Boothbay football’s home game Sept. 5 versus Valley, a northern Maine cooperative effort of high schools from Fort Kent, Wisdon and Wisdom, was cancelled. Valley pulled out of small school 8-man football due to a lack of players. According to a 92.9 FM report, Valley began with 18 players at the start of preseason, but only had 11 prior to its first scheduled pre-season game. 

Team officials decided 11 players wasn't enough for a regular season schedule. Teams on Valley's 2026 schedule won't receive a forfeit. Instead, they will play one less game. This isn't expected to create a competitive in-balance, according to the Maine Principals' Association.

This is because football differs from other high school sports. Football uses Crabtree points instead of Heal points. 

In recent years, Valley has struggled to win games in 8-man football and likely would’ve have struggled this season due to low participation numbers. The Crabtree points are based on an average opponent's winning percentage and losing percentage then multiply by 100.

“It’s a 50-50% formula. Those numbers would offset,” said Michael Bisson of the Maine Principals’ Association. “By only playing seven games, it puts more value on every game, and winning games will be even more important. Playing only seven games means any upset could really impact the standings.”

So after one week of play, all 8-man football teams except Boothbay played. If you look at the northern and southern conference standings, teams are either 1-0 or 0-1, but all have the same Crabtree index, and are tied for first place. Boothbay has no Crabtree points, but is behind all the teams which lost last week.

Boothbay travels to Bucksport (0-1) Friday, Sept. 11.