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It took awhile for Jamier Rose and his West all-star football teammates to find their footing.

Then all phases clicked in the second half as the West turned a seven-point halftime lead into a 41-6 victory Saturday at the 35th anniversary game of the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic.

Rose, from Noble High, finished with 150 rushing yards in his final football game — he’s headed to Southern New Hampshire University to play basketball — and completed 8 of 13 passes for 94 yards to earn MVP honors for the West.

“It’s a long day. We come all the way from Dover-Foxcroft,” Rose said, referring to the training camp site shared by both teams. “I think it took a second for us to get going, and then our bond just came together. We balled out. It’s an incredible feeling to go out this way with the MVP.”

Rose, the Varsity Maine Boys Athlete of the Year, threw two touchdown passes to Max Andrews of Kennebunk and ran for another TD. Riley Provencher, a wide receiver from eight-man Small School champ Old Orchard Beach, showed he could also throw, checking up on an end around and finding CJ Cooper of Bonny Eagle with a well-thrown pass for a 50-yard touchdown.

The West defense was led by Wes Piper, from eight-man Large School champion Greely. Piper stopped two third-quarter East drives that had reached West territory with a fumble recovery and then a perfectly timed interception when he undercut an out route. Overall, the West defense held the East to 172 yards over the 60-minute game. Piper and Tavian Lauture (5 for 5 on PATs) of Deering led a secondary that stood up to the big East receivers and worked in tandem with a pressure-producing defensive line to frustrate East quarterbacks Louis Thurston of Portland (7 of 22, 60 yards) and Caleb Kennedy of MCI (5 of 13, 72 yards).

Linemen like Christian Silva of Deering (two first-half sacks), Brock Gibbons of Lake Region, Zach Nelson of Thornton Academy, Brady Haynes of South Portland (forced fumble) and Shane Waterman of Marshwood stuffed the East’s rushing game. Inside linebackers Brady Stone of Kennebunk and Eli Potter of Wells each had a fumble recovery, with Stone returning a botched pitch 66 yards to tie the game 6-6 in the first quarter.

“I just saw that ball come out and it was open and I just took it,” Stone said. “I was dreaming about that last night. It just means a lot because I’m a running back, but I was playing defense, and I always wanted to score in this game so much. It was electric.”

The game, first played in 1990, is an opportunity for the top senior players from the 2024 season to play a final high school game. Each player and cheerleader must commit to raising at least $500 for the Shriners Children Hospitals. Most raise considerably more, and all net proceeds from the game go to the 22 Shriners Children Hospitals across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Both teams ended up with five turnovers. The East’s defense made plenty of big plays but couldn’t contain a West team that had six receivers with at least two catchers. Rose’s running was supplemented by some good bursts from Sanford’s Rhylen Avery, who scored the West’s second touchdown on a 1-yard run, and Thornton’s Jackson Paradis.

For the East, Lewiston defensive end Joe Dube, who is planning to play at Husson, was disruptive all game long with three sacks and two forced fumbles, one recovered by the East. Dube was named the East’s MVP.

“It was very special coming out here to play on my home field one last time, and I just wanted to give everything I had and I didn’t want to hold anything back,” Dube said.

Brady Grant (Orono) turned his own pass-break up into an interception that set up the East’s only touchdown, a 20-yard jet sweep by Zeb Foster (Oceanside) that put the East ahead 6-0. Preston Roy (Lawrence) and Logan McVeigh (Falmouth) had interceptions. And Drake Brunelle (Messalonskee) returned a fumble 50 yards to set up the East at the West 16 early in the third quarter when it was still a one-score game.

But the West defense stood firm and forced a missed field goal.

The West then moved 80 yards on 10 plays to go ahead 19-6 on Rose’s first touchdown pass to Andrews, a jump ball in the end zone to Kennebunk’s three-sport standout.

“It brought the energy up. It was a good way to come out of the half,” Andrews said. “I felt like we needed a little push, a little buzz, and the coaches trusted me, and a great throw by Jamier and he put it right where I wanted it and just let me make a play. We kind of rolled from there, so it was great.”

The East’s next drive got to the West 23 before Piper recovered a fumble.

Three plays later, Provencher’s TD pass to Cooper (three catches, 70 yards) gave the West a 27-6 lead. Then Piper stopped another East drive in West territory with his interception.

“Defense all week has been really high energy and we just rolled that into the game. We play with a lot of intensity and we just came out here and played as hard as we did all week,” Piper said.

Rose scored on a 19-yard run early in the fourth quarter, and after a Lauture interception and lengthy return to the East 12, the West finished the scoring with a 2-yard pass from Rose to Andrews (four catches, 56 yards).