LTC football officials and coaches have opted to continue holding their annual Eastern Maine Class C championship game at the home field of the highest-seeded finalist.

The league had held discussions after the 2005 season about moving the final game to a neutral site, perhaps the artificial surface at Hampden Academy or Husson College in Bangor. That would address any issues of poor late-season field conditions and the idiosyncrasies of the Crabtree point system currently used to seed teams for postseason play.

But the LTC officials opted not to pursue a change for several reasons, among them differences in goal posts and hash marks between high school fields and college venues such as Husson, seating issues at the alternate sites, and the loss of revenue to the host school’s boosters club if the final was moved to a different site.

“We’ve decided to keep it as it is right now,” said LTC secretary-treasurer Mike Archer, athletic administrator at Orono High School. “We’re going to keep the game at the higher-seeded team unless the field becomes unplayable, and then we could look to other facilities, but we feel this is the right way to go for now.”

Archer said the decision as to whether a field is unplayable would be left to the host athletic director and coach, though there was left open the possibility of a conversation between those officials and their counterparts from the opposing school in the week leading up to the game.

“No one knows their field better than the coach and the athletic director of that school,” said Archer.

Last year, Foxcroft Academy and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln played the LTC final in muddy conditions that limited what plays the teams could run.

The conditions were the result of heavy October rains that soaked fields throughout the state. In anticipation of hosting playoff games, Mattanawcook actually moved its final regular-season home game – its annual Senior Night contest – to Stearns High in Millinocket in an effort to preserve its field for subsequent games.

In addition, because there are just nine teams in the LTC, those teams all played one crossover game against a Western C team to fill out their schedules. Those crossover games proved to be the difference in the final Crabtree ratings that enabled Mattanawcook to gain the No. 1 seed and host the EM final despite having the same record as Foxcroft (8-1) and losing to the Ponies in a head-to-head matchup during the regular season.

MA edged Foxcroft in the points because the Lynx played a more pointworthy Western C foe in Lisbon than Foxcroft did in Livermore Falls.

NE wrestling, track meets slated

Many of the state’s top wrestlers and indoor track standouts will compete in New England championship meets this weekend.

The 42nd annual New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn., while the 19th annual New England Interscholastic Boys and Girls Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Crossing, Mass.

Maine will send its top three competitors in each of 14 weight classes to the wrestling regionals, with individual state champions and runners-up seeded one through six.

Those earning No. 1 seeds among the Maine contingent are the following: 103 pounds: Carlin Dubay of Caribou; 112: Jeremiah Barkac of Dexter; 119: Allen Stein of Deering of Portland; 125: Joe McGowan of Camden Hills of Rockport; 130: Tony Gilmore of Belfast; 135: Jon Hussey of Marshwood of South Berwick; 140: Jerod Rideout of Foxcroft Academy; 145: Steve Chenard of Noble of North Berwick; 152: Hank Simpkins of Camden Hills; 160: Alan Loignon of Biddeford; 171: Logan Kelley of Belfast; 189: Adam Tweedie of Bucksport; 215: James McPhee of Foxcroft Academy; and 275: Josh Pelletier of Foxcroft Academy.

Barkac, Hussey and Pelletier were among seven Maine medalists at the 2005 New Englands, the best showing by the Pine Tree State since it resumed sending wrestlers to the regional in 1999. Barkac placed fifth at 103 pounds, while Hussey was fifth at 125 and Pelletier finished sixth at 215.

A healthy contingent of Mainers also has qualified for the New England track championships, including Bangor High standouts Casey Quaglia (mile and 2 mile), Cam Cormier (55 and 300) and Jolene Belanger (long jump and 1,000 run).

Other boys qualifiers from the region include David Thomas of Sumner of East Sullivan (high jump), Casey Hartley of Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (55 hurdles), Brendan Carr of Brewer (mile), and the Bangor 800 relay team.

Joining Belanger on the girls side are Corinne Kuhn of Mount View of Thorndike (shot put), Kendra Gould of Old Town (long jump), Lauren Maltz of Hampden Academy (600), Hilary Maxim of Old Town (1,000), Jennie Foley of Bangor and Katie Snow of Brewer (mile), Eliza Tibbets of Old Town and Molly Peverada of Hampden Academy (2 mile) and the Bangor 3,200 relay team.