Conference switch alleviates travel issues for Greenville athletic teams

By Ernie Clark

Staff Writer

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Lakers were crowned this year’s Penquis League girls soccer champions.

Thanks to a shift in conference affiliation this year, players on that team who continue playing the sport will be able to compete against similar competition at the high school level, as Greenville High School has returned to the Penobscot Valley Conference after being a member of the East-West Conference in recent seasons.

That means instead of traveling to such distant locales as Buckfield, Richmond and Rangeley, the high school teams will have more regular-season games with closer opponents such as Piscataquis of Guilford, Penquis Valley of Milo and Penobscot Valley of Howland — schools Greenville already plays in its middle-school league.

“A big part of the reason for the move back is travel,” said Greenville athletic director Jake Hackett. “We had an extensive travel schedule, not only playing in the East-West Conference but the East-West didn’t give us all the games we needed so when we picked up out-of-conference games we ended up going to Shead (Eastport), Machias, Jonesport-Beals and Greater Portland Christian.

“Basketball season was a really long season for us travel-wise.”

The upcoming basketball season won’t be without a couple of lengthy trips with Deer Isle-Stonington and Katahdin of Stacyville on the schedule. But the Deer Isle-Stonington trip will be on a Saturday and the Katahdin trip on a Friday night, limiting the impact on class days.

That’s another big reason for the switch.

“I’ve had so many compliments from teachers on not having the kids have to leave school early during basketball season,” said Hackett.

Hackett said that instead of the seven road trips of more than two hours his teams endured last winter, only two trips of more than two hours will be required this season.

“It’s a huge savings in cost and time,” he said.

Greenville will retain regular-season games with its two nearest opponents from the East-West Conference, Valley of Bingham and Forest Hills of Jackman.

“It was geographic, but they’re also our rival games,” said Hackett. “I made the sell to the school board and my principal and the superintendent that travel was the big concern, so I didn’t want to lose my two shortest trips.

“In basketball Forest Hills fills our gym and Valley fills our gym. We didn’t want to lose that, and they didn’t want to lose that, either.”

Hackett also anticipates larger crowds for games with several new opponents.

“Guilford’s our nearest game now, and Howland’s going to come with fans and Milo’s going to come with fans,” he said. “Those are three more rival games right there.”

Greenville also has basketball games scheduled at Highview Christian of Charleston, a home doubleheader against Jonesport-Beals and a home-and-home series with Bangor Christian.

Hackett said that rather than switch to Class D North where most PVC schools in that class compete, the Lakers will remain in Class D South for postseason purposes.

Class D North will have 15 schools this winter under the state’s new five-class format for basketball while Class D South will have 13. Had Greenville moved to the North, the change could have affected the number of teams from each region that would advance to postseason play.

In addition, all but one school listed in the Maine Principals’ Association basketball bulletin for Class D North had a larger enrollment than the largest school in Class D South, Valley with its 71 students.

Greenville is the second-largest school in Class D South basketball with 67 students.

“We still felt like for our school it was advantageous to play in a little bit smaller division,” said Hackett. “Not that one side is easier to make the playoffs or easier to go through the playoffs than the other, but more so that we just felt comfortable with where we were so that traveling to those places for the playoffs was still acceptable for us if we had to travel.”

Greenville rejoined the Penobscot Valley Conference this fall for soccer, its schedule consisting of three Class C opponents in Central of Corinth, Piscataquis of Guilford and Penquis Valley of Milo as well as Class D foes Bangor Christian, Penobscot Valley, Deer Isle-Stonington, Searsport and Valley.

“When the soccer schedule came out we had three Class C teams on it, and I got some funny looks for a while because the first two games were Central and Guilford,” said Hackett.

Both Greenville soccer teams eventually qualified for the Class D South playoffs, the girls finishing in sixth place and the boys seventh.

“Obviously when you switch a conference that you’re always making the playoffs in, you’re always getting enough Heal points and you’re able to host (playoff) games a lot of times, the concern was are we going to be able to compete in the new conference,” said Hackett.

“I really feel that once people saw that we were going to be able to compete, the parents were so happy with the reduced travel. The parents never complained at all.”

Hackett admits this winter’s high school schedule may be challenging for the Lakers’ youthful basketball teams, but that prospects are bright in baseball and for future teams in most sports given recent successes at the middle-school level.

“I think it sets up well,” he said.