After a 1-0 loss Wednesday at Cape Elizabeth, North Yarmouth Academy boys’ soccer coach Martyn Keen lamented the prospect of losing Heal points.

“That’s a lot of points that disappeared with 52 seconds left,” Keen said, in reference to Tim Lavallee’s goal in the final minute that secured the win for Cape Elizabeth.

A victory would have been valuable to the Panthers because the game was a unique matchup, pitting a Class A program against a Class C program in a regular-season game.

But what brought even more of a wrinkle into it was that Cape Elizabeth has a Class B enrollment of 600 students and NYA has a Class D enrollment of 197, two below the Maine Principals’ Association’s cutoff of 199 for Class D. The school petitioned the MPA to play in Class C despite the enrollment.

Cape and Greely are unique. Both are classified as Class A in boys’ soccer but play a predominantly Western Class B schedule in the regular season.

Likewise, the Carrabec/Madison cooperative boys’ soccer team is classified in Class B for the playoffs, but plays a predominantly Western Class C regular-season schedule.

“(Cape and Greely) are in the Western Maine Conference, which is made up of Class B and C schools, and that’s where all the schools get their league schedules and are league-affiliated,” said Mike Burnham, assistant executive direcor of the Maine Principals’ Association. “They choose to play in the Class A playoffs but the schedule comes from their league.”

And yes, playing regular-season games against schools in different classes could have postseason ramifications – the higher a team’s class, the more points a team could gain with a victory.

“If a team wins a number of games and you upset them, you accumulate more Heal points,” Burnham said.

“Part of the reason the system works as well as it does is that a Class B school that a Class C team could defeat is worth more (points) than a win over a Class C school.”

SANFORD OPENED the season with two victories before Thursday’s loss at Cheverus – a surprising start for the Redskins, a school not necessarily known for boys’ soccer.

But Coach Brian Desrochers sees room for improvement.

“We’re capable of playing teams that are of Cheverus’ caliber and better teams, but we have to do all the little things,” Desrochers said after the 3-0 loss. “We’re not as talented or as good as some of these teams, so we’re just going to have to play real solid, an all-the-way team concept kind of game in order to be successful.”

WHILE SCHOOLS throughout most of Maine are entering the second week of the regular season, many boys’ and girls’ soccer programs at schools in Aroostook County are about to reach the halfway point of the season, just in time for the annual potato harvest.

Teams from the County that play in Eastern Class B, C and D opened the season in mid-August, right around the time many schools were starting preseason practices for fall sports.

Madawaska, like other schools in northern Maine, gets a two-week break from school for the annual potato harvest in mid-September.

With the early start, the Madawaska boys’ soccer team, another team that is in Class C but plays against Class B, C and D teams during the regular season, opened the season Aug. 17 with a 6-2 victory at Central Aroostook, and the Owls currently are 6-2, atop the Eastern Class C boys’ soccer Heal point standings.

The Owls played Tuesday at Fort Kent before a two-week break, then resume the schedule Oct 5 at home against Fort Kent.

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at: rlenzi@pressherald.com