The St. Bernard/Norwich Tech football cooperative is leaving the Eastern Connecticut Conference next season for the Constitution State Conference, composed of mostly state technical schools.

"If we still want to have football (at St. Bernard), we have to set the kids up for success," said St. Bernard athletic director Brendan Case, confirming the co-op's plan. "This is a pretty easy move right now and makes sense for us because we'd be a good fit. We played Wolcott Tech on Friday night and it was a great game ... a competitive game ... for both teams (St. Bernard won 64-46). The two teams were very even, there was lots of scoring and the kids had a great time."

St. Bernard/Norwich Tech's departure, discussed at Tuesday's meeting of ECC athletic directors, leaves 14 football schools that will divide into two enrollment-based divisions starting in 2015, several athletic directors confirmed.

League principals must approve all developments at their Nov. 14 meeting.

Next season's Large Division will feature Norwich Free Academy, Fitch, Ledyard, East Lyme, New London, Bacon Academy and Woodstock Academy. The Small Division has Waterford, Stonington, Montville, Griswold, Plainfield, Windham and Killingly.

Woodstock, whose officials expressed public concern recently about its ability to compete against the league's successful programs, was granted a request for relief - pending approval - to avoid playing Ledyard, NFA and New London. Woodstock will play Bacon, East Lyme and Fitch in the Large Division as well as crossovers into the Small Division.

Woodstock would not be eligible to win the division because it won't play all its teams.

Should Ledyard, New London and NFA, which only have five division games, finish with the same number of losses as those with six games, then the current rules for breaking ties would be used.

"It would be the same protocol, which is head-to-head, and if head-to-head doesn't break a tie, multiple champions can be crowned at that point," Ledyard athletic director and football coach Jim Buonocore said. "But the extra game would not be the difference if there were 4-1 and 5-1 teams. We would treat that as a tie at that point."

All Small Division schools will play three crossover games into the Large Division. All 14 schools will be guaranteed nine league games.

As for St. Bernard, which will remain a part of the ECC in all other sports, Case said Tuesday that final details are still being worked out, but the program will make a presentation to CSC leadership on Nov. 6. Norwich Tech is a conference member in all sports except football. He also said Grasso Tech is "very interested" in joining the two schools to become a three-school co-op, but "details are still being worked out."

Case called the situation "unique" because of Norwich Tech and Grasso Tech's affiliation with the CSC, which would allow the program to slide right into a new conference.

Case said there are four student-athletes from St. Bernard in the football program this season and approximately 30 from Norwich Tech. If Grasso Tech decides to join the program, Case is hopeful that the program can sustain varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams.

"This has opened a nice door for us," he said. "When we weigh our options and see where we are as a program right now, it's an easy decision. ... But the ECC goes through the realignment process every two years, so we would be open to that process again. We're just trying to get things started off and see how it works."

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius

ECC FOOTBALL

Following is the proposed seven-team, two-division ECC football alignment for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, pending approval from the league's principals (male enrollment numbers as of Oct. 1, 2014):

LARGE DIVISION

NFA (1,140), Fitch (565), East Lyme (537), New London (505), Woodstock Academy (490), Bacon Academy (467), Ledyard (422).

SMALL DIVISION

Waterford (411), Killingly (398), Stonington (378), Montville (348), Plainfield (333), Windham (301), Griswold (282).

Note: Woodstock has requested to opt of of games against NFA, New London and Ledyard, making it ineligible for the division title.