There will be plenty of changes to high school basketball this year, as the Maine Principals’ Association unveils the new, five division format that was approved this past spring.
Under the new format, five divisions — A, AA, B, C and D — have been created based on school’s enrollment figures. Gone as well are the days of East and West divisions. Instead, there will be North and South regions.
With those changes, comes new schedules as local teams will face a number of new squads, which could mean increased transportation issues for some schools. Some teams also find themselves in a new class, as the enrollment cutoffs juggling which divisions teams play in.
For Houlton, the changes are significant as the Shires will no longer compete in Class C. The Houlton girls won the state Class C title a year ago, but will now compete in the Class B north region, along with the boys’ team. What that means is the Shires must travel to places they have not been in a number of years and face teams they were not accustomed to playing.
Several of those opponents will also involve a great deal of travel for the Shires.
Houlton, the smallest school in the Class B North region, has eight new teams on its schedule this year. The Shires will face Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft; Central of Corinth; John Bapst of Bangor; Hermon, Orono, Old Town, Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor and Ellsworth.
Gone from the Shires’ schedule are games closer to home with Fort Kent, Stearns (Millinocket), Schenck (East Millinocket) and Lee Academy as those teams remained in Class C.
“Overall we are traveling more this year as we are in Class B Big East,” explained Houlton Athletic Director Bruce Nason. “The schedule came together as the Big East was already established and some teams just joined. It was not easy in determining whom we were going to play twice and which teams we were going to play just one time, but the PVC got together and tried to eliminate some travel issues, which they did.”
Nason said Class B basketball is naturally a tougher schedule, and this being Houlton’s first year back in B, the Shires will have to work their way through it with great work ethic.
“I have two great coaches that are preparing their teams to be very competitive and get our kids ready. I am positive we will see our student/athletes perform at their best,” he said. “We have a great group of students here, and they want to do as every other team, get to Bangor. We will just have to wait and see what unfolds.”
“It drastically changes our situation,” said Houlton girls coach Shawn Graham. “I believe we were the team to beat in Class C this year. In Class B, from top to bottom, the competition will be much stronger. We are now the smallest school in our class.”
Graham added the larger schools have more student athletes to draw from, from which typically gives them more depth off the bench.
“When it’s all said and done, we can only control what happens on the court,” Graham said. “We will look at the change as a challenge, and I strongly feel this team has the ability to finish in the top 5.”
Hodgdon also moves up a division as the Hawks will now compete in the Class C North region. Despite the move, Hodgdon’s regular season opponents have not changed that dramatically as the team will still play predominantly Class D opponents.
“With our schedule, the changes come from the Aroostook League,” explained Hodgdon boys coach Rob Smith. “We have dropped Limestone and we lost one game each with CAHS and Madawaska. We have picked up Wisdom and Shead. Our travel will see us go to Madawaska, Wisdom and Shead and those will be our longest trips.”
Hodgdon has played Madawaska in the past so that will not be a new trip for the Hawks, but traveling to Wisdom and Shead will be new for basketball.
“The adjustment the MPA made with adding the fifth class was closing the gap when playing a team out of your class,” Smith explained. “There used to be a five-point gap and now it is down to two points between classes. As far as the extra class and new classification. I started in 2010-11 when Hodgdon was Class C so I will be used to that.”
Hodgdon has bounced between Class C and D for several years.
“Come playoff time is when the biggest difference could be noticed,” Smith said. “Scouting could involve long trips to see teams play that do not come to The County. Playoffs could see us taking a trip of two hours or more to play some teams if we do not get a home game.”
New foes for the Hawks this year include Wisdom (St. Agatha) and Shead (Eastport). Gone from Hodgdon’s schedule are games with Limestone-Maine School of Science and Mathematics. The remaining opponents are all teams that Hodgdon faced last season.
“This reclassification is change and, for some, change is hard to accept,” Smith said. “We have accepted it, will adapt to it and prepare for our season just as we always have. Regardless of class you have to be prepared to play the game. We still have 18 teams in our class and that is about the same from last year. That means 12 teams will head to the playoffs.”
Southern Aroostook, East Grand/GHCA and Katahdin all remain in the Class D North region, but still have some changes to their schedules.
East Grand will face Ashland and Van Buren this year, while Katahdin was dropped from the schedule. The Vikings now have a full 18-game schedule as opposed to last year where the team only played 16 games.
Southern Aroostook dropped Van Buren from its schedule and replaced that school with Easton.
Katahdin sees the most dramatic changes in Class D for local teams as the Cougars have four new opponents on the docket, with three of those four requiring travel outside of Aroostook County. The Cougars added Fort Fairfield, Penquis (Milo), Stearns and Greenville to their schedule and dropped East Grand, Easton, Central Aroostook and Ashland.
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