READFIELD — The game is just bigger here now.

You can see it in the numbers — at least Cam Griffey can. The Maranacook football senior can only think about how much the sport has grown in his time at the school when he looks around at the 44 athletes on his team.

“I remember freshman year when we only had around 20 kids or so,” said Griffey, a two-way lineman for the Black Bears. “To see this many kids show up, it’s been real nice. It shows the enthusiasm is really building.”

The growth in roster size has corresponded with a bigger form of the game, too. One of the original teams to make the jump to eight-man football back in 2019, Maranacook is now back in the 11-man ranks in Class D South, where it seeks to match the success it had in the eight-man game.

Maranacook was one of the strongest eight-man teams during its four seasons in the format, going 26-11. The Black Bears went 9-1 in 2019 before going 5-4 with a Small School South title in 2021 and posting back-to-back 6-3 campaigns in 2022 and 2023.

With that success has come increased interest. Maranacook suited up 42 players last year, and despite graduating a large class of successful players this year, an incoming of 11 freshmen plus some newcomers from other sports have resulted in a robust roster this fall.

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“I don’t think football is the No. 1 sport at this school, but it’s getting there,” said head coach Skip Bessey. “When you can have almost 40-50 kids playing in a school of (360), that’s a good part of your male (student body) that wants to play football. I think everybody just sees us having fun, and that’s why the numbers are growing.”

Bessey knew when he took the job ahead of the 2023 season that returning to 11-man football was a reasonable goal. He had wondered if Maranacook could play 11-man last season, but because he got the job in mid-June, it was too late to get the ball rolling on a move with camp just two months away.

For Bessey, the transition has been remarkably easy. After all, he was coaching 11-man ball just two years ago as an assistant at Messalonskee, where he still teaches as a Jobs for Maine Graduates specialist. He thinks the transition should be easier for his team than some of the others moving back to 11-man.

Maranacook coach Skip Bessey, center, instructs the team during football practice Monday in Readfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

“It’s a bigger field, and I told them that, but the playbook really doesn’t change that much in terms of how we call the plays and the blocking schemes,” Bessey said. “You’re only adding three people on both sides of the ball, but other than that and the width of the field, everything stays the same. I think it’ll be an easy transition.”

One of the primary adjustments for returning players on the first day of practice, Bessey and Griffey both agreed, was on the defensive side. Cornerbacks, Bessey said, took notice of how much more field they had to cover. Griffey said he felt the three extra players challenge the defense more than the offense.

Maranacook does face some personnel losses from last year’s squad. Those players include All-Campbell Conference selections Kody Goucher (quarterback), Owen Dunn (running back/defensive tackle), Robbie Vivenzio (wide receiver/defensive back) and Pat Cushing (line).

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That means the onus is on some new players to step up this year. One who will be tasked with doing so is senior Jack Crosby, a senior who is set to receive more carries following the graduations of Dunn and fellow running back Gabe Jacobs. He thinks the stretched field gives the Black Bears a greater opportunity for success.

“I think the wider field is a game-changer, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing for us,” Crosby said. “It gives us a lot of open space to work with and a lot of open field, both on offense and defense. It’s definitely going to be different, but it’s definitely a game-changer and huge for us.”

Maranacook is one of four teams returning to Class D from the eight-man ranks this season. Also back are Class D South foes Dirigo and Mountain Valley — the former has had some top battles with the Black Bears in recent seasons — and Mattanawcook Academy, which Maranacook plays in Week 1.

Those three games will all be big ones on the calendar for the Black Bears, who also have a Week 7 showdown with new local foe Winthrop. It’s an invigorating step for a program that hasn’t played at this level of football since 2016. (Maranacook played in the Class E developmental league in 2017 and 2018.)

“We had our parent meeting (Sunday) night, and even coming from Messalonskee, it was the biggest parent meeting I’ve had,” Bessey said. “We just did a fundraiser, and we raised almost $12,000. I’ve coached at three schools, and I’ve never seen a community so excited in wanting their football program to grow.”

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