Cape Elizabeth football players warm up at the start of a practice last November. The Capers, the defending Class C champions, will play a varsity game against South Portland, a Class B program, for the first time on Sept. 23. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Cape Elizabeth and South Portland high schools are just 4 miles apart, but when it comes high school football, the distance between them might as well have been 4,000 miles. With the schools in different enrollment classes, they have never played a varsity football game against each other.

That will change this season. Cape Elizabeth, the defending Class C state champion, will make the short drive to South Portland’s Memorial Field to take on the Class B Red Riots on Sept. 23. Thanks to a new way of configuring high school football schedules across the state, games like Cape Elizabeth versus South Portland are a reality.

In an effort to diminish blowouts in high school football, the Maine Principals’ Association’s Football Committee created a plan to build schedules based on competitive balance rather than by enrollment class. That’s how South Portland, which reached the Class B South quarterfinals last season, can face off against a Class C power like Cape Elizabeth. Geographically and competitively, a game between the Capers and Red Riots makes sense, but the connection goes deeper than that. South Portland Coach Aaron Filieo was the longtime head coach at Cape Elizabeth, leading the team to state championship game appearances in 2009 in Class B and 2017 in Class C.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of history there,” said Sean Green, Cape’s coach. “Aaron was the founder of the Cape Elizabeth football program. Coach (Filieo) and I are very good friends, we’re very close. None of these kids on our current roster ever played for him. For our players, it’s a tough game against a good Class B football team.”

Tougher games against opponents from higher classes are exactly what some teams in Classes B and C are looking for. Last fall, nearly 30 percent of regular-season games were decided by 35 points or more. Leavitt won four of its six regular-season games in 2021 by at least 33 points. When given the chance to list some Class A and B opponents Leavitt would be willing to play, Coach Mike Hathaway listed Lewiston, Portland and Lawrence. This fall, his Hornets will play all three.

“All those guys were on our list. It’s a tough schedule all the way through,” Hathaway said.

Leavitt, which lost the Class C South championship game to Cape Elizabeth last season, will play at Portland, last season’s Class B South runner-up, on Sept. 9. A week later, the Hornets will host Class A Lewiston on Sept. 17. Leavitt will host Lawrence, last season’s Class B North runner-up, on Sept. 30. The game against Lewiston is noteworthy because of the size discrepancy between the schools. According to the MPA football bulletin, Leavitt’s enrollment is 527, while Lewiston is the largest high school in the state with 1,511 students.

Although Leavitt’s campus in Turner is just 13 miles from Lewiston High, that enrollment difference has always been a mountain range of a barrier between the schools. But Leavitt has played in six state championship games since 2009, winning four. Lewiston won just two games in each of the last three seasons. In this case, enrollment isn’t a barrier to competition.

“We played Lewiston in JV and freshman (games) last year. We thought it would be good to play those guys,” Hathaway said.

Last season, Portland defeated Marshwood in the regular season before falling to the Hawks, winners of four straight Class B titles and six of the last seven, 35-0 in the Class B South final. With another possible playoff matchup against Marshwood on his mind, Portland Coach Jason McLeod requested tougher regular-season games against Class A opponents. The Bulldogs, who played in Class A until 2019, will face Bonny Eagle on Sept. 16 and Oxford Hills on Sept. 23.

“I was very clear, I wanted to play more than one Class A team and I wanted to play them early in the season so we could prepare better for Marshwood,” McLeod said.

Conversely, with his team trying to prepare to play the iron of Class A, Scarborough Coach Packy Malia requested a game against Marshwood. The Red Storm host the Hawks on Sept. 16.

Cheverus and Winslow have no football history against each other, but they have been two of the most successful programs in the state over the last two decades, each winning multiple state titles. With Cheverus moving back to 11-man football in Class C this fall after winning the eight-man Large School title last fall, it will travel to Winslow’s Poulin Field on Oct. 8 to play the Black Raiders, last season’s Class C runner-up.

For some, the new scheduling system allows old rivalries to rekindle. In the 2000s, Lawrence and Bangor had one of the fiercest rivalries in Class A North, with one or the other winning the region in six of the seven seasons from 2006 through 2012. They haven’t played each other, except for an exhibition game, since 2012, the last season both were in Class A. They’ll play at Lawrence’s Keyes Field on Sept. 16.

York County rivals Kennebunk and Wells fall into that category, too. The Rams and Warriors will meet in Wells on Oct. 14, the first varsity football game between the two schools in 20 years. For decades, they were regular opponents. The rivalry began in 1926 but was last played in 2002, Kennebunk’s final season in Class B before increased enrollment pushed the Rams to Class A. Wells won that game at Kennebunk, 21-7.

“It was a huge deal,” Wells Coach Tim Roche said of that game two decades ago. “We won.”

Staff Writer Steve Craig contributed to this story.