By PAT McDONALD
Sports Editor
The Maine Principals Association made some changes before the 2017 football season with the hopes of helping some struggling programs and to make the state more competitive from top to bottom.
While the MPA made some good moves, there is still some work to do in order to make the sport as successful as possible in the state.
Before the 2017 campaign, the state went from having four divisions to five with a new developmental Class E being formed for the schools with floundering programs.
It was a solid idea to try and help the struggling programs by putting them together in a class of their own. The one thing I did not like about the new Class E was the fact that the MPA decided to not have a postseason for the teams, which meant they weren’t playing for a Gold Ball.
Having a Class E is a good idea, but I believe they should expand the division and put a Gold Ball on the line so other teams wouldn’t mind playing in the division.
Look at Old Orchard Beach, which decided to play up in Class D despite having the third lowest enrollment of all the schools playing football in the state. The main reason why the Seagulls decided to play in Class D instead of going to Class E was because of the lack of a postseason and Gold Ball.
Before we get to how to expand Class E, we will need to look at how the MPA currently places programs in divisions — and why they need to change their philosophy.
Right now, the MPA determines which division a team plays in solely by enrollment numbers. That might make sense on paper, but it clearly is not working.
Currently, in order to be in Class A (the state’s largest division) you must have an enrollment of at least 845. As of this season that included 13 schools — and Cheverus, which petitioned to play in Class A despite have just 467 students.
Class B programs must have enrollment numbers between 650 and 844, while Class C for this season was 470 to 649 and Class D was 0 to 469.
Like I said before, it may seem like a reasonable way to determine which school plays in which class, but the MPA should be more flexible when it comes to its football alignment.
When it comes to Class A, I believe the state should do a couple things to make the division more competitive. The first is to get rid of the two regions and have one division for the state.
For the past several years, Class A South has been loaded with talented programs — led by Bonny Eagle, Scarborough and Thornton Academy. While Class A North has some strong programs, including teams like Portland and Windham, it is not as competitive from top to bottom as the South.
So instead of having two separate, seven-team regions with six schools making the playoffs in each, the MPA should go to one state-wide conference with eight teams making the postseason.
One thing that having one Class A will do is help balance the schedules of the division. In recent years, teams in Class A South had much tougher schedules than their Northern counterparts.
If the MPA went to a one division Class A, it would give them some flexibility when it comes to alignment.
The program that could benefit the most from a change in classification is Massabesic, which has gone 2-14 over the last two seasons and has won just five total games in the last four years. It makes sense to let the Mustangs choose between playing in the always tough Class A or dropping down to Class B where they might be more competitive.
Massabesic played most of this season with around 20 kids on its varsity roster, while the Mustangs could look across the field most weeks and see more than double the amount of players on the opposite sideline.
Letting a team play in a class where they can be more competitive could help the program turn things around and eventually get them back to playing against schools their size.
It’s not just in Class A where the enrollment numbers don’t tell the entire story. Look at the Wells Warriors, who won the Class C state title in 2016 and then were dropped down to Class D because of enrollment.
A lot of people in the state were not happy to see a strong program like Wells drop down. The Warriors gave those upset observers some more ammunition when they cruised to the Class D Gold Ball a couple weeks ago.
I understand why some people didn’t like Wells dropping down, but it’s not the Warriors fault that the MPA bases the divisions on enrollment — and I believe they would have won the Class C title if they stayed in that division.
So how could the state divide these classes up? I’m not going to sit here and say I have all the answers. I do believe that there can be five strong divisions with a 12 to 14 team Class A, a 15 to 18 team Class B, a Class C with 18 to 20 schools, a Class D with 14 to 16 programs and a solid 10-team Class E.
These are obviously just rough estimates when it comes to the size of divisions, and it would take some time to go through each program and decide where they belong, but I believe our student-athletes deserve to be set up to succeed in the most competitive environment possible.
The bottom line is the MPA needs to start looking at the entire picture when determining where schools should be playing. Talk to coaches and athletic directors, take a look at the state of each program — from youth to high school — and come up with a way to make each division as competitive and strong as they have ever been.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.