The newly expanded LTC Class C football ranks will play an eight-game regular-season schedule this fall.

But each of the conference’s 12 teams will be guaranteed nine games.

The LTC, whose ranks grew from 10 to 12 with the drop of Old Town from Class B and the addition of a first-year varsity program from Calais-Woodland, has voted unanimously to adopt a schedule for the 2008 season that not only will send eight teams to postseason play but will enable the ninth- through 12th-place finishers to play an additional game after the end of the regular season.

“We’re here to give the kids the chance to play football, and this is an opportunity for them to play an additional game,” said Mike Archer, athletic administrator at Orono High School.

In recent years, the top four teams in the 10-team LTC qualified for the playoffs after a nine-game regular season, but the additions of Old Town and Calais-Woodland led to a six-member committee of LTC officials revising that schedule during a recent daylong meeting.

The new 12-team league will be divided into two six-team divisions based on three factors: the maintenance of natural rivalries, geographic considerations and providing each team an equal chance to accumulate enough Crabtree points to qualify for postseason play.

One division consists of defending state champion Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, Orono, Stearns of Millinocket, Dexter and Old Town. The second division is comprised of Bucksport, John Bapst of Bangor, Rockland, Calais-Woodland, Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield and Mount View of Thorndike.

Each team will play all other teams in its division as well as three teams from the other division to make up an eight-game schedule.

The top eight teams in the LTC according to Crabtree points regardless of division will qualify for the Eastern Maine Class C playoffs, Archer said.

“With the additional teams we have, having eight teams in the playoffs will keep a lot more kids interested and a lot more teams in contention throughout the season because of those four extra spots,” said Archer.

Those eight playoff qualifiers will advance to the regional quarterfinals in Week 9 of the season, while the ninth-ranked team will host No. 12 and No. 10 will host No. 11 in additional Week 9 contests.

“We’ve had a nine-game schedule right along, and we have the ability to do this with the way this schedule works out, so the thought was why not?” said Archer. “This gives all the programs the chance to get as much out of the season as possible, because the 9-12 and 10-11 games should be good, competitive games, too.”

Should Old Town, which is not eligible for the Eastern C playoffs because it is a Class B school by enrollment playing down in an effort to rebuild its program, finish in the top eight in the LTC Crabtree points, the Coyotes would be re-seeded ninth and teams below them would be moved up one spot until the top eight slots are filled, said Archer.

Archer expects the conference to consider its schedule on a year-by-year basis for the time being, given the recent steady growth in the sport statewide and the potential for new teams to join the Eastern Maine varsity ranks in the near future.

While the LTC has its schedule for the 2008 season completed, Pine Tree Conference Class B officials also are working to develop a schedule for this fall, a move necessitated when Old Town’s move to the LTC left it with just 11 teams.

Given that odd number of teams, the PTC Class B may have to resort to a schedule similar to what Eastern A used when it had 11 teams before Brewer was reclassified up to Class A in 2007.

Under that format, the Eastern A teams played an eight-game schedule over nine weeks, with one team having a bye in eight of those weeks and three teams having a bye in the other week. Because that regular season required nine weeks, just four teams advanced to postseason play, with regional semifinals preceding the Eastern Maine championship game.

Winslow athletic administrator Sean Keenan said meetings are planned among conference officials this week in an effort to develop an official PTC B schedule.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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