Balance abounds at the top of the Pine Tree Conference Class A standings, with five teams entering the final weekend of regular-season play with 6-1 records, and another team just one game behind at 5-2.

That suggests a top-heavy presence within the two-division, 14-team league, but all is not lost for many other clubs with postseason aspirations.

Eleven teams – including 1-6 Lewiston – still have a mathematical chance to qualify for the eight-team playoffs, should the Week 8 results fall the right way.

How teams are seeded will be determined not by win-loss records, but by the Crabtree Point System, which takes into account the collective success of a team’s opponents as well as each team’s success against its schedule.

To determine a team’s Crabtree point index for football, add the team’s winning percentage and its opponents’ winning percentage, then add 100 and multiply that total by 100.

If teams are tied according to Crabtree points, several tiebreakers can be used to determine seedings. They begin with head-to-head competition, if applicable. That is followed in order by Heal points, division record within the teams’ conference, overall record, and, lastly, a coin toss.

It won’t come as a great shock if some of the tiebreakers are required to determine playoff seedings in Eastern Maine.

Take Eastern A, where there are four ties for position among the 11 teams vying for playoff berths. Gardiner (6-1) ranks first in Crabtree points (128.5724), while 6-1 Mt. Blue of Farmington and 5-2 Brunswick (122.4490) are tied for second and 6-1 Messalonskee of Oakland and 6-1 Windham (120.4082) share fourth place. Bangor (114.2857) is sixth, with Skowhegan (100.0000) in seventh and 2-5 Cony of Augusta and 3-4 Oxford Hills of South Paris (87.7551) tied for eighth.

Even Lewiston and 2-5 Mount Ararat of Topsham have reason for hope, tied for 10th in the Crabtree points at 83.6735, barely four points behind Cony and Oxford Hills.

Some significant Week 8 matchups could shake up those standings. Bangor, for instance, is 6-1 but likely needs a Homecoming win against 6-1 Messalonskee to earn home-field advantage for the quarterfinals.

The Rams have been hurt not by how they have played, but who they have played in crossover games outside the Pine Tree Conference’s northern division. Coach Mark Hackett’s club has faced a pair of last-place teams, 1-6 Edward Little of Auburn from the PTC South and Western A member Cheverus of Portland, at 0-7 the only winless team in Class A statewide.

The 1-13 combined record of EL and Cheverus diminishes Bangor’s opponents’ winning percentage, which has resulted in the Rams’ sixth-place ranking in the Crabtree points through Week 7.

Other key games this weekend have 6-1 Mt Blue at 3-4 Skowhegan, 3-4 Oxford Hills at 6-1 Windham, 2-5 Cony at 6-1 Gardiner and 2-5 Mount Ararat at 5-2 Brunswick.

The race is similarly heated in Class B, where six teams still harbor playoff hopes with two weeks left in regular-season play. Undefeated Brewer, 5-2 Leavitt of Turner Center and 5-2 Winslow are in strong position to secure three of the four available berths, and 4-3 Belfast could take a big step toward earning the fourth bid with a win at 3-4 Morse of Bath on Friday night. Morse and 3-4 Oak Hill of Wales also still have legitimate playoff hopes.

Matters are most settled in the LTC Class C ranks, with undefeated Bucksport, Foxcroft Academy, Orono and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln all en route to postseason play.

Bucksport and Foxcroft are in control of their own destiny for earning the top two seeds and home-field advantage in the regional semifinals. Bucksport (7-0) has a couple of potential tests in games against 5-2 Mattanawcook at Lincoln on Friday and then a season-ending home contest against 6-1 Orono.

Foxcroft (6-1), which already owns wins over MA and Orono, hosts 4-3 Rockland this Friday before visiting 2-5 Dexter on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Orono, coming off a 30-29 win against Mattanawcook, will host 1-6 Maranacook of Readfield on Friday before facing Bucksport. MA ends its regular season at 1-6 Stearns of Millinocket.

GNG to join varsity grid ranks

The state’s high school football ranks will have at least one new entry next year.

Gray-New Gloucester, which recently has been playing a subvarsity schedule in preparation of fielding a varsity program, has informed the Maine Principals’ Association of its intention to join the Western Maine ranks next fall, according to MPA assistant executive director Larry Labrie.

According to current plans, the joint Dirigo-Buckfield entry in Western C is scheduled to field separate Dirigo and Buckfield teams in 2005, but that move has not been made final.

The addition of Gray-New Gloucester and a separate Buckfield squad would bring to 68 the number of varsity football programs in the state next year.

High School Football

CRABTREE POINTS

PTC Class A

(Through Oct. 16)

North Division

Team Record Pts.

1. Mt. Blue 6-1 122.4490

2. Messalonskee 6-1 120.4082

3. Bangor 6-1 114.2857

4. Skowhegan 3-4 100.0000

5. Cony 2-5 87.7551

6. Lawrence 1-6 79.5918

7. Waterville 1-6 75.5102

South Division

Team Record Pts.

1. Gardiner 6-1 128.5724

2. Brunswick 5-2 122.4490

3. Windham 6-1 120.4082

4. Oxford Hills 3-4 87.7551

5. Mount Ararat 2-5 83.6735

6. Lewiston 1-6 83.6735

7. Edward Little 1-6 73.4694

Class B

Crabtree Point Ratings

Pine Tree Conference

Team Record Pts.

1. Brewer 7-0 10139.683

2. Leavitt 5-2 10122.222

2. Winslow 5-2 10122.222

4. Belfast 4-3 10109.524

5. Morse 3-4 10095.238

6. Oak Hill 3-4 10090.476

7. Old Town 2-5 10077.778

8. Hampden 2-5 10074.603

9. Mount Desert 0-7 10055.556

Western B

Team Record Pts.

1. Mountain Valley 6-1 10134.921

1. Gorham 6-1 10134.921

3. York 6-1 10133.333

4. Wells 5-2 10119.048

5. Greely 4-3 10101.587

6. Fryeburg 2-5 10080.952

7. Poland 2-0 10079.365

8. Lake Region 1-6 10074.603

9. Falmouth 0-7 10053.968