Athletic schedules at some schools will be decimated and entire sports programs forced to the brink of elimination if the mandatory schedule reductions proposed by the Maine Secondary School Principals’ Association Interscholastic Executive Committee are enacted next fall.

Those are concerns being expressed by athletic directors, administrators and coaches at schools in eastern and northern Maine. The cuts, which would trim sports schedules by 15 percent in all sports statewide, will leave some schools in the lurch.

“If they cut from 18 to 16 games, our (basketball) schedule’s going to look like Swiss cheese,” said Calais High School Athletic Director Jim Frost, who estimates the Blue Devils would have, at best, a 12-game schedule next year.

“It’s going to kill the teams that are somewhat isolated that want to play a decent schedule,” Frost said. “We want to play good teams in our class and we have to travel to do that. For some of those teams that we play outside our conference, we’re going to be the first one they look to cut because of the travel factor.”

If a school is forced to cut two games off its schedule, the most likely opponent to be dropped is the one which is farthest away, one which plays in a higher classification, or one which has been a traditional nemesis.

However, cutting games means forfeiting considerable revenue in the case of basketball or football. In many cases, the gate receipts would more than cover the cost of making the road trip.

“If you’re talking about it as a money-saving move, it doesn’t make sense,” Frost said. “We’re going to make more than enough money to pay for the road trip. Nobody’s got a lot of money to throw around, so we’re going to try to be as fiscally responsible as we can. We can do the little things on our own level without interference from the state level.”

Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield would likely not have a workable soccer schedule if the recommended cutbacks are passed by the MSHuskies belong to the Penquis League, but also play against teams in the Penobscot Valley Conference and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference.

“With the reduction in schedules, what really happens is the schools in those two leagues (PVC, KVAC) retreat into their leagues,” said MCI AD Wally Covell. “They have enough schedule games to play without going outside. What it does is it leaves us without a schedule.”

Covell, who attended last week’s Interscholastic Executive Committee meeting to voice the concerns of the Penquis League, did not sense much compassion from some members of the group. He did praise Presque Isle Principal Dick Durost and Hodgdon Principal Woody Dunphy for their efforts to point out the problems the changes would create for some schools.

“The disappointing thing to me was the other principals, with the exception of Rick Sykes, the chairman of the group from Lewiston, didn’t seem to give a damn what happened to anybody else as long they had theirs (schedules),” Covell said.

The proposed schedule cuts may further alienate some rural a The proposed schedule cuts may further alienate some rural and isolated schools, which have had to struggle to build up good schedules.

Those administrators opposed to the schedule reductions say local school officials should be allowed to handle their own athletic budget problems.

“Each school system and area of the state knows where they can each make cuts in the athletic budget,” Durost said. “In Presque Isle, we know our own situation and our kids’ needs better than anybody else. I believe that it should be a local issue to be handled locally depending upon what the needs are of that school’s budget and athletic teams are.

“Eliminating games may be the best solution for some schools in some areas of the state. To say that this is what will work best for everybody, I don’t really agree with that.”

Brewer High School Principal Jerry Goss, a member of the Executive Committee, said the MSSPA has deemed the cuts necessary, in part, to avoid giving some schools an unfair advantage in terms of their ability to deal with the current budget problems.

Others say schools have heretofore fended for themselves and can continue to do so.

“When you put a blanket regulation on things not understanding what it does to a quote `free market’, it is more damaging than if you allow people to work out their own problems,” Covell said. “If you take away Christmas tournament or exhibition games or regular-season games which are revenue-makers, how do you help the economics of a particular school? I don’t think that’s going to solve anything.”