High school football may be re-introduced in Houlton

Houlton High School may be adding another varsity sport to its lineup. The administration has a 7- to 10- day window before declaring to the Maine Principal’s Association if it will field a team this season.
    On Monday, an informational meeting was held at the high school for those interested in starting a football team, and only 25 students showed up.
“Seven others had prior commitments,” said organizer Brian Reynolds, who serves as the Houlton Knights football coach. “We are hoping, based on the fact that 64 students said they would play, that we would get at least 45 or so.”
Reynolds believes two things happened with the meeting: One, football is too far off to think about and two, the meeting was at 2:30 p.m. and some kids had to catch a bus home.
“The numbers are there,” he said.
Based on the Houlton Knights, numbers are heavy in the lower grades, with 12 sophomores and 12 freshmen, along with about the same amount for grades 7-8. There are 10 seniors and only about two juniors.
“This is a natural progression,” Reynolds explained. “Starting with an area team, one of the districts step up. There is no ignoring the fact that 95 percent of our players come from Houlton.”
Aroostook Football League coaches — head coach Reynolds and assistant Andy Hay — met with SAD 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer, Houlton Principal Marty Bouchard and SAD 29 Athletic Director Bruce Nason, of the SAD 29 administrative sports committee, to discuss the prospect of adding a varsity football squad to Houlton’s fall schedule, which now includes golf and soccer.
During the meeting, school administrators required a proposal of the budget, history of the program, plans and most importantly, who would provide the financial backing (at least two years) equivalent to the Hockey 2000 Committee provided for the Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks.
The coaches set up a small informal meeting not wanting to get too many people’s hopes up or disappoint too many people, since the team has players from Hodgdon and Sherman.
“Essentially the best route is for us to go Class C with just Houlton,” said Reynolds. “If we add [Hodgdon and Katahdin], it immediately bumps us up to Class B. We are only talking about one or two players a class, [per school] if that. It didn’t make sense competing with [established] football programs in Class B with a Class C enrollment.
So, Reynolds discussed the proposal with Hay, Ben Drew, Eric Cowperthwaite, Wade Hanson, Theresa Bragan and Pete Alden.
“Andy has just been the best,” said Reynolds. “He surveyed five different schools — Calais-Woodland, Stearns, Mattanawcook Academy, Dexter and Ellsworth — to get their yearly budgets and to get a start-up scratch budget from Ellsworth to compare.”
Ellsworth starting budget was $40,000.
“We would be handing off our assets to the school,” said Reynolds, “which would be about $20,000 worth of gear.”
Of the similar sized schools, the yearly operating budget was around $15,000 a year, with the variant being the coach’s stipend.
Organizers went back to the administrative sports committee and presented their findings. They reviewed the packet of information, were impressed by the proposal, but decided to conduct a four-question survey with the students.
The survey questions were: Do you think Houlton High School should have a football team next year? If football was offered as a fall sport, would you try out for the team? Do you currently play soccer or golf at the school? Would you switch to football if it was offered?
The survey was taken by 140 students, with 65 saying they would play football, while 42 say they currently play another fall sport and only six students considered changing their fall sport to football.
“No one wants to hurt other programs,” Reynolds said. “After the survey and our information, we got the go-ahead to approach the school board.”
On March 5, Ben Drew presented the proposal to the SAD 29 School Board and it was accepted 9-2, with board members John Tribou and Cynthia Hillman-Forbush opposed.
The Houlton Band of Maliseets will play an integral part in Houlton’s High School football team, as they have agreed to let the school use its sports complex, as well as provide the start-up funds. The Houlton Band of Maliseets received a grant to build the new sports complex, which will begin construction this spring. It is unknown if the field will be ready by fall.
The Maliseet complex will include baseball and football fields and a track. The football field will be 100 yards, with goal posts, stands and a scoreboard.
“We discussed a document that states Houlton can use the football field” explained Reynolds. “It will be an [agreement] that works for both sides. The tribe is willing to put $30,000 toward the two-year MPA commitment.”
“We will have everything we would need to host an MPA-sanctioned football game,” he added.
In its first year, the Houlton High School football squad would play a junior varsity schedule and will have to be in existence for two years before entering the playoffs. As far as coaching, the position will be open and filled by the candidate through the SAD 29 school board policy.
“It will be advertised and anyone can apply,” said Reynolds. “We are moving ahead. At this point, we just need to make sure we have enough players.”
The Houlton Knights, an area team consisting of players in grades 9-12 from Houlton, Hodgdon and Katahdin, formed in 2006. The Knights program has evolved into a dominant force in the Aroostook Football League under the direction of Reynolds. The AFL is an eight-man league, featuring teams from Madawaska, Presque Isle/Caribou, the Kenduskeag area and Milo.
Over the last six years, the Knights have compiled an overall 37-9 record with four AFL titles, including a 24-1 record and back-to-back-to back championships from 2009-11. As far as Reynolds knows, the Knights team will be defunct if Houlton High School introduces a high school football team.
A football program won’t be something new to Houlton High School, as the school had a team until the 1950s when it disbanded because area farm operations needed students to help harvest their crops. With the “harvest break” came a shortfall of players and playing time.
“We have been approved to explore the options,” said Reynolds. “We honestly don’t know what is going to happen. We want to make sure we do everything right.”