The Pine Tree Conference will examine a bid by Brunswick to rejoin the conference next month.

Brunswick, whose enrollment is nearing 1,000 students, has played in the Western Maine Class B Campbell Conference for the past four seasons.

Previously a member of the Eastern Maine Class A conference, Brunswick had the option of remaining in the Campbell conference but would not be allowed to go to the playoffs. Or the Dragons could play a Class A schedule and attempt to earn a playoff berth.

“Its’s one of those double-edged swords. Do you play Class B and not go to the playoffs, or do you move up to Class A?” asked Brad Bishop, the PTC co-chair and Lawrence of Fairfield athletic director. “The school’s plenty big enough to support football and enrollment-wise. They want to come back into the league.”

Should the Dragons be accepted, which is likely Bishop said, the move would be effective next fall.

“They stated at the last [Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference] meeting we had in November, Gary Heald, the athletic director, at that time was leaning toward joining the league,” Bishop said. “It would help our scheduling a little more.”

Bangor, Lawrence, Oxford Hills of South Paris, Waterville, Gardiner and Cony are the current PTC members. The seven schools play each other once during the season and fill out the nine-game schedule with two games against Western Maine Class A teams.

Should Brunswick be accepted, and if Brewer, which cracked the Class A enrollment minimum of 850 this fall, applies, the PTC probably would fill out a members-only schedule, Bishop said.

As of Wednesday however, Bishop hadn’t heard from the Witches, who earned their third playoff berth since 1970 this season and last played in the PTC in 1990.

John Bapst field hockey coach Stephanie Smith told her team she was stepping down last week.

Juggling a full-time job, and 18-month-old son with her husband Blake, and commuting from their Dover-Foxcroft home to the Bangor school left Smith with little time to devote to the team.

“Basically with another kid coming and working full-time, I didn’t feel I had the time to make the program successful,” said Smith, whose second child is due in the spring. “The programs needs someone who can run something in the offseason”

Smith was the four-year program’s first head coach and amassed a 17-32-5 record. The Crusaders most successful season came this season with a 6-7-1 record and a ninth-place Class B final Heal Point ranking.