Two years ago, the Eastern Maine Class D girls soccer final between Lee Academy and Greenville was held on a Friday while almost every other regional final was played on a Saturday.

The reason for the schedule change was simple. Both schools had student-athletes who were competing in both soccer and cross country. And with the cross country state meet traditionally held the same Saturday as the regional soccer finals, Lee and Greenville could easily agree to move their game to Friday.

From now on, student-athletes at the smaller schools won’t have to worry about making a choice between soccer and cross country.

The MPA’s soccer committee decided last winter to officially schedule the Eastern and Western Maine Classes C and D finals on Friday, while regional finals in Classes A and B will be Saturday.

This year, those dates are Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29.

Mark Tinkham, an assistant principal at Cape Elizabeth High School and the chairman of the MPA soccer committee, said some of the smaller schools around the state had requested that the committee look at alleviating the schedule conflict.

It’s an issue that strikes smaller schools more frequently than larger schools because small schools have more students who participate in two sports in the fall season.

“The impetus was because of the smaller schools who can’t, per se, field an entire team with athletes playing two different sports,” said Tinkham, who had experience at a smaller school while teaching and coaching at Class C Madawaska.

“Splitting the C and D games one day and the A and B games on the other day will help students from having to make a choice,” he added. “… We’re looking at what’s in the best interest for our student-athletes. [Having to make a choice] puts kids in a horrible position with teammates on both squads.”

The Friday games may be played Saturday with consent of both schools. In previous years, as with Lee and Greenville two years ago and also last year, teams could play Friday if both schools consented to the switch.

Friday’s game time will be 2 p.m. Saturday games will be played at 1 p.m.

The state cross country championships will be held Oct. 29 at Leavitt High in Turner.

Lee Academy athletic director Randy Harris said his school was one of those that asked the MPA to look into changing the schedule.

“There were two or three of us small schools who asked the MPA,” Harris said. “We told them, we’re trying to keep the cross country programs going. So this will be a big help to us.”

The Pandas are the defending state champs in Class D cross country and Eastern Maine Class D champions in soccer.

Ex-coach could run for governor

State senator Chandler Woodcock, who led the Mt. Blue of Farmington girls basketball team to Class A state championships in 1999 and 2000, is considering a run for governor in 2006.

Republican front-runner Peter Cianchette announced Monday he would withdraw from the race for family reasons, which leaves the field wide-open. Woodcock, a Farmington resident who represents District 17, has not announced his candidacy but has served in several Republican leadership positions in the senate.

District 17 includes several towns in Franklin, Kennebec and Somerset counties.

Woodcock coached the Mt. Blue girls for three seasons and left the team with a 33-game winning streak. He was named the 2000 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A Coach of the Year.

He also did two assistant coaching stints at UMaine-Farmington, once with the men and once with the women, and has coached at Livermore Falls and Skowhegan high schools.

One of Woodcock’s Mt. Blue players was forward Heather Ernest, who was named Miss Maine Basketball in 2000 and went on to a successful four-year career at the University of Maine.

Woodcock served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army and received a teaching degree from the University of Maine-Farmington.