Let the record show that the final scoring play in the history of the Dirigo/Buckfield co-operative football program was an 18-yard pass from Dakota Holmquist to Levi Hutchins in the fourth quarter of the program’s penultimate game.

As they planned from the outset, the two schools are parting company after two years together and a combined 4-14 record.

Next month, Dirigo’s school board will consider a proposal to go on its own in football.

“We’d love to still have Buckfield on board, but we have the numbers for a seperate team,” said Dirigo athletic director Jeff Turnbull. “We’d like to be eligible for the playoffs, etc.”

Players from Dirigo made up 34 of the 37 spots on the team’s final roster this season. The school also has 15 eighth graders waiting in the wings for next season.

Buckfield, meanwhile, had just three players on this year’s roster, including QB Jamie Henderson, and has 13 players in its middle school program.

Buckfield AD Ryan Wilkins said the school knew this day would come but has been unable to maintain enough momentum and interest to keep the varsity program alive for next year.

“I think it served its purpose in that the kids that started their career in subvarsity were able to start at the varsity level,” Wilkins said. “The bad part of that is, once they went through, we didn’t have enough kids to sustain the program. Now we’re just facing the realities of Class D schools who try to have football.”

Dirigo has offered to allow Buckfield players an opportunity to play for their subvarsity team, but Wilkins doesn’t expect Buckfield’s football boosters to accept. Wilkins plans to meet with the boosters soon to determine in what direction to take the football program. He said it’s highly unlikely the school will do anything beyond subvarsity football next year unless it finds another school to form another cooperative team.

That was yesterday

Livermore Falls coach Brad Bishop and Jay coach Mark Bonnevie aren’t worried about a letdown from their teams following last week’s emotional game between the two rivals.

“I think we’ve bounced back pretty well, considering all of the hoopla leading up to the Jay game,” said Bishop.

The second-seeded Andies host No. 3 Lisbon in the Campbell Conference semifinals tonight.

No. 1 Jay welcomes fourth-seeded Boothbay, and Bonnevie is telling his team not to expect the Seahawks to be intimidated by the Tigers’ perfect record.

“They’ve been in this situation a lot more times than we have,” Bonnevie said. “This is just normal for them. Their season’s always 10 or 11 weeks long.”

Hello again

This will be the third time in the last four years that Skowhegan and Mt. Blue will meet in the Pine Tree Conference playoffs, with all three games being played at Caldwell Field. Skowhegan won in 2001, 14-0. the Cougars won last year’s quarterfinal, 18-0.