×

Number Crunch

Maple Grove Heading Toward Another Merger

Maple Grove appears to be heading toward a football merger with Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton for the 2021 fall football season. P-J file photo

It appears Maple Grove’s football program is heading in a new direction.

Again.

The process of merging with Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton for the 2021 fall football season was discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Bemus Point Central School District’s Board of Education.

“We came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of our district if we moved forward with a partnership with the Brocton/Chautauqua Lake/Westfield program,” Superintendent Joe Reyda said.

Four sessions were held March 23 for Maple Grove parents to review the plan for the football program.

“It was a difficult discussion for everyone, and that’s how we led those meetings,” Reyda said. “None of us wanted to be there; none of us wanted to be addressing this; none wanted to be talking about it, but it was something that has to be faced. The fact of the matter is that we simply just do not have enough players to support either a varsity or modified team — a standalone team — next year.”

The Red Dragons currently play at the Class D level and the Thunderbirds are currently a Class C program, but the new program would be moved up to the Class B level due to its combined BEDS numbers.

The superintendent noted that the Bemus Point area is facing a decline in enrollment. Over the next four years in grades 9-12, enrollment is projected to go from 221 students to 176. Graduating classes are going from 60-to-80 students to about 40.

“That’s a factor that we have to consider,” said Reyda, noting that with football returning to the fall, the program will have to compete for players with cross country and soccer. “Football is fighting for very few players … and again, when you look at that enrollment, there’s not a whole lot of boys there to play.”

BEDS numbers are basic enrollment numbers that count the number of students in a high school. For the 2021-22 school year, Maple Grove’s is 159. Chautauqua Lake’s is 186, Westfield’s is 140 and Brocton’s is 122. Those four schools would have a combined total of 607, which would in itself make the new program a Class A school, but when teams merge a certain formula is used that doesn’t include 100% of all numbers.

Talks regarding the football program, which have included Reyda; Kathy Burnett, the district’s athletic director; Julie Verdonik, the high school principal; and Justin Hanft, head football coach, have been ongoing for the past four months to weigh all options moving forward.

“At the end of the day we realized that the only thing that was a priority for all of us was to give our students a chance to play next year,” Reyda said. “That was the piece. We just want our kids to play.”

There would be a modified and varsity team for the four-school combined program. Maple Grove would supply one coach for each of the teams; practices would take place at Chautauqua Lake’s facility; and Reyda said one home game would be played at Maple Grove.

“That was one of the things that we asked for,” he said. “We’re looking to take part in an established partnership that really wants us to join them.”

Nonetheless, he said, “this will be a significant change for all of our players, for our coaches, for our parents and for our community. And our goal is to do the very best we can to ensure that it is as smooth of a transition as it can be to this new program. There will be bumps in the road, we recognize that, and we want to do our best to give our students an opportunity to continue to play.”

Maple Grove has a long history of success within its football program, including New York State Public High School Class D state championships in 1998 and 2008.

The Red Dragons previously had merged with Chautauqua Lake for three seasons from 2013-15.

In 2013, Maple Grove/Chautauqua Lake finished 7-2 and as the No. 2 Class D team in the state with its only losses coming to eventual state champion Randolph.

The Thunder Dragons moved up to Class C in 2014 and won their first of back-to-back Section VI championships. They beat LeRoy 32-0 in the Far West Regional before losing a state semifinal to Chenango Forks at Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester.

In the fall of 2015, Maple Grove/Chautauqua Lake again found itself in the sectional final at Ralph Wilson Stadium where it defeated another merged team, Bennett/Olmsted/Alt. Ed. The Thunder Dragons lost a week later to Bath-Haverling in the Far West Regional.

Following that season, Section VI’s Combining of Schools Committee met to review the fall 2015 end-of-season reports and recommended that a future merger between Maple Grove and Chautauqua Lake be declined based on dominance. Minutes showed that combining would be considered again, however, if the team was moved up a classification.

Maple Grove then appealed to Section VI’s Executive Committee and Athletic Council as well as the state, but was denied all three times.

The Red Dragons played the following three seasons at the Class D level. In 2019, Maple Grove elected to play eight-man football.

Because the fall 2020 season was postponed until this spring, the Red Dragons had additional student-athletes express an interest in football and decided to give 11-man a go this spring. After a 52-6 Week 1 loss at Salamanca and a 60-6 Week 2 loss to Portville at Southwestern, Maple Grove had to cancel its scheduled Week 3 home game against Randolph due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols.

In the past, the Red Dragons had alternatives. That doesn’t appear to be the case this time.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today