The criteria used at a Monday meeting by the LTC to set Classes B and C playoff seeds in football were not in compliance with that established by the Maine Principals’ Association. However, the MPA authorized the conference to go ahead with the process, according to MPA assistant executive director Larry LaBrie.

The MPA is the sanctioning body for high school sports and its bulletin for football states the Crabtree points system should be used to determine the sport’s playoff seeds.

However, league officials were apparently unaware of the bulletin’s playoff provision until Monday’s meeting to clear up a murky playoff picture which included a tie for second place in LTC Class C between Bucksport and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.

“They had an established set of guidelines. They were advised [by the MPA] to go ahead and use them rather than changing them at that point,” LaBrie said.

As a result, Bucksport, which would have hosted Mattanawcook under the criteria set by the MPA, will travel to Lincoln tonight for an LTC Class C semifinal at 7.

“The bottom line is the league has a set of guidelines,” LaBrie said. “The leagues are charged with providing us with a representative to the state championship game. They have been asked to use the Crabtree. I think it was an oversight on their part.”

Bucksport athletic director Tish Frazier would only say that the school would “abide” by the decision.

The Crabtree system mandated by the MPA adds a team’s winning percentage to its opponents’ combined percentage and then is multiplied by 100 to determine its playoff index.

Bucksport had a final index of 117.29 and Mattanawcook’s was 112.35 in the Crabtree system.

Instead of using the Crabtree, the LTC used a tiebreaking system established in 1999. The process first applies league record, followed by head-to-head competition. Mattanawcook and Bucksport each had a record of 6-3, but Mattanawcook defeated Bucksport during the regular season and was established as the second seed behind top-seeded Foxcroft Academy.

Doug Cummings, the headmaster at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield and president of the LTC, met with Bunky Dow, the league’s secretary-treasurer and athletic director at Mount Desert Island, Monday in Pittsfield. Representatives of every school in the conference, with the exception John Bapst Memorial in Bangor, attended the meeting.

Cummings said that the conference’s executive committee was aware of the MPA bulletin but not of the stated playoff criteria.

“We contacted the MPA for clarity,” Cumming said.

LaBrie said the MPA decided to use the Crabtree point system two years ago when an MPA ad hoc sports committee recommended that all of the conferences become consistent.

Cummings pointed out that leagues have some “autonomy” in determining their process.

“I don’t know where the whole thing will end up, but I think we did the right thing at the time,” Cummings said.

Bucksport football coach Joel Sankey said his team will climb on a bus this afternoon and make the trip to Lincoln without complaint.

“I think the league has got to take a look at how they select teams for the playoffs. If the state requires Crabtree, I think they should look at that and do what the state recommends,” Sankey said.