An influx of new teams results in realignment.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

The Pine Tree Conference will be branching out next season, and so will the rest of Class A football.

With four new teams moving up from Class B for the 2003 season, Class A has realigned to accommodate the new schools and maintain the current playoff structure.

Eastern A, also known as the Pine Tree Conference, and Western A, also known as the SMAA, have each absorbed two new teams for the upcoming season. Each conference has been divided into two, seven-team divisions. Teams will play an eight-game schedule, including six against the other teams in their division, one against a team in the conference’s other division, and one against a team in the other conference.

Mt. Ararat and Windham will now be part of the Pine Tree Conference, and join Edward Little, Lewiston, Oxford Hills, Brunswick and Gardiner in the PTC South division. The PTC North will consist of Mt. Blue, Bangor Cony, Lawrence, Messalonskee, Skowhegan and Waterville.

Scarborough will join the SMAA and become part of the Intown division, along with Bonny Eagle, Cheverus, Deering, Portland, South Portland and Westbrook. Kennebunk moves up to join the York County division with Biddeford, Marshwood, Massabesic, Noble, Sanford and Thornton Academy. Crabtree points will still be used to determine the top eight teams in each conference that will make the playoffs.

The realignment plan was devised by a quartet of athletic directors — Dick Agreste of Thornton Academy, Jeff Benson of Edward Little, Steve Ouellette of Lawrence and Don Wilson of Biddeford, at a recent meeting at Edward Little High School.

With only Mt. Ararat originally slated to join the PTC and Kennebunk, Scarborough and Windham lined up for the SMAA, both conferences faced playing with an odd number of teams, 13 in the PTC and 15 in the SMAA.

League officials planned to incorporate crossover games into the new schedule that was made necessary by the additional teams. But the odd number of teams would have meant only a portion of the schools could have played crossover games. Each team would have also had a bye week

To balance the numbers in both conferences, the PTC asked Windham to consider moving to Eastern A. Windham has played the last two seasons in Western B.

“Windham agreed to play Class A East football. Part of the stipulation was that we do a conference crossover game,” said Ouellette. “They wanted to still have that connection to southern Maine.”

For geography and travel purposes, the PTC South was paired with the York County division for crossover games. The PTC North will meet teams from the Intown division. Crossover games will be played the second week of the season, Sept. 12-13.

“We drew the matchups out of a hat, and it looked like we drew some pretty good matchups,” Ouellette said.

Among the crossover contests, Edward Little will play Sanford, Lewiston will face Noble, Mt. Blue and Westbrook will meet, and Oxford Hills will play Biddeford.

“I think it’s a great schedule. We did the best for everybody,” Benson said. “Getting eight games with no byes so you can keep eight teams in the playoffs was the key.”

The new format will be in effect for the next two years. With enrollment at Eastern Maine schools on the decline and more Western Maine schools starting up new football programs each year, Ouellette expects this new format and the shift of three Class B schools to Eastern Maine (see related story) to be just the early stages of a rapidly changing Maine high school football landscape.

“I think in the next five to 10 years you’re going to see some dramatic changes,” Ouellette said. “Some of these schools could become Class B schools, and that causes another drastic realignment.”