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For many, the 2025-26 season marks a seismic shift in the Maine high school basketball landscape. Temple Academy’s Liam Willey, though, doesn’t necessarily feel it.

As its Waterville campus is renovated, Temple is playing its games away from home this year and, for the time being, practicing across town at Blessed Hope Advent Christian Church. Between that and recovering from a leg injury, the junior hasn’t given much thought to his team’s new Class S designation.

“It’s pretty much the same-exact thing, just with a different name,” Willey said. “We play the same teams that we played before, except for a couple of them that got boosted up, and we get to play a little earlier.”

Earlier this year, the Maine Principals’ Association approved a five-class structure that included the establishment of Class S for schools with enrollments of fewer than 100 students. Temple and the other Class S teams began practicing Monday, a week before their Class A through D counterparts. While there are some differences, the general feel is the same for Class S programs as a new season begins.

Valley girls basketball’s Kirsten Bigelow, Rylee Clark, Liana Hartwell, Delia Hill and Brianna Mills remember the feeling of winning the first Gold Ball in program history eight months ago. This year, with all but one player returning, the Cavaliers have a good chance to win another title.

Unlike the eight Gold Balls — seven boys and one girls — that currently line the entrance to Upper Kennebec Valley High, though, the next one wouldn’t say “Class D” on it. It’s a bit of change, Valley players say, but not one that affects the Cavaliers’ mission and preparation.

“Usually, we’re here Thanksgiving week, but now, our first practice is when we’re all still in school,” Clark said. “It’s a little bit different because of that and because one’s D and one’s S, but our focus is still on playing well this season and bringing home the gold. I mean, a Gold Ball is still a Gold Ball.”

The early start (Monday for practices, Nov. 28 for games) is needed for tournament scheduling purposes. The Class S playoffs will be held at Augusta Civic Center (South) and Cross Insurance Center (North), and since those venues will be hosting eight regional tournaments instead of six, the quarterfinals must take place earlier.

Temple boys coach Scott Corey and girls coach Lindsay Beaulieu are thrilled their teams will still get to play at the Civic Center this year. However, starting the tournament the Tuesday and Wednesday before February break rather than the weekend leading up to it isn’t ideal.

“The parents who are used to taking time off during that week to see their girls play, now they have to factor in, ‘OK, now we have to take some extra time off from work for our game,’” Beaulieu said. “So, it’s a little disappointing, but we just have to roll with it. We know there’s a reason they’re doing it that way.”

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Class S, as Corey and Valley girls coach Gordon Hartwell noted, is really a rebranded Class D with a few teams missing. Stearns, Central Aroostook, Lee Academy, Southern Aroostook and Schenck stay in the new Class D in the North, while Telstar, Buckfield and Wiscasset remain in the South. (St. Dominic Academy closed in June.)

There’s another aspect, though, that makes the new classification appealing to Josh Dayen, the girls coach and athletic director at Pine Tree Academy in Freeport. Dayen said the abolition of the MPA’s rule that let teams with winning percentages of 25 or lower over four years reclassify to a lower class is a big win.

“I think that’s the biggest story for us, to be honest,” Dayen said. “We played a number of schools that dropped into our class with that 25-percent rule that were just much bigger than we are. I just felt that made it really tough because it changed the level of competition.”

That, combined with the separation of schools with more than 100 students, has seemed to level the playing field. Schools such as Valley (enrollment 63), Temple (60), Pine Tree (49) and Forest Hills (49) no longer have to play schools twice their size or more, something Forest Hills boys coach Anthony Amero has wanted to see for years.

“The kids at our school are excited; they feel it’s a much more equal playing field for them, and I get the same feeling from the other coaches in our Southern division,” Amero said. “It’s new, it’s exciting, and I think we’re all ready to see what it looks like this year.”

Indeed, the enthusiasm hasn’t been dampened. It’s still Maine high school basketball, and although some of the logistics have changed, the turnout was strong Monday not only for Valley, Pine Tree, Forest Hills and Temple, but also Downeast at Jonesport-Beals High School, enrollment 63, where 17 boys and 16 girls tried out.

“Even though it has changed, I don’t think we look at it that way,” said Jonesport-Beals boys coach Skipper Alley. “I think you’ll see a difference in the teams you’re playing in the tournament, but until then, we’re still playing the same schedule, and it’s about getting ready to play, like it’s always been.”