BANGOR – Moments after East Grand had beaten Southern Aroostook in Saturday night’s Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal, singing could be heard coming from inside the Vikings’ locker room in the Bangor Auditorium.

Team members were celebrating the win with an abbreviated version of the hallelujah chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.” While it may sound like an unusual practice, it’s routine for the East Grand boys.

According to senior James Godley, team members gather around a “holey” T-shirt and sing the song after every victory.

“That’s right, singing to a shirt,” chuckled East Grand senior James Godley, who tried to explain the phenomenon.

“We’ve got a shirt that’s got a bunch of holes in it, so we sing the hallelujah song to it,” Godley admitted. “It’s something that we’ve done ever since we were sophomores every time we win.”

It turns out the plain, white T-shirt belongs to senior captain Rhett Mortland. Call it superstition, but the Vikings believe the practice has value.

“It’s worked for us and we’ve had three wonderful seasons with it, so we didn’t dare to put it away for good,” said Godley, who wasn’t worried that word had gotten out.

“Print it if you want,” he said.