The Brewer High School field hockey team was dismissed early from school five times for seven road games this season because of the distances the Witches needed to travel for Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference games.
The other two games were on Saturdays.
That has prompted a Nov. 12 meeting in Augusta among four athletic directors who chair their respective conferences in field hockey.
Mark Babin, athletic director at KVAC Class B member Nokomis High School of Newport, called the meeting groundbreaking and said it will address the potential expansion of cross-conference scheduling in field hockey.
“This was prompted by long travel distances. Reducing travel is our top priority,” said Babin, who will be joined by Piscataquis Community High School athletic director Brian Gaw (Penobscot Valley Conference), Telstar of Bethel’s Gail Wight (Mountain Valley Conference) and Old Orchard Beach’s Jack Trull (Western Maine Conference).
As a member of the KVAC, Brewer played a conference-only schedule, as mandated by the league.
“We play everybody once, with the exception of one school, and the one we didn’t play this season was Belfast which, unfortunately, would have been one of our shorter trips,” Brewer athletic director Dave Utterback said.
Utterback noted he would like to prevent his players from missing class time, if possible. Because of their KVAC affiliation, the Witches did not play PVC Class B neighbors John Bapst of Bangor, Old Town and Hermon or Class A rival Bangor.
Brewer’s average one-way travel distance for its seven road games was 72.1 miles. The longest trips were to Bath to play Morse (115.7 miles) and to Turner to take on Leavitt High School (107.3 miles). The only trips shorter than 57 miles were to Pittsfield’s Maine Central Institute (38.2 miles) and to Nokomis (29.6 miles).
Brewer’s home opponents traveled an average of 66.9 miles, each way, to Brewer.
Travel impacts athletic budgets, and Babin pointed out that being locked into a KVAC schedule has prevented Nokomis from playing such local rivals as perennial EM Class C powers Dexter and Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft.
“We have schools very close to us that we didn’t play, due to our conference schedule,” Babin said. “So we’re going to look at regionalizing our schedules in the four conferences.”
Dover-Foxcroft is only 27.4 miles from Newport, and Dexter is just 14.4 miles away.
Tim Smith, athletic director at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, pointed out that having a strictly PVC schedule has prevented them from playing strong KVAC schools.
“We were 13-1, but we finished (only) third in the Heal Points standings,” said Smith, who would like to add KVAC teams to FA’s schedules.
“I’d like to have a tougher schedule. Some of my (starters) only got to play half a game,” agreed Dexter co-coach Margaret Veazie, whose PVC Tigers won 10 of their 13 regular-season games by at least four goals.
Babin said among the topics of discussion will be how cross-conference scheduling will impact the Heal Points. He indicated the four men will compile conference and cross-conference schedules geared toward reducing travel and will be put out to vote within each conference.
“That’s the goal of the meeting,” said Babin, who noted there will be another reclassification based on enrollment next spring, something the Maine Principals’ Association does every two years.
“We won’t make major decisions until we take a look at (the reclassification),” Babin said.
Babin and Utterback expressed the hope athletic directors in the four conferences will be receptive to cross-conference scheduling to reduce travel and missed class time.
Six of Brewer’s opponents were EM Class B schools (Gardiner, Oceanside of Rockland/Thomaston, Camden Hills High in Rockport, Erskine Academy of South China, Nokomis and Waterville). Three were EM C schools (Winslow, Mount View of Thorndike and MCI); four were WM B institutions (Leavitt, Spruce Mountain of Jay, Morse and Lincoln Academy of Newcastle) and Maranacook of Readfield plays in WM Class C.
Utterback admits they had the option to remain in Class A two years ago during the reclassification, even though their enrollment qualified for Class B.
“We had a more realistic shot at winning a championship in Class B,” Utterback said. “When you’re in Class A and have to go through the likes of Skowhegan and Messalonskee to win a regional title, you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Skowhegan has won 12 state Class A championships in 13 seasons, beating Messalonskee of Oakland in the last five EM title games.