OLD TOWN – The Old Town High School football program has struggled during the last decade.

The Coyotes have just a 12-78 record since their most recent Class B playoff appearance in 1997 and have been winless the last two seasons.

The school’s varsity team also has gone through four head coaches in the last three seasons, and player participation has decreased, with just 19 sophomores, juniors and seniors on the varsity roster at the end of the 2007 season.

In an effort to preserve the program, the Old Town school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to have the Coyotes compete at the Class C level beginning next fall.

The vote followed the unanimous recommendation of an ad hoc committee established by the board last month to study options for the football program. The committee, which included parents, two school board members and other members of the community, considered four options: remaining in Class B, playing a Class C schedule, playing a junior varsity schedule, or dropping the program.

The move to Class C will be for at least three years, said Old Town principal Joe Gallant. The Eastern and Western Maine Class C leagues will finish the second year of their current two-year schedules next fall, and then Old Town will remain in Class C for an additional two-year cycle before it could seek to return to Class B.

Under Maine Principals’ Association rules, when a team competes at a level below what its enrollment dictates, it is ineligible for postseason play, and with 578 students Old Town is a Class B school by enrollment. Current MPA classification breakdowns place football teams with 800 or more students in Class A, 506 to 799 in Class B and 0 to 505 in Class C.

Such a move is not unprecedented. Both Mount Desert Island and Rockland dropped from Class B to Class C at times in the past in order to rebuild their programs. Interestingly, both of those schools qualified for postseason play in 2007, with MDI back in Class B and Rockland now a Class C school by enrollment.

Old Town has experienced a substantial drop in overall enrollment in recent years. When Gallant was named principal five years ago, 771 students attended the school – 193 more than the current total.

Of the 19 players on this year’s varsity football roster, 12 are seniors who will graduate in June. Of the seven players slated to return next fall, only two will be seniors.

The school did have more than 20 freshman football players this fall, but they were kept at the subvarsity level primarily for safety reasons, Gallant said.

“We also have a wonderful eighth-grade coach in Lester Cowan, and we hope with the move to Class C that over the next three years our numbers at the high school level will really improve,” Gallant said.

With the decision to move to Class C approved, school officials can begin the search for a new head coach. Longtime MDI coach George “Toogie” McKay guided the Coyotes this fall but resigned after the season, citing the travel demands from his home in Town Hill on Mount Desert Island to Old Town each day.

Ernie Clark may be reached at eclark@bangordailynews.net or 990-8045.