What isn’t in dispute among Maine’s high school football coaches and athletic administrators is the need to add a fourth class for the state’s 76 football programs.

Just how close the Maine Principals’ Association’s first draft of a four-class plan comes to making that goal acceptable to a passable majority of its member schools is still subject to debate, especially among area coaches and administrators.

Last week, the football committee developed a plan for four classes, which MPA officials said is far from a finished product. It will submit the proposal to all member schools in the coming weeks for feedback, including which schools would want to petition up a class.

Once it collects that information, the football committee will meet again to craft a final recommendation to bring before the full membership in April of 2013.

The current plan calls for 18 teams each in Class A and Class B and 20 teams each in Class C and Class D, with each class divided into East and West regions. The classes are based on enrollment, 850 and over for A, 625-849 for B, 450-624 for C and below 450 for Class D.

A small sampling of local coaches and athletic administrators applauded the MPA for taking up the four-class cause again, two years after membership tabled a similar proposal over concerns that it would impact conferences, individual schools and traditional rivalries.

Competitive balance has been the driving force behind the growing movement for four football classes. For the most part, local coaches believe that can be achieved with the initial plan, especially if some traditionally dominant programs decide to petition up despite declining enrollment.

“Getting the balance within the classes will be great for everyone,” Edward Little coach Dave Sterling said.

Still, some of the same stumbling blocks may remain.

Travel and competition

Travel is a concern for some schools. Under the plan, Bangor is virtually on an island in Eastern A, losing its closest competitors under the current structure such as Lawrence and Messalonskee, while adding the three Portland schools, Portland, Cheverus and Deering, located nearly two hours away.

Western B would also cover a large geographic area, extending east to west from Rockland to Fryeburg and north to south from Camden to Kennebunk.

Winthrop and Maranacook of Readfield would move from Western C to Eastern D, joining what now constitutes the Little Ten Conference, with schools such as Bucksport, Washington Academy of East Machias, Stearns of Millinocket and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.

Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton called the initial plan “a really good start,” but added he was “shocked” by the numbers and where the Ramblers were placed.

“The closest team we have is an hour away,” he said.

Some road trips could run as long as six hours round-trip for the Ramblers, Stoneton said.

“It’s going to be very difficult for us to continue to have a budget that can fund gas and paying for drivers for that,” he said. “Millinocket, at least it’s up 95, but that’s still three, four hours. The worst that we ever did (in Western C) was Old Orchard or Traip, and that’s an hour. You’re talking about putting kids on a four-hour bus ride that are supposed to show up and perform, and they’re going to have to leave at 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock in the afternoon to get there on time.”

Eastern A schools such as Edward Little, Lewiston and Oxford Hills would have their road trips reduced slightly with the addition of the Portland teams and see some old rivalries renewed.

Sterling played for Edward Little in the 1980s, when it was still in the SMAA and played the Portland area schools, and would welcome the opportunity to renew acquaintances.

“I thought it was an excellent mix, as far as playing those schools. I think Oxford Hills and some of these other schools, it will really benefit them, as well,” he said.

Three-time Eastern Class B champion Leavitt would move to Western C, where it would reunite with former Campbell Conference rivals York and Lake Region. It would also have a chance to start a new rivalry with nearby Spruce Mountain.

“We like where we’re located because, number one, it is built on enrollments,” Leavitt athletic director Jeff Ramich said. “If those number stay in tact, we’re going to be a solid Class C school, (with an enrollment) right around 600 for the foreseeable future. Based on the division we’re in, we’re very excited where we’re at.”

Mt. Blue, which shifted from Class A to Class B in last year’s realignment, is matched with a number of former rivals, such as Lawrence and Skowhegan, in the proposed Eastern B. Coach Gary Parlin, one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of a four-class system, endorsed where the Cougars fall in the plan and hopes travel doesn’t become an overriding issue for other schools.

“Unless you just start regionalizing teams, I don’t know any other way you could do it with travel,” Parlin said. “In the game of football, you’ve got to play in the school populations that you’re the same with or it’s such a lopsided thing.”

“The Class B situation is very good. It’s the old PTC, some of it, back again. I think they’ve got some issues in Class A,” Parlin added. “If we were in A East, this conversation would be going a lot differently.”

The biggest issue in Class A that Parlin foresees is the split of the Portland schools from A West, which has dominated Class A football, winning nine of the last 10 state titles. A run of state championship games involving two southern Maine teams wouldn’t be an attractive scenario to some Eastern A participants.

Competitive balance could also be a concern in Class D, where Mountain Valley and Wells, winners of four of the last six Class B titles, are assigned. The two schools petitioned up to play in Class B for the 2011-12 seasons.

Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward could not be reached for comment.

Conference impact

Conferences weren’t addressed in the MPA plan. The football committee kept them out of the equation, focusing on matching similarly-sized schools for postseason play. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be impacted.

“The changes that they are looking at are going to put some stress on league affiliations, there’s no question about it,” Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller said. “It’s going to take the leagues working together to sit down and iron out those details.”

One of the details in classes A and B would be how to formulate a schedule from the nine-team regional divisions.

“With nine teams in two divisions of Class A, that might be difficult,” Sterling said. “We might have to go back to having a bye week. I’d prefer having a crossover game with the other division, but I don’t know how that will work out.”

First, though, the football committee will have to work out it’s own plan for the state as a whole, a task no one thinks will be easy.

Some coaches and athletic directors believe the last proposal failed because too many schools put their self-interest over what was best for high school football in Maine. Don’t expect that to change, warned Parlin.

“We all look to see where our own teams fall. Anyone who says that they don’t and they’re only look at the whole picture… You look at your own situation first,” he said.

“It’s better than what it is right now, and that’s what’s important,” he added. “Hopefully, when this all comes out, it will all be better than what we have right now.”

Potential class realignment under the rough draft as drafted by the MPA football committee:

Class A (850+)

East: Bangor, Brunswick, Cheverus, Deering, Edward Little, Lewiston, Mount Ararat, Oxford Hills, Portland

West: Bonny Eagle, Gorham, Massabesic, Noble, Scarborough, Sanford, South Portland, Thornton Academy, Windham

Class B (625-849)

East: Brewer, Cony, Ellsworth-Sumner, Hampden Academy, Lawrence, Messalonskee, Mt. Blue, Nokomis, Skowhegan

West: Biddeford, Camden Hills, Falmouth, Fryeburg Academy, Greely, Kennebunk, Marshwood, Oceanside, Westbrook

Class C (450-624)

East: Belfast, Foxcroft Academy, Gardiner, Hermon, John Bapst, Madison-Carrabec, Mount Desert Island, Old Town, Waterville, Winslow

West: Cape Elizabeth, Freeport, Gray-New Gloucester, Lake Region, Leavitt, Morse, Poland, Spruce Mountain, Yarmouth, York

Class D (0-449)

East: Bucksport, Dexter, Maine Central Institute, Maranacook, Mattanawcook Academy, Mount View, Orono, Stearns, Washington Academy, Winthrop

West: Boothbay, Dirigo, Lisbon, Mountain Valley, Oak Hill, Old Orchard Beach, Sacopee Valley, Telstar, Traip Academy, Wells