Brunswick, Morse eye `B’ football future

The football programs at Brunswick High School and Morse High School of Bath, which have struggled in recent years, may be in the midst of their final Pine Tree Conference season.

The teams aren’t planning to drop football, but a continuing decline in enrollment at both schools will make the Dragons and the Shipbuilders eligible to be classified as Class B teams in 1993.

Morse is the larger of the two schools, with approximately 770 students. Brunswick’s enrollment is around the 700 mark. The Maine Principals’ Association cutoff for Class A teams is 800.

Both schools could petition the MPA to remain in Class A, but will automatically be reclassified to Class B if they do not “apply up.”

School representatives say no serious discussion has taken place in regard to their possible reclassification in football. Yet, the move appears to be a logical one.

Morse and Brunswick have achieved little gridiron success of late as members of the PTC. Morse teams have compiled a dismal 15-70 overall record in the last decade, while Brunswick sports an unimpressive 23-54-1 mark in its last eight seasons.

“We haven’t even discussed it, but we have only approximately 700 kids in our school right now,” said Brunswick Athletic Director Gary Heald, who said there were 1,100-plus students there in 1985. “To remain in (Class) A wouldn’t make a lot of sense, given the history of our football program in the last several years.”

Declining enrollments, coupled with the tremendous success of area soccer programs and budgetary woes in both school districts have played a part in the two teams’ gridiron woes.

Morse Coach Brad Bishop said his program suffered a big blow after the 1991 season when 20 percent of the school’s athletic budget was slashed. With the reduction went Morse’s freshman program and three paid assistant coaches.

Bishop would welcome the switch to Class B.

“Everything was chopped,” he said, adding that 19 teaching positions also were cut. “There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll compete in this league next year, but you’ve got to play on a level field with the teams you’re playing. I don’t see how three or four years down the road we can compete.”

While Morse has 50 players on its varsity roster, including freshmen, the situation at Brunswick is worse. Heald said the Dragons have fewer than 40 varsity players.

Brunswick, which had its entire athletic operating budget eliminated prior to the 1991-92 school year, is under the strain of having to privately raise more than $100,000 a year to run its high school athletic programs. The school uses a pay-to-play system, which requires students to pay a $20 fee for each sport.

Heald views the chance to play in Class B as an opportunity for the Dragons to be more competitive.

“We want to compete on a reasonable basis,” Heald said. “We’re not going to be a power in B by any means. At least they’d have a chance to win a few games.”

With numbers declining, victories infrequent and soccer flourishing in Brunswick, Heald said the program needs a boost.

“We have tremendous participation in soccer here and our numbers are way down in football,” Heald said. “Kids are losing interest. It (the move to Class B) would be very important to us.”

Heald said Brunswick likely would reclassify to Class B in field hockey, swimming and cross country if it did so for football.

Should Morse and Brunswick leave the PTC, there are some ramifications, especially with scheduling. The teams would have to hook up with either the LTC or the Western Maine Class B league.

Morse and Brunswick would keep their gridiron rivalry, which is important to both programs.

The PTC likely would not welcome the departure of Brunswick and Morse, which would leave the league with a seven-game, regular-season schedule instead of its current nine-game format.

In the end, the decision whether to move from Class A to Class B will come down to what is best for the future health of the respective programs. The only other alternative appears to be the gradual extinction of both programs.

“I have no intentions of that,” Heald said. “I do the best I can to see that all programs have a fair chance to survive.”