AUGUSTA — There’s still a chance Biddeford High could play Class B football next season.
Biddeford had petitioned to drop from Class A to Class B but was turned down by the Maine Principals’ Association in November. The school planned to appeal the ruling Friday before the MPA.
But before the appeal could be heard, the MPA’s Management Committee approved a measure that would change the waiting period for schools that apply up in classification from four years to two.
The proposal had been recommended earlier by the MPA’s Classification Committee.
Biddeford’s appeal was tabled. The proposal will be voted on by the MPA’s general membership at its annual meeting April 30.
Every two years the Classification Committee sets enrollment numbers for classes in each sport. When football was realigned into four classes after the 2012 season, Biddeford would have been put in Class B.
But the Tigers, a football power from the late 1960s through the early ’90s, wanted to continue playing in Class A. When schools apply to play in a higher classification, they have to stay in that class for four years, according to a longtime MPA rule designed to stop schools from jumping to different classes every two years.
The new proposal, if approved, would allow schools that applied to play in a higher classification two years ago – and there are 48 in the state – to play in the class where their enrollment falls.
Schools still will have the option of applying up and would have to do so for the next two years. All schools will have a “clean slate,” according to Richard Durost, the executive director of the MPA.
Biddeford superintendent Jeremy Ray said the high school will have an enrollment of 766 this fall. That would place the Tigers in Class B football.
“We’re very happy with this decision,” said Ray. “I think this is the right thing for Biddeford athletes. This recommendation makes it less about Biddeford than about all the schools in the state who have applied up to play. It’s really a statewide issue.”
Ray expressed approval of the fact that the two-year reclassification cycle and the waiting period for schools applying up will now be the same. He said Biddeford High’s enrollment is projected to continue to drop.
“We’ll be around 740 in 2016,” said Ray.
The MPA set a figure of at least 840 students for Class A football for the next two seasons. For Class B, it will be 586 to 839 students.
The Tigers finished with a 4-6 record last season. They made the playoffs, then beat South Portland 34-20 in the Western Class A quarterfinals before losing to Bonny Eagle 21-8 in a semifinal.
The Tigers have won nine Class A state titles, the most of any school, but none since 1994 and have struggled the past few years.
If the general membership rejects the proposal, Ray said Biddeford will be back before the MPA to petition to drop to Class B.
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