Five towns start youth football league Survey found high interest

When officials at the Hartland Community Center wanted to adapt their offerings to the needs of the children in the community two years ago, they took a survey.

What they discovered was somewhat surprising. Football wasn’t one of the options listed, but it elicited enough write-in support to rank seventh among 21 activities suggested by survey respondents.

“That definitely told us something,” said Scott Finnemore, the community center’s building director.

Ron Simmons, a former offensive guard at Plymouth State College who now is a physical education teacher at Mount View Junior High School in Thorndike, discovered similar interest in football in his hometown of Unity.

“We’d had some kids ask for us to start some sort of football,” he said.

This fall, youths in grades 6 through 9 from those areas, as well as from Corinth, Newport, and Hermon, will get their chance as the Moosehead Trail Football League kicks off its inaugural season. More than 100 youths are practicing now, and league officials expect more once school starts in all those communities.

Each of the five towns will field teams in heavyweight and lightweight divisions, playing eight-player tackle football.

“We thought with eight-man football that we could develop the kids’ football skills quicker,” said Simmons, coach of the Unity team. “With fewer players on the field, we could spend more time on specific skills.”

The MTFL is meant as a developmental league, with some rules specifically designed to promote the growth of basic football skills. There will be no blitzing by linebackers and no linemen playing in gaps between opposing linemen. Teams will run a set number of basic plays on offense, including six specific running plays to each side of the field. The field to be used is 80 yards long by 40 yards wide.

“We’re working to help the kids develop some basic skills,” said Finnemore, coach of the Hartland team. “Eight-man football is a high-scoring offense. You have to learn to tackle well, because if you don’t there will be even more scoring.”

This league has no affiliation with the schools in their towns, though in some cases field space has been made available, Simmons said.

Funding comes primarily from parents and private sources, in Hartland’s case from Irving Tanning Co.

Each participant is charged $175, $145 for a uniform and pads and $30 to cover insurance. All the coaches are volunteers, and donations will be accepted to help pay for game officials, Finnemore said.

League organizers recently ran six evenings of summer camp, two nights each in Hartland, Unity, and Hermon. About 115 players showed up for individual instruction and team scrimmages.

“When it was in Hartland, a lot of people drove by and saw all the kids out there, and then they’d stop to see what was going on,” Finnemore said. “We got some calls, people wondering about it and wondering who was paying for it. I’d tell them it was totally family funded, with some private sponsors to help out.”

The short-term plan is to start games on Saturday, Sept. 13, with each team playing an eight-game schedule.

“The goals we’ve set right now are as open-ended as we can make them,” Finnemore said. “The main objective for the league is to make football available to some kids who didn’t have it.”

The longer-term goals of the league are evolving.

“Our goal is to go up two grade levels and eventually have high school and junior high-age football within the Moosehead Trail Football League,” said Simmons. “For me, I see nothing less than 11-man football down the road. Whether we get under the Maine Principals’ Association in our district remains to be seen; it depends on how each district feels.”

The MPA is the sanctioning body for high school sports in the state.

“Right now we really like the idea that the league is growing at our own pace,” Simmons added.