FARMINGDALE — Could Hall-Dale High School student-athletes soon have a football team to play for again?

“We’re trying,” said Colin Roy, the school’s athletic director. “We’ve been trying for three years. We are determining how much interest there is and then take it to the next step.”

Members of the Winthop/Monmouth football team and officials stand during the national anthem prior to a Campbell Conference Class D game against Dirigo last season in Winthrop. There is growing momentum to add Hall-Dale to the co-op. Staff file photo by Joe Phelan

The next step would be a formal proposal to school boards as well as to the Maine Principals’ Association to join the Winthrop/Monmouth co-operative program.

And while Roy acknowledged several logistical issues — money and transportation are top among them — the school is decisively exploring the possibility of making football available at the school again.

Hall-Dale last fielded a team in 1992 before the school dropped the program because of low numbers.

“We started a conversation with Maranacook a few years ago but that would’ve bumped them up a class so it didn’t work out,” Roy said. “I then pursued Cony but I got no response. Then at the Mountain Valley Conference meeting last week, (Winthrop athletic director) Joel (Stoneton) said they might be interested. This is something I am pursuing.

“Right now, we are determining interest and, look, we have some issues. We have no money and no transportation, so parents would have to get the kids to Winthrop. I have sent out an e-mail blast to parents and we are trying to gauge interest and see where we’re at.”

Should there be enough interest — Roy said it’s still too early to put a number on potential players — the Winthrop and Monmouth school boards would need to OK the proposal.

The MPA would also have to approve what would be a new program.

“What would happen is that the Winthrop/Monmouth program would cease to exist and then the new co-op program would come in,” said Mike Burnham, an MPA executive director.

The interest is there, however, and on both sides. While Roy has been leading the conversation to involve Hall-Dale, Stoneton said the program is eager to offer another avenue for high school athletes looking for a chance to play football.

“Colin and I had a conversation, he said (he’s) got some kids that are looking to play football. I said ‘That’s great,’ ” Stoneton said. “As far as interest on Winthrop’s part, if we can offer an opportunity for a kid to play football, then we would definitely be able to do that.”

Stoneton added that while there is mutual interest between the parties, a union between the three schools is still in its earliest stages, and hasn’t gone beyond some preliminary discussions.

“There is no discussion of a co-op at this point besides ‘is it even possible to look at a co-op,’ ” he said. “It’s so informal at this point that we haven’t sat down and discussed details.”

The addition of Hall-Dale would likely not affect the program’s classification because of a new policy the MPA adopted in the spring.

“Everything is based on a percentage,” Burnham said.

The new co-op classification policy counts the host school’s enrollment — in this case Winthrop — and adds a percentage of the secondary schools’ enrollment that is based on participation.

Previously, a co-op program was placed in a class based on total enrollment of the schools.

“This will help because it means we won’t have to get bumped up a class,” Roy said.

Hall-Dale won a football state title in 1979 and played for another in 1983.

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