Jason Libby considers himself to be somewhat of an “old school coach.”
“That part of me wishes only four teams make the playoffs,” he said. “You just win and get in.”
Of course, the irony isn’t lost on the Morse High School football coach — after all, his team would’ve been shut out of the Pine Tree Conference Class B playoffs last season by the slimmest of margins if only the top four qualified.
Morse finished fifth in Crabtree points, just a few hundredths of a point behind Winslow.
Eight teams qualify for the PTC B playoffs, and the Shipbuilders earned the fifth seed. They then won three consecutive playoff games to reach the Class B state title championship game, which they lost to Mountain Valley.
This season, eight teams again will earn a postseason berth, although big changes still came to the conference.
The PTC B underwent a major makeover this season, when Maranacook and Oak Hill dropped to Class C. Camden Hills officially came on board, giving the conference 10 teams.
Coaches were then asked two key questions: Do you want a balanced or unbalanced schedule? Do you want eight or four teams in the playoffs?
Gardiner head coach Jim Palmer, left, says the PTC B made the right decision to keep the playoff format at three rounds with eight teams.
The responses varied.
“My vote was to play everybody,” Hampden Academy coach Harry McCluskey said. “When you play everybody, there leaves no doubt.”
And if playing every team meant shortening the PTC B postseason to just the semifinals and finals?
“Yes, I would’ve played everybody and made it four teams can go,” said McCluskey, whose Broncos finished sixth in the conference last fall and lost in the quarterfinals to Gardiner. “If you have a chance to play everybody, why not do it?”
Waterville coach Frank Knight, whose teams qualified as the No. 7 seed last season, said he entered the meeting convinced he would vote for the four-team format.
However, he changed his mind after listening to other coaches speak.
“It’s not all about the teams that frequently make the playoffs, like the Gardiners and Winslows and even us, although we’ve been down a bit recently,” he said. “But having eight teams make it, what will it do for a program like Nokomis and Camden to make the playoffs? It could mean a lot. We want to beat them, but we want high school football to flourish in Maine. There’s just a lot more to it.”
Gardiner coach Jim Palmer said he supported an eight-team playoff format from the beginning.
“With eight teams, you get teams playing harder for longer,” he said. If only four go, you can have teams playing five games that don’t mean anything. That was my major reason.”
Libby, whose Shipbuilders (4-2) are coming off a loss to Leavitt and are in the hunt for a home playoff game , acknowledged the format will make for more meaningful games in the final weeks of the seasons as teams scramble for playoff positioning.
“It did work out for us last year. But I’ve seen it the other way, too,” he said.
Indeed he has.
In 2006, Morse went to Hoch Field in Gardiner and lost its regular season finale 56-0 to the Tigers.
A week later, the teams met in the quarterfinals, with Gardiner the top seed and Morse No. 8.
The result? Gardiner, 67-12.
“That wasn’t good for the kids,” Libby said. “That was tough.”
Added Knight: “Every once in awhile you can have a 1 play 8 and it’s a slaughter. I can see that side of it, too.”
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