The fledgling football program at Mount View High School in Thorndike got another boost Monday night with the vote of the School Administrative District 3 board of directors to support providing $17,000 in funding for the 2006 season.

The money, which is subject to approval of the overall district budget by voters, would be used to fund a previously all-volunteer coaching staff, transportation costs and procure some equipment.

“This was a big step for the program,” said Ron Simmons, who has coached the Mustang Football club team from its infancy in 2003.

As one example, Simmons cited the ability to bus teams to road games next season as opposed to previous years, when transportation was more of a makeshift operation involving several vehicles.

“Now we’ll be able to load up as a team, show up as a team and leave after the game as a team,” he said.

Monday’s show of support came via an 8-2 vote of the school board – the second time that group has voted to back the proposal. At a meeting earlier this month, the board OK’d the funding by a 6-4 vote, but some members didn’t feel they had adequate advance notice that the issue would be before the board so the second vote was held.

More than 100 people turned out for Monday night’s meeting, including many football players, several of whom related stories to the board about how participating in the sport had benefited them.

“The kids really sold that vote, more than any adult, any administrator or any school board member who was there, in my opinion,” said Mount View interim athletic director Sean Casey.

Additional funding for the program, Simmons said, will be raised largely through the establishment of a football boosters club.

Simmons said the program ultimately should be able to operate on approximately $25,000 per year.

Last year 48 high school-age players tried out for Mustang Football at the varsity level. The program also includes an eighth-grade team in the Central Maine Junior High School League and two youth teams in the Fairfield PAL program.

Simmons expects 50 to 55 high schoolers to play this fall on varsity and junior varsity teams. Last year’s, varsity schedule included games against several other developing programs that aren’t yet competing in Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned competition such as Nokomis of Newport, Monmouth Academy, Yarmouth and Lincoln County.

Mount View, a rural high school that draws about 565 students from 11 communities, could seek MPA status for football as soon as 2007, but Simmons said the program’s projected entry into those ranks may not come until 2009.

Mustang Football currently plays its home games at a town-owned field in Liberty, but a new high school is scheduled to open in 2008 and designs for that facility include a multipurpose field that could serve as home to the team.

Wrestling rule changes OK’d

A change in the overtime procedure and an increase of 10 pounds in the 275-pound weight class are among 14 revisions in high school wrestling rules for the 2006-07 season.

Those revisions were approved by the National Federation of State High School Association’s wrestling rules committee, and subsequently given final approval by the NFHS board of directors.

After being used on an experimental basis in Maine and several other states last year, a potential of one additional minute was added to the overtime period. Beginning next season, if no one scores in the sudden-victory period, two 30-second tiebreakers will take place. Scoring in the tiebreakers will be conducted as in a regular match. If the score is still tied after the two tiebreakers, an additional 30-second period will be held, with the first wrestler to score declared the winner. If no points are scored, the offensive wrestler wins the match.

Previously, only one 30-second tiebreaker was conducted after the one-minute overtime period. The new rule provides for one additional 30-second tiebreaker and another 30-second period if the score remains tied after the tiebreaker.

The limit on the heavyweight class was increased for the first time since 1987 with the move from 275 to 285 pounds. Jerry Diehl, NFHS assistant director and rules committee liaison, said student-athletes are bigger than they were when the 275-pound limit was established 19 years ago. He said the committee made the change to encourage more high school athletes to compete in wrestling.

Dave Gannaway, assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association and chair of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee, added that the additional 10 pounds will provide larger athletes, particularly football players, an increased opportunity to wrestle.

Wrestling is the sixth-most popular sport for boys at the high school level, with 243,009 participants during the 2004-05 season, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS. It ranks eighth in school sponsorship with 9,562 high schools nationwide conducting the sport.

In addition, 4,334 girls participated in high school wrestling during the 2004-05 season.