HIGH SCHOOLS: Fuel costs adding up in Mayflower League for Old ... - SouthCoastToday.com

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Mary Anne Walker never turns down a crown.

Especially on the way home from certain Old Colony boys soccer games.

"There's a Burger King near Bridgewater on Route 24 that we stop at a lot. They have these cardboard crowns and the kids like to wear them on the bus," said Walker, who has coached the Cougars the last 13 seasons and is in her second season coaching softball at the school. "It's just kids being kids and it's hilarious. They always give me one to wear and we laugh all the way home."

Traveling in the Mayflower League is serious business, though.

School buses run on diesel fuel, which is selling for as much as $4.59 a gallon in some parts of the state according to massachusettsgasprices.com, and the league's 17 athletic directors aren't laughing.

In fact, unless fuel costs come down, and that's a big if the way things are going, Westport athletic director Gail Sylvia said she might have to eliminate two non-conference games across the board for all of her teams in the fall.

Transportation costs are putting a strain on sports budgets throughout the league, which includes Old Colony and Westport, and it doesn't help that many road trips the teams make can take more than an hour each way.

The meandering league stretches west to Fall River, east to Cape Cod and north to Canton, Franklin and Walpole.

The longest round-trips for Westport and Old Colony involve driving to the Cape.

Specifically to Chatham High School (150 miles for Westport and 118 for Old Colony) and Cape Cod Tech in Harwich (132 for the Wildcats and 104 for the Cougars).

Round trips to South Shore Voke in Hanover (120 miles for Westport), Tri-County in Franklin and Norfolk Aggie in Walpole (104 miles for Westport and 84 for Old Colony to both schools) and Blue Hills in Canton (88 miles for Westport, 72 for Old Colony) also add up quickly.

By comparison, the South Coast Conference ranges from Seekonk out to Bourne (a 108-mile round trip), with Case, Dighton-Rehoboth, GNB Voc-Tech, Fairhaven, Apponequet, Old Rochester and Wareham in between facing shorter trips.

Dartmouth travels to Attleboro, Barnstable (a 106-mile round trip), Bridgewater-Raynham and Taunton in the Old Colony League, and Bishop Stang makes relatively short trips to Bishop Connolly in Fall River, Bishop Feehan in Attleboro, Coyle-Cassidy in Taunton and Somerset for Eastern Athletic Conference matchups.

"School buses aren't the most comfortable things to ride in and having to make two trips to the Cape in the same week is the worst. We try not to do that too much, because it can take a toll on the kids," said Glenn Lincoln, who's in his 20th season coaching the baseball team and also coaches girls basketball and girls volleyball at the school. "They've already gotten up early to go to school, they've been to classes and they have to be full of energy and ready to go for a sporting event after making a long trip on a cramped bus."

Sylvia has already used up the $17,000 she had in her budget for transportation that's provided by Tremblay's Bus Co. That money was gone by Feb. 1 and Sylvia is now using funds from an Athletic Revolving Account that's made up of user fees ($150 per season per athlete), grants from businesses and donations.

"We're operating with bare bones," said Sylvia. "We have enough money to get us to the end of the school year, but we only have a $500 cushion. We're keeping our fingers crossed that nothing unexpected comes up."

Wal-Mart has donated $1,500 in grants that were available to Westport parents working for the company and another $500 was received from the Exxon Alliance.

Westport athletes raised $1,300 selling candy bars at the Dartmouth Wal-Mart and the store graciously added $1,000 to the total.

The school raised another $2,500 from the proceeds of a Mr. Westport pageant held this past Friday and Sylvia said that money will be used to buy a long-needed new volleyball net and support system.

"We're lucky that we have a lot of people who are dedicated to the sports programs at Westport High School," said Sylvia. "We get checks from parents, teachers and alumni who don't want to be recognized. They just want to do what they can to help out and it's much appreciated."

Trips to the Cape for Westport games against Chatham and Cape Cod Tech cost in the area of $500 to $550, compared to $200 for matchups against schools like Bishop Connolly and Diman, which are in Fall River.

A trip to Norfolk Aggie in Walpole runs about $450 and Sylvia said the school spent about $900 for a pair of bus trips the baseball team made to Rockland High School and Holbrook High School last year en route to reaching the Division 4 South Sectional final.

Budgets may be headaches for administrators like Sylvia and Old Colony athletic