Lobster Bowl camp a source of pride for all involved

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Any drive along outer West Main Street this week reveals little more than a typical midsummer moment in the area.

Sunny skies and searing temperatures fill the parking lot of Butterfield’s Ice Cream, while traffic along the route — particularly pickup trucks from across the United States and Canada pulling camper trailers or otherwise loaded with vacation gear — reflect so much free time being spent escaping into the nearby Maine wilderness.

One of the more noticeable landmarks along the route leaving town gives the appearance of a school in solitude during summer vacation, but Foxcroft Academy is anything but quiet behind the scenes these days.

The two dormitories located on the knoll behind Oakes Field are filled to capacity with more than 90 recently graduated high school football stars from around the state getting one flirtation with their athletic passion from approximately 20 coaches who also have donated this week to the sport they love — and to a good cause.

The Foxcroft campus is hosting for the second straight year a weeklong training camp in advance of the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic, a senior all-star game that annually dedicates 100 percent of its net proceeds to the 22 Shrine Hospitals for Children across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Players are selected for the game based on their football prowess, then engage in a fund-raising effort to secure their spot on either the East or West roster.

They arrived in Dover-Foxcroft on Sunday and will participate in 15 often grueling practices over six days before heading to Biddeford for Saturday’s 27th annual edition of the game, which if history is any indicator will be played in front of approximately 5,000 fans come kickoff time at 4 p.m..

“It means a lot,” said Connor Holmes, one of three Foxcroft Academy players selected for this year’s game. “It’s an amazing tradition that’s been going on for a long time and it’s something that most high school football players look forward to once they’ve reached their prime and gotten to the end of their high school careers.”

And as much as it means to those who operate historic Waterhouse Field to host the contest each year, those affiliated with Foxcroft Academy take great pride in providing players and coaches from both teams a top-shelf training experience.

“We have the dormitories, the facilities, the management staff and the staff in the dormitories that understands what a residential program is, and they’re all very capable and knowledgeable when it comes to having a summer camp of this size because that’s essentially what this is,” said Danny White, the school’s chief financial officer and head football coach who played in the 2003 Lobster Bowl representing the Ponies and more recently has served for several years on the East coaching staff.

“We’re very fortunate to be able to host it here and to be able to operate almost like we run a normal school day.”

That includes in the cafeteria, where for the school’s director of food service Rhonda Tyler and her staff the preparation efforts are similar to a typical school day even though they are feeding only a quarter of the people they do daily from September to June — Foxcroft’s enrollment is approximately 450.

“It’s been a challenge the first couple of days getting the numbers right,” Tyler said. “They’re eating what we would typically prepare for our our three lunch waves during the school day for all the kids,” she said. “We’re pretty much preparing for that many, and they’re pretty much eating all of it. They’re big eaters, but they’re out there working hard.

“Last year I was totally stressed about it all, about the unknown, but this year we were ready.”

Also active in preparation for the camp were superintendent of buildings and grounds Tom Nason and his crew, who readied separate practice fields behind the school for the two teams and work the Lobster Bowl camp around their other summer maintenance efforts.

The players who know the campus best share that sense of pride.

“It’s definitely great to be back here at Foxcroft Academy,” said the Ponies’ Brandon Brock, who along with Holmes will join the football program at Husson University in Bangor next month.

“It was kind of painful leaving after graduation, so I’m really glad to be back and using the same facilities we used during high school. It’s going to be a great experience this week.”

Less than two days into the camp, the Foxcroft players in the game already were receiving warm feedback about the complex from their peers.

“We’ve had a lot of people commenting on our facilities,” said Hunter Smith, the University of Maine-bound wide receiver who will be unable to play in Saturday’s game due to mononucleosis. “Our groundskeepers take tremendous care of the fields and these are high-class dorms, and the people using them now come up and say either, “Wow, I didn’t know they had these here,’ or ‘I always saw these in the background of the football field but now that we’re living here it’s really nice.

“It’s kind of a step into college, living in the dorms with other kids, but it’s a high school and they really respect it.”

That respect goes both ways.

“These kids aren’t here just here because they’re great football players, they’re here because they’re high-integrity, high-character kids who are representing their schools and their communities and their families,” said White. “It’s not just about football, it’s about being a good person and doing the right things.

“Ultimately we’re two years to this and it’s been a great thing for Foxcroft Academy.”