East, West stars eager for Friday’s 14th Lobster Bowl

WATERVILLE – For some participants, the 14th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl represents one final chance to don the football pads and play a game that has been a focal point of their athletic lives.

For others, it represents a transition from high school standout to college football aspirant.

But for all 87 recent high school graduates on the East and West rosters, Friday night’s game at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford is a chance to show off skills that might have been taken for granted at times during their careers, but not after a visit Monday to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Mass.

“This game is definitely about those kids,” said Jacob Folz, a 6-foot-3, 267-pound offensive lineman from Oxford Hills High School in South Paris who will attend the University of Maine on a football scholarship this fall.

“We went to the hospital [Monday], and some of the kids there are in pretty rough shape. It makes any pain that we might feel out here just disappear and go out of our minds. All we wanted to do when we were there was to give them a little bit of joy and brighten their day a little.”

The Lobster Bowl has raised more than $200,000 for the Shriners Hospital during its first 13 editions, just one of a number of benefits derived from this contest.

There’s also the chance for players to match their skills against the best in the state regardless of class, both in the game and during the triple sessions of training camp now under way at Colby College.

“It’s definitely a different game,” said Danny White, a three-sport star from Foxcroft Academy who will play basketball at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine next season. “You can’t take any plays off. There are so many great athletes here, even in practice if you let up for one second they’re going to take you down. All the linemen are much quicker and stronger than what we faced in Class C. Even in practice, they make you play to the best of your ability on each snap.”

“We’re not conditioning now, we’re supposed to be there already,” added Jeff Parenteau, a 5,000-yard rusher at Belfast who will attend the University of Rhode Island this fall. “Right now we’re getting used to being hit. I’ve taken wallops from my team in practice; our defense is really quick. The intensity level is twice what we’re used to; it’s like a state game in practice.”

There’s the camaraderie of training camp, the opportunity to become teammates with former opponents.

“I played against a lot of these guys last year,” said Wes Day, a wide receiver from Bangor bound for Northeastern University in September. “There’s a lot of great guys here, and now playing with them brings back memories of lining up against them.”

Then there’s the matter of winning. The West leads the series 12-1, with the lone East victory coming in 1999.

For some of the players, this game is all about winning.

“It’s very important to me,” said Folz. “I hate losing. I’ve done too much of it in my lifetime and it’s not a fun thing. I definitely like to win and I don’t like to lose.”

That competitiveness is shared by all the Lobster Bowl participants to some extent, but the trip to the Shriners Hospital and the larger picture of this game that trip represents is not lost, either.

“Everybody plays to win; nobody wants to lose,” said White. “But I know there will be a huge crowd there, and all the tradition this game is built on is what’s important, including the kids down in the hospital who can’t make it to the game.

“It’s those memories that we’ll all share, that’s the important thing. This is a great honor, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”