For the last five years, the majority of Western Class C football teams have been waiting for a window of opportunity to open at the top of the Campbell Conference.

Boothbay and Winthrop have won all five conference championships during that time, and it really hasn’t been close. Making matters more frustrating for the league’s second-tier teams, Lisbon and Oak Hill have had a stranglehold on the league’s other two post-season berths over the last two years.

For the teams that have found themselves on the outside looking in, the 2003 season may be their best chance to start looking down in the standings rather than up.

While Boothbay and Winthrop are still counted among the league favorites, each either has major holes to fill or is in the middle of a tenuous transition period. Lisbon, meanwhile, is undergoing perhaps the biggest rebuilding project in coach Dick Mynahan’s long career, and Oak Hill is gone from the conference completely, having moved east and into Class B.

Two-time defending Class C champions Boothbay remains the team to beat, because the Seahawks still have a strong senior nucleus. Senior Justin Wood will be the featured back in the whirling-dervish, double-wing offense. Mike Norton, the best tight end in the conference, is back as the top pass-catching threat.

The offensive line is much smaller and less experienced than in recent years, however, and first-year quarterback Ryan Babcock has the tough task of stepping in for the departed Will Carroll, one of the most underrated signal-callers in Class C the last two years.

Chris Kempton’s return to the Winthrop sideline got off to a rocky start when it was learned that six players, including his starting and backup quarterbacks, will be academically ineligible for the Ramblers’ season-opener against a rising Livermore Falls squad. The Ramblers were already a bit short-handed to enter the season, with an unusually low turnout of 29 players for the varsity squad, including 10 freshmen.

Still, Winthrop will field a formidable group, particularly on offense. Derek Gray, the conference’s leading rusher last year with over 1,600 yards, is back. He will run behind a veteran offensive line led on the right side by 338-pound tackle Chad Caron and 250-pound guard Chris Lavigne.

“From tackle to tight end, we’re all-senior,” Kempton said. “We’ve got a senior 1,600-yard rusher at tailback, so guess what we’re going to be doing.”

Last year’s starting QB, Jake Clark, is one of the players who will miss the opener. His backup, sophomore Travis Frautten, is also ineligible. So the Ramblers are turning to sophomore Tavis Hasenfus, whom Kempton describes as a big, athletic QB with a strong arm.

“This kid has absolutely opened our eyes. We’re just thrilled with him. He’s throwing darts,” Kempton said. “He understands the offense and we put a whole new offense in. We’re very, very happy with what was a very unsettling situation going into training camp.”

Should Hasenfus continue to impress, Clark, a junior, may be moved to wide receiver to add depth to a group that already includes seniors Chirs McPherson and Mike LaRue and tight end Rob Michaud.

While the offensive scheme will be new, the Ramblers will be making few changes on defense. Defensive coordinator Art Van Wart is the only holdover from the previous coaching staff. Michaud and Jon Mortimer at linebacker and Gray at strong safety hope to carry on the swarming, hard-hitting style that has served Winthrop well in recent years.

Expectations are high at Jay, which has all but four starters returning from a team that was one of the most improved in the conference at the end of last season. Coach Mark Bonnevie and his team sense that the time is now for the Tigers to re-emerge.

“You’ve still got Boothbay, Winthrop and Lisbon at the top until someone knocks one of those three teams out of there,” Bonnevie said. “That’s what we’re striving for, for us to be one of those teams, and we’re headed in the right direction.”

Junior QB Justin Wells is back to direct an offense that retains three of its top four receivers. Running backs Austin Ouellette and Shawn Jacques and wide receiver Marc Kelvey collected over 20 receptions apiece last year.

Wells threw for 1,568 yards and 17 touchdowns as a sophomore and should improve upon those numbers, but the Tigers hope the offensive line with a year of experience under its belt and the emergence of fullback Kyle Richards will boost the running game and give the offense more balance.

The Tigers will some good size up front on defense, but the unit’s overall quickness should give opposing offense’s fits. Justin Merrill, Jimmy Shink, Mark St. Pierre, Jared McCourt and Kyle Wells will see time on the defensive line, with Ouellette, Jacques, Kelvey, Justin Wells and Joel Ouellette manning the secondary.

Richards and A.J. Nelson lead a linebacker corps that still needs someone to step up and man the middle.

Developing strength up the middle will be a key to success for Lisbon this year. The Greyhounds lost nine starters on offense, including their entire offensive line. Mynahan’s coaching staff spent the preseason dividing their prospective linemen into four groups daily and worked with each group equally trying to find one that will open running lanes for running backs John Tefft, Derek Roy and Tony Walker. Junior Chris Kates, who saw time as a starter on defense the last two years, takes over at quarterback.

“The strength in our team is the three backs,” Mynahan said. “This is one of the more balanced backfields we’ve had in a long time.”

The defense will also have to gel with a lot of new faces on board. There is experience at key spots with Kates and Tefft in the secondary, Roy at linebacker and Walker, who could be one of the best defensive linemen in Class C, at defensive end.

Livermore Falls came close to making the playoffs for the first time since 1999 last year with a 5-4 record. The Andies bring back 11 starters, including seven on defense, to try to crack the post-season this season.

The Andies won’t be as big as last year, but their speed should help make up for that. Tom Durrell, Jed Hiscock and Tyler Cote will be among the contributors up front with help from linebackers Matt Belmonte, Matt Brochu and Garrett Young.

“We have a lot of kids that played defense for us last year, so we’re going to be a little more aggressive and stunt more and play a two-gap defense rather than a four-gap,” said Bishop, whose team experimented with a four-man front at the end of last year after playing five down linemen for much of the year.

The offense will be armed with less experience this year but still has junior QB Dane Hanson and junior fullback Brad Bryant to make plays. Halfback Chuck Drake, split end Cole Flagg and tight end Belmonte will be key players in the passing offense.

Madison, with only nine returning starters, can probably count on its renowned hard-nosed defense to keep it in some games. The question will be whether a revamped offense can score enough to put the Bulldogs back into playoff contention.

Old Orchard Beach likewise has nine starters back but will be short-handed for the first half of the season with one-quarter of its roster academically ineligible. Traip will try to bring a halt to its 19-game losing streak and has the potential to do more damage with 13 returning starters and some promising playmakers on offense.

Two new programs fill out the Campbell Conference slate – Cape Elizabeth and Buckfield/Dirigo. Cape went 1-7 in the Developmental League last season. Buckfield/Dirigo has a nucleus of Buckfield players seasoned by up to three years of JV competition and Dirigo players who are good athletes and are eager to pick up coach Jim Wetherell’s system.

The offense essentially will revolve around three seniors and a freshman in the starting backfield. Halfbacks Scott Wetherell and Brandon Berry and fullback Craig Langervin have the size and speed to chew up yardage on the ground. QB Jamie Henderson has impressed in preseason with his arm and poise in the pocket.

“I’ve seen a lot of freshmen, and he’s probably the best freshman athlete I’ve ever seen,” Wetherell said. “He’s a big, strong kid and makes good decisions.”