BANGOR – Tuesday was the worst day of the high school football season for the Bangor Rams. It was equipment-return day.

One by one, the young men walked from the locker room to the equipment cage where head coach Gabby Price checked off the pads, helmets, and game and practice jerseys issued to them when the season was young and full of promise.

Three days after Bangor’s season-ending, 26-7 defeat to upstart Oxford Hills in a Pine Tree Conference semifinal game, a pall still hovered over the Rams.

“It took me the whole weekend to realize it really happened,” said Josh Jamieson, a senior tailback who had played his final high school football game. “It was tough. It’s really disappointing. I thought for the whole year that we’d make it to states. I never thought about losing.”

Quarterback Mark McEwen, another senior, found it tough to let go. Before turning in his helmet, he tore off the Rams horn decals from each side.

“It was fun, which is always most important,” McEwen said, “but I think everybody is a little disappointed because we expected to be playing for at least one more, maybe two more weeks.”

The Rams had been a consensus preseason pick to win the PTC and represent Eastern Maine in the state championship. The 18 seniors on the team knew this could be their year.

As time goes by, though, this senior class – which went 1-8 as freshmen – will be best remembered as the class that helped reverse the fortunes of Bangor High football, Price said.

“You’d like to be able to do more for them in terms of wins, but maybe in the long run their legacy will be that they were outstanding human beings who left a lot to the program,” Price said. “These people have done so many good things – their work ethic, their heart. As a group, they’ve worked as hard as any group we’ve ever had here.”

The seniors led a charge which saw a 1-8 season turn into a three-year run in which they won 20 games – more wins than anybody in the PTC, except Waterville – and went to the PTC final as juniors and the PTC semifinals as seniors.

“They’ve really done a great job to get us to where we’re knocking on the door,” said Price. “We’re not ready to kick the door in quite yet, but at least we’re knocking.”

Senior tight end Nat Clark, for the most part, concurred.

“It’s been a great three years. It was a great ride for us,” Clark said before adding, “it’s so disappointing to end like we did.”

Other seniors like Mike Arnold, Kaleem Clarkson and Dan O’Connell played key roles as starting linemen. John Connors, Matt Thompson, Fred Moore, Jeremy Tanis, Waseem El-Begearmi, John Roberts, Jarrod Holman, Greg Willoughby, Sam Moring, Ron Lawson, Tim Fairbrother and Ken Jordan were important role players in games and practices.

“Some of them had outstanding years,” Price said. “But as a group they’re outstanding people.”