PORTLAND — Biddeford football will be staying put in Class A for the next two seasons.

That was confirmed on Wednesday afternoon at the Holiday Inn By The Bay during a meeting of the Maine Principals’ Association’s Interscholastic Management Committee, which rejected Biddeford’s request to move down from its traditional home in Class A to Class B starting next fall.

The vote ended a nearly year-long process by Biddeford in an attempt to make the switch, which included a town forum, a presentation to the Biddeford School Committee and a meeting with the MPA’s Football Committee, which had passed the motion unanimously.

Many had thought that rubber stamp from the Football Committee was close to a certain indicator that the Interscholastic Management Committee would also approve the move, but after meeting in executive session to discus the issue Wednesday, the eight-person committee took just around a minute to vote to deny the waiver in open session.

“We spent the last year working for this moment and it just wasn’t going to happen,” Biddeford Athletic Director Dennis Walton said. “We are disappointed. I would not have gone through this if I wouldn’t be disappointed (by a no vote).

“What their reasons are, we don’t know. We really don’t. It was very quick after they came back (from executive session). To be honest, I was kind of taken aback by the whole thing.”

Walton, who along with Biddeford head football coach Brian Curit attended Wednesday’s meeting, gave the same presentation he had given to the school board and public in the summer and the Football Committee this fall, focusing on competitive balance and safety issues that come with having less depth than opponents.

With approximately 775 students enrolled this school year, Biddeford is the smallest school in Western Class A by nearly 100 students and is currently well below the minimum requirement of 875 to play in Class A. At times the Tigers are currently playing teams from schools with 400-500 more students; in the case of rival Thornton Academy, that number reaches 700.

Biddeford went 4-6 in Class A this past season, winning its first playoff game in 11 years with an upset of South Portland in the quarterfinals. But Curit and Walton both emphasized that the motive for the switch wasn’t down to any win-loss record, but playing in the football conference ”“ in this case, Class B ”“ where they best fit enrollment wise.

“I know we can compete at the Class A level, so I don’t have any misgivings about that,” Curit said. “But I honestly believe that you should always play where you fit. All we asked is to play where we fit. That’s it. Why is that a problem?”

Curit said that many of the issues his team faces competing against larger schools extend beyond the varsity level. For instance, with a smaller roster and several injuries, Biddeford was forced to cancel it’s season-ending junior varsity game with Thornton for the second-straight season this fall, something that Curit said harmed both his program as well as Thornton’s.

“We’re facing issues that are very common at the B level, but not the A level,” Curit said.

A long and winding road

The process behind Wednesday’s vote started back in 2012, when the MPA decided to realign Maine high school football from the three-class system, which had been in place since 1987, to four classes starting in 2013, ostensibly to level the playing field by ensuring schools were playing opponents with similar enrollments.

That switch to four classes moved the minimum cutoff of enrollment for Class A schools to 875, which would have placed Biddeford, with an enrollment of 830 students at the time, into Western Class B.

But during an open forum in July 2012 to discus the potential switch that was attended by school administrators, townspeople and then head coach Scott Descoteaux, there was a near-unanimous sentiment that the Tigers should stay in Class A despite a steadily declining enrollment.

On the basis of that, Biddeford decided to petition up to stay in Class A, a decision that was approved by the MPA.

Curit, who was the head coach of the Tigers from 1994-2006 and retook the position in 2013, had attended that forum as a parent and admits the prevailing sentiment at the time was more “based on emotion” and the school’s prideful tradition than anything else.

“A lot of the people railed against the switch to Class B because they thought it was only because we were 0-8 (in 2011),” Curit said of the 2012 forum. “It was unfortunate. No one talked about where our enrollment was going.”

Curit said that he and many others were also under the impression that they were petitioning up for only two years and would have the option to reclassify to Class B for the 2015 season. However, under a rule passed by the MPA in 1984, any school petitioning to play up in a certain sport is making the commitment to do it for two cycles, or four years, of time.

That led to Biddeford having to repetition to move back down for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the waiver for which was denied by the MPA on Wednesday, much to Curit’s chagrin.

“I think the MPA skirts the issues that really matter and dive in on issues that don’t. This was a trivial one,” Curit said. “I was very disappointed by how the MPA handled this.”

Curit said the fact that the football committee had passed the motion unanimously while the Interscholastic Management Committee ”“ which is made up of school administrators from eight different schools, four of which don’t have football programs ”“ rankled him.

“The thing I find puzzling about the MPA is how the football committee voted unanimously to endorse the move from Class A to Class B,” Curit said. “Then we go to the committee that made this decision and there are people who come from schools that don’t even have football. I think most of them don’t really have a grasp of football.

“These are the people that are making decisions on football? I find that quite laughable, frankly.”

Walton said that he too was surprised that the support he’d received during the meeting with the Football Committee didn’t translate over to the Interscholastic Management Committee.

“We felt pretty good after going to the football committee, because that’s what they do, that’s their expertise,” Walton said. “They know football and they all agreed. They understood the circumstances and the dynamics of football and that this was a decision we had to make.

“We were hoping that the (Interscholastic Management Committee) would follow the football committee’s lead, and that proved to not be the case.”

Looking Forward

Wednesday’s decision by the MPA means that Biddeford will be competing in Class A for the next two seasons before being allowed to make the switch to Class B in 2017.

Walton said that while he understands many people will shrug the decision off for the simple fact it will only affect the Tigers for two seasons, he doesn’t see it that way.

“One of the thing I emphasized is that if we made a mistake (in 2012), and we believe we did and have owned that, is it fair to the next two classes (of players) to have to pay for that?” Walton said. “Some people may say it’s only two more years, but it’s not fair to the kids.

“These two classes of kids are not going to be playing on a level playing field with schools that are playing with the same circumstances.”

Curit took to Twitter on Wednesday night to announce the MPA’s decision, tweeting: Buckle up BOYS! We are staying where many of you hoped ”“ in A! Time to go to WORK! TIGER PRIDE!

However, those exclamation points were dampened by the way the decision came about, one that Curit feels failed his team and his players.

“We will compete in (Class) A, you can put that in capital letters. I have no question about that,” Curit said. “But at the same time, I don’t understand the logic.

“The MPA gets a lot of bad press. Now I can understand why.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.