DOVER-FOXCROFT — There will always be memorable and amusing tales from any football camp — and many of them will be told by volunteer head coaches Mike Hathaway and Mark Soehren.
For the past week, Hathaway, the West head coach from Leavitt, and Soehren, the East’s crew chief from Oxford Hills, have been experiencing those getting-to-know-you moments with their antsy players, who couldn’t wait to flee the confines of Foxcroft Academy’s spacious gym for Lobster Bowl media day and return to practice on Tuesday.
Players and coaches alike made themselves available to the media. Saturday’s game at Lewiston High School will begin at 4 p.m. Gates open at 1 p.m.
“The first day we were here — and we just practice just back here (near) the gymnasium locker room — and there is no one out there yet, and they just walked out all together,” Soehren said. “I think it is really unusual … but they waited for each other, and I am like, ‘Well, I don’t know. Maybe that’s a good sign. They are already watching out for each other.’
“It has been just a great group. They come together. They’ve got personalities that are fun, and you’ve got quiet kids as well.’”
But Soehren said there were pranks being pulled in that sea of humanity.
“The kids did have some pranks going, but we had to stop that a little bit. They were all harmless,” Soehren said with a smile. “It’s been a fun group of kids.”
Hathaway said this group of Lobster Bowl players are a competitive bunch who do have fun but take it seriously.
A SON’S PERSPECTIVE
Sawyer Hathaway said the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl is also important to his teammates and all the other guys that never made it to the state championship, like his Leavitt team did in Class C this past fall.
“After you play that state championship, and so many of these guys lost in the playoffs, it gives them one more thing to look forward to, and you know when your last game is going to be,” Sawyer Hathaway said. “So when you know your last game is going to be, you can mentally prepare yourself, like to come to terms with some of us hanging up the cleats and being done.”
Mike Hathaway has the opportunity of coaching his second-born son in the mid-summer senior all-star game, as does Soehren with Oxford Hills quarterback Eli Soehren. Mike’s oldest son, Wyatt, didn’t have the opportunity to play in the tackle version of the Lobster Bowl after it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus. Instead, Wyatt Hathaway and his class of senior all-stars — including Soehren’s oldest son, Atticus — were relegated to a 7-on-7 tournament.
“He has been coaching me since I was 5 years old,” Sawyer said. “It means everything to me. We like to laugh and joke about calling plays together.”
Mike speaks proudly about both his sons.
“(Sawyer) is going to be a good coach one day,” Hathaway said.
Sawyer is heading to Central Maine Community College in the fall and will play basketball alongside Wyatt.
LONE WOLVES
Reece Davis and Caden Garry don’t mind being the representatives from their respective schools – Spruce Mountain and Edward Little.
Davis, who is heading to Plymouth State University, played eight-man football for the Phoenix and really enjoyed that leaner brand of football. However, in Saturday’s Lobster Bowl game, it will be an 11-man venue, but Davis will figure it out.
“That will be a little bit of an adjustment, but I played a lot of 11-man until I was a junior in high school,” Davis said. “So it will come back.”
But he reluctantly revealed that he gravitates to the eight-man setup.
“I don’t know. It is tough,” Davis said. “They are very different, but I like eight-man’s fast pace.”
Whatever the version of football is played, it doesn’t matter to Davis come Saturday.
“It is a big deal to be here,” Davis said. “It’s a great cause. If the good lord is willing, I will be happy to be here to do anything I can to help the ball club.”
Garry was a bit surprised when he was selected to represent the Red Eddies to play in the Lobster Bowl.
“It is good to get another chance to play football,” Garry said. “You take the pads off after the last time after the high school season, you think that is it. And you have another chance (to play football).”
As far as playing football at Lewiston’s football field, he said, “That’s enemy territory.”
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
Former Lewiston High School head football coach Skip Capone decided to get back into the game via the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl.
After a 25-year absence, Capone, a West assistant coach, decided to return to help out at the Lobster Bowl. After stepping down as the Blue Devils coach, he became a Bates College assistant football coach for 22 years.
“I did four out of the first eight years (when the Lobster Bowl started) and then I took the job at Bates and I had to take a step back, and I retired from there three years ago,” Capone said. “I needed a couple of years to settle my sights and then I wanted to get back involved with (the Lobster Bowl) for the summer.
“It is a great cause. The Shriners do an amazing job. I get a chance to work with some amazing coaches and kids. By the end of the day, we are using our game to be a vehicle to help out a bunch of kids that are a lot less fortunate than all of us. At the end of the day, that’s what it is all about.”
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