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Players and cheerleaders selected to participate in the 27th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl met as teammates for the first time on Sunday with meetings at the Kora Shrine Temple in Lewiston. They quickly learned that their athletic abilities should not be taken for granted.
“It’s definitely not just a football game,” Winslow’s Alec Clark said.
The Lobster Bowl, an all-star football game featuring the top recently graduated seniors from around the state, raises money for Shriner’s hospitals for children. This year’s game is scheduled for July 16 at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford.
The athletes and their families heard from guest speakers who have been helped by Shriner’s hospitals. One speaker was a 21-year-old man from Florida who has been treated at Shriner’s hospitals since the age of 2 for problems with his spine.
“Just listening to what he had to say, it’s a good feeling to be a part of that,” Cony senior Anthony Brunelle said. “It just gives you more to play for than yourself.”
Added Clark: “He was a heck of speaker… You put a little more heart and desire in when you know you’re playing for somebody who can’t walk.”
While raising money for the hospitals is the reason for the Lobster Bowl, a highlight for the players each year is becoming teammates with former rivals. On Sunday, it was time to meet the players who last fall were the opponent.
“What happened in the past is over. You battled them, now you battle with them,” said Clark, who in January won the Frank Gaziano Award as the state’s top offensive lineman.
Brunelle’s high school coach at Cony, BL Lippert, is a Lobster Bowl alum, having played in the 2000 game. Brunelle said he hasn’t spoken to Lippert about the experience.
“Not yet. I emphasize yet, because I expect he’ll have some stories for me,” said Brunelle, who will play wide receiver for the East squad in the Lobster Bowl.
Maine Central Institute’s Alex Bertrand was selected to play but had knee surgery Monday and will not be complete in his rehab in time. Tom Bertrand, Alex’s father and MCI’s head football coach, said his son — who served as a ball boy when Tom coached in the game — hopes to still take part somehow.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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