high school football in Maine, we felt that adding a fourth class was imperative,” continued Burnham. “In discussions with (Mt. Ararat athletic director) Todd Sampson, he wanted to make sure we were doing the best thing for the kids and their program. The great thing … there are schools in Western B that Mt. Ararat has played in the past and will again.”

Proposed Western B will consist of Mt. Ararat, Morse, Falmouth, Class B state finalist Marshwood, Kennebunk, Greely, Westbrook, Fryeburg Academy, and York, while Eastern B is Skowhegan, Messalonskee, Cony, Hampden Academy, Class B champ Mt. Blue, Lawrence (Class A state finalist), Oceanside, Brewer and Gardiner.

Because each conference has nine teams, either a crossover game or a bye week will need to be scheduled, with either an eight-team or nineteam slate of games.

“The conferences make the decision on the amount of games and playoff teams they choose to have,” said Livingston. “In the past, the athletic directors have balked at a bye week. I would expect there to be crossover games.”

Eastern A has a mix of the old and new, with Brunswick joined by fellow Pine Tree Conference teams Bangor, Lewiston, Oxford Hills and Edward Little. Cheverus, Windham, Deering and Portland will be the new kids on the block in Eastern A.

Western A consists of Class A champion Thornton Academy, Bonny Eagle, Sanford, Scarborough, Massabesic, Noble, South Portland, Biddeford and Gorham.

Eastern C is made up of Belfast, Waterville, Madison/Carrabec coop, Hermon, Mt. Desert Island, Old Town, Class C runner-up Winslow, Camden Hills (ineligible for postseason) and Nokomis (ineligible for postseason), with a Western C makeup of Leavitt, Lake Region, Cape Elizabeth, Gray-New Gloucester, Spruce Mountain, Freeport, Poland, Wells and Mountain Valley.

There are 22 teams in the new Class D, including Lisbon, which will compete in the West with Yarmouth, Oak Hill, Sacopee Valley, Dirigo, Traip Academy, Old Orchard Beach, Telster, Winthrop, Boothbay and Maranacook. Eastern D is made up of John Bapst, Mt. View, MCI, Washington Academy, Bucksport, Orono, Mattanawook Academy, Dexter, Stearns, Class C champ Foxcroft Academy and Ellsworth.

What’s next? The committee will reconvene on Dec. 10 to review before sending the proposal to athletic directors.

If problems arise, the committee will meet again in January to discuss options before moving forward and completing the process in late March.

Maine proposed football classes

AUGUSTA — Here is the breakdown of the Maine Principals Association’s four-class football system, which begins with the 2013 season if the plan is approved.

Western D

Yarmouth, Oak Hill, Lisbon, Sacopee, Dirigo, Traip, Old Orchard,

Telstar, Winthrop, Boothbay, Maranacook.

Eastern D

Foxcroft, Ellsworth, Bapst, Mt. View, MCI, Washington,

Bucksport, Orono, Dexter, Stearns, Mattanawcook.

Western C

Leavitt, Lake Region, Cape Elizabeth, Gray-New Gloucester, Spruce Mountain, Freeport, Poland, Wells, Mountain Valley.

Eastern C

Nokomis, Camden, Belfast, Waterville, Madison, Hermon,

MDI, Old Town, Winslow.

Western B

Falmouth, Marshwood, Kennebunk, Greely, Westbrook,

Fryeburg, York, Mt. Ararat, Morse.

Eastern B

Skowhegan, Messalonskee, Cony, Hampden, Mt. Blue, Lawrence,

Brewer, Oceanside, Gardiner.

Western A

Thornton Academy, Bonny Eagle, Sanford, Scarborough, Massabesic, Noble, South Portland, Biddeford, Gorham.

Eastern A

Lewiston, Bangor, Oxford Hills, Edward Little, Deering,

Portland, Cheverus, Brunswick, Windham.