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BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. – The bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” at the 50-yard line while an airplane hummed overhead. Then it passed and a white seagull soared across the bright blue sky.
At each end of the grass field, football players stood silently, helmets under their arms. The game was just a few minutes away.
Massachusetts Maritime Academy vs. Maine Maritime Academy, two military schools playing for the Admiral’s Cup.
“I associate this game with the United States of America,” said Massachusetts Maritime coach Joe Domingos, a native of the Azores Islands near Portugal. “As an immigrant, that’s what I wanted to do when I was young, play football.”
John “Jay” Corcoran, Class of ’79, played basketball for Massachusetts Maritime. Along with their game programs, fans clutched flyers with his picture. It asked for donations to a memorial fund in his name.
Corcoran was on United Flight 175 from Boston when it crashed into the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning. The father of two teen-agers was headed to Los Angeles to work on a container ship going to the Far East.
His good friend, Mike Saganey, planned to be on the plane but chose a less expensive flight. His plane was diverted to Buffalo, N.Y., where Saganey learned his friend’s fate.
“Jay and I were supposed to spend Tuesday night in L.A.,” said Saganey, 46, of Weymouth, who spent the past seven years as first engineer on an oil tanker.
Before Saturday’s game on this campus just before the Bourne Bridge at the entrance to Cape Cod, one friend after another hugged him tightly as he stood on the bare, metal bleachers. Some cried.
“I think the game should be played,” he said. “Get on with normal lives.”
David Burrill rushed for a school-record 315 yards and two touchdowns, leading Massachusetts Maritime to a 28-7 win over Maine Maritime.
“I definitely had that as a goal, to break the single-game record, but to break it like that,” said Burrill, who three weeks earlier had walked around the World Trade Center, though not inside, on his first visit to New York.
Burrill, who also had his team’s only three receptions, scored on an 80-yard run with 5:40 left in the second quarter before the Mariners tied the game on a 25-yard pass from Pat Bard to Justin Cummings.
In the third quarter, the Buccaneers scored on Joe Paulis’ fumble recovery in the end zone and Matt Desmond’s 1-yard run. Burrill finished the scoring with a 21-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Domingos, who turned 58 Saturday, said his players “were very concerned about what happened, but we were all focused on the game.”
Throughout the country, Division I games were postponed. But this was Division III, where players play for the love of the game without scholarships.
Bob Corradi, athletic director at Massachusetts Maritime, said the decision to play was easy after he talked with officials at Maine Maritime.
“Being a military college, and the president of the United States said they wanted to return to normalcy, we decided to do exactly that,” Corradi said. “We’re going to play football, but we won’t forget.”
Some graduates become land-based engineers, others work on commercial ships. And others become commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard. Two Maine Maritime players had more than football to worry about.
They’re on call with the National Guard.
Mariners co-captain Jerrad Murray said it was tough coping with the tragedy early in the week.
“As a team, we decided we need to stick together to get through it all,” he said.
Before the game, there was a moment of silence. Members of past classes stood behind the band as it played the national anthem. One man in a group of five held a blue sign with white numbers, “1941.”
In the stands, 82-year-old Lee Frank remembered where he was when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
“I was building P-47s for Republic Aviation in Long Island,” he said, leaning on a cane that helps support two artificial knees. “Then I enlisted in the Signal Corps and served in the Pacific theater.
“The World Trade Center is worse than Pearl Harbor. How can you fight fanatics who know that they’re going to die?” said Frank, an avid fan who felt the game should be played.
Just then, Massachusetts Maritime players ran onto the field between lines of their classmates who wore dress uniforms – white shirts and dark blue pants.
Fullback Matt Desmond led the charge, waving a small American flag.
“My idea. No one knew about it,” he said. “I went to a vigil last night. It meant a lot to me.”
Mass. Maritime 28, Maine Maritime 7
Maine Maritime (0-2) 0 7 0 0- 7
Mass. Maritime (1-1) 0 7 14 7-28
Mass. – Burrill 80 run (Ellard kick)
Maine – Cummings 25 pass from Bard (Bell kick)
Mass. – Paulis fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed)
Mass. – Desmond 1 run (Latta pass to Muldoon)
Mass. – Burrill 21 run (Ellard kick)
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