The Rockland High football team finished its regular season with a 5-4 record for the fifth straight year.

But this year there’s a difference – the Tigers are going to the LTC Class C playoffs.

Rockland emerged from a three-way tiebreaker with Bucksport and Orono on Saturday that involved both a coin flip and head-to-head results to earn the fourth seed in the conference and a semifinal berth at top-ranked Foxcroft Academy (9-0) Friday night.

Foxcroft, the two-time defending LTC champion, defeated Rockland 41-20 on Oct. 19.

The other semifinal, scheduled for Saturday, sends No. 3 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (7-2) to Cameron Stadium in Bangor to face No. 2 John Bapst of Bangor (8-1). John Bapst edged the Lynx 22-20 in Bangor during Week 2 of the season.

Coaches Woody Moore of Rockland, Joel Sankey of Bucksport and Bob Sinclair of Orono gathered at Bucksport High School late Saturday afternoon to determine which team would advance to postseason play.

All three teams were tied in the first tiebreaker, Crabtree points, and the subsequent head-to-head tiebreaker provided no resolution as Orono had defeated Bucksport 29-28 in Week 2, Rockland had defeated Orono 35-19 in Week 6 and Bucksport had defeated Rockland 65-14 in Week 9.

The third tiebreaker, Heal points, also produced a stalemate, leaving a coin flip as the next step.

Each of the three coaches flipped a coin simultaneously, according to LTC statistician Mike Archer, who organized the meeting.

On the first flip, all three coins turned up heads. On the next flip, Rockland and Orono came up heads, while Bucksport turned tales, eliminating the Golden Bucks.

Then the tiebreaking format reverted to head-to-head competition, with Rockland winning by virtue of its victory over Orono.

This marked the third straight year Rockland had been involved in a tiebreaker, but the first time the Tigers had won to earn its first regional playoff berth since 1988.

In 2005, Orono, Bucksport and Rockland all finished 5-4 and tied for third place, but Orono and Bucksport had higher Crabtree point ratings than the Tigers and earned the final two playoff berths.

Last year, John Bapst and Rockland finished tied for the fourth spot, but Bapst won the tiebreaker by virtue of its 27-26 regular-season win over the Tigers.

Archer said this was believed to be the first time a coin flip has been used to help determine an LTC Class C playoff berth.