DOVER-FOXCROFT — It’s a rare thing to get a second chance at a last chance. J.T. Williams and Gus Benson knew this, and they were thankful for every second they had in the week leading up to the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl.

“I didn’t think I was going to play football again, so this is definitely a good thing,” Benson said. “One last hoorah.”

Benson, a graduate of Skowhegan Area High School, and Williams, a Mt. Blue High School graduate, had to come to grips with the idea that football was over a little earlier than most high school players. Each suffered a knee injury in the middle of a promising senior season.

Benson suffered a torn meniscus in a game against Brewer and missed the last two games for the Indians. Williams suffered a torn MCL in his left knee in week three of the season against Messalonskee.

“The first thing that went through my mind was to see if I could keep playing. Obviously, the coach pulled me off when I was limping around out there. I went to the trainer, hoping it’s not the ACL, because I know that’s the big one,” Williams said.

Before their injuries, Benson and Williams were among the best players in the Pine Tree Conference. Williams was one of the top running backs in the league, a hard and fast runner who was tough to bring down. He gained 182 yards of offense in Mt. Blue’s season-opening win at Hampden while scoring a pair of touchdowns. He gained 162 yards and scored on an 80-yard run against Lawrence in week two, before his injury the following week.

“I drove around for like an hour after the (Messalonskee) game, rethinking back to second and third grade — to the start of my football career,” Williams said.

Benson was the guy who brought everybody down. A linebacker, Benson was a tackling machine for Skowhegan. Against eventual conference champion Brunswick, Benson made 30 tackles. Skowhegan head coach Matt Friedman watched the game film twice to make sure he counted correctly. At the time of his injury, Benson led the PTC in tackles.

While Benson’s season was over with his surgery, Williams came back, only to reinjure the knee and sprain his ankle in Mt. Blue’s week-seven, comeback, 37-36 win over Brewer. Williams had one carry in the regular season finale against Skowhegan and while he tried to play in Mt. Blue’s first round playoff game at Messalonskee, it was obvious he was nowhere near 100 percent.

“I was struggling out there. You want to give it all, especially in your senior playoff game. I knew that I wasn’t 100 percent, so I had tried to do my best,” Williams, who played lacrosse for Mt. Blue this past spring with no problems, said.

The farther he got from his October surgery, the better Benson’s repaired knee felt. But having not been selected for the initial East roster in the Lobster Bowl, Benson had moved on. Last weekend, as players arrive at Foxcroft Academy for the start of training camp Benson got his chance. Another player elected not to take part, opening a spot. Benson was at work when he got the call. He arrived at training camp on Sunday night — hours after his teammates — ready to go.

“They asked me if I wanted to play and I said yes,” Benson said. “(The knee’s) a lot better, pretty much 100 percent.”

Benson will enroll at Kennebec County Community College in the fall, so Saturday’s Lobster Bowl at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford was really the end of his football career. It was an unexpected final chapter of a book Benson thought was written.

“It’s a second chance,” Benson said.

Williams, who joins Benson as a linebacker for the East, will head to the University of Maine and he’s considering a walk-on try with the Black Bears football team. If he doesn’t make it, Williams is content to have the Lobster Bowl be his final game.

The Lobster Bowl’s motto is “Strong legs run so that weak legs may walk.” Williams looked at his knee, now strong enough to run so he could support the children treated by Shriner’s hospitals.

“To be able to come back on to a football field 100 percent is huge for me, and especially for the great cause we’re playing for,” Williams said. “It’s hard to complain about a torn MCL when we’re playing for kids that can barely walk.”

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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