Two locations, 13 years, $220,000 in charitable donations, and innumerable volunteers later, the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic is still going strong.

The 13th annual installment of the East-West senior all-star football game, which donates all proceeds to the Shriners Hospitals for Children and Shriners Burns Institutes, will kick off around 7:30 p.m. at Biddeford High School’s Waterhouse Field on Friday, July 26.

“It’s our 13th year and we’ve always generated funds, more some years than others,” said longtime volunteer organizer Tim Luttrell. “It’s become almost an institution,”

The 88 players and 16 coaches start arriving in Waterville early Friday for a week of practice at Colby College. The 50 cheerleaders selected to perform at the game and six coaches will arrive at a similar camp at Central Maine Technical College in Auburn Saturday.

In the meantime, organizers like Luttrell and fellow committee member Jason Fuller have to deal with last-minute snags and complications.

“We had seven players call us today to cancel,” said Luttrell. “But that’s pretty typical. It’s always frustrating for us to get calls this late, but this is reality and we expect to have some last-minute complications every year. We wouldn’t know how to handle it if we didn’t.”

The typical reason involves jobs, as it’s difficult to get an entire week off from a summer job to prepare for and play in the game.

This is the second year the training camp has been located at Colby College and the 11th straight year the game has been hosted at Waterhouse.

“We moved from UNE [University of New England] because Colby has a football facility and it works much better with their equipment and locker room facilities,” Luttrell said. “We’ve pretty much kept it at Waterhouse because they really love football there and they do a great job supporting this game.”

Luttrell estimates the average attendance for the game at about 6,500 through the first 12 years. He says it’s all due to the work of the 130-plus Shriners and another 50 volunteers and coaches who donate their time to make sure the week is a memorable and productive one.

Game admission is $10 for reserved seating (available at Kora Temple, 782-6831), $7 for general seating in advance, and $8 for general seating on game day. General admission tickets are available at all Shaw’s Supermarkets in Maine.

The game will also be televised on a tape-delay basis the following Saturday by Adelphia Cable Access-TV in Augusta.

Easton opens ’em up

As Easton High embarks on a new academic year, it does so with a new system of selecting head coaches.

“All positions get opened up every time,” said athletic director Steve Shaw. “Everybody has to reapply for the positions because we just open the positions every year.”

That means that there’s no guarantee a head coach will be back for another year as Easton has followed suit with other schools and hired coaches for one-year contracts each time around in every sport.

“I think the thinking behind this was it might entice some more experienced candidates,” said Shaw.

It also forces parents or critics of coaches to put their reputation where their mouths are. Anyone saying they can do a better job will now have the chance to prove it.

Some fall coaches have been reconfirmed, among them girls varsity soccer coach Derek Boyd, who also coached girls varsity basketball last season and is back for his fourth soccer season.

Greg Miller, who coached boys basketball, is believed to have reapplied for a second season as boys head soccer coach, but the job hasn’t been filled yet.

“I think next week we’ll start evaluating the applications and things,” Shaw said. “We should know after the fifth of August who the recommended person is and then the [school] board can vote.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or ANeff@bangordailynews.net