Triumph over tragedy fuels desire

For every team in sports that is allegedly cursed, you can probably find one that's blessed, if you look hard enough.

In some cases, blessed or even guided in a way that defies description and logic. And if you've been watching the games people play long enough, it doesn't take a resounding slap across the face to recognize immediately when you're seeing it.

The football teams from Dirigo and Mountain Valley gave me that otherworldly feeling every time I walked into their shadows this fall. Only in the last week or two have I learned all the heart-wrenching reasons why.

This tale of two neighboring, oft-intersecting communities began four years ago, when Spencer Ross, a seventh-grader at Dirigo Middle School, convinced his eighth-grade cousin, Tim, to try football.

Family tradition didn't exactly fit like a new pair of cleats. When the boys split up and Tim ventured to nearby Mountain Valley High School the next September, he gave up his gridiron dreams.

"My brother Mark played, and it kind of inspired me to think about playing again," Tim said. "Now that I see how things have gone, I wish I'd played all four years."

Life intervened in heartbreaking fashion during the 2007 football season, when Mark was a senior and Tim was a sophomore. Their father, Mark Sr., died unexpectedly from a heart attack. He was 47.

Just beginning his own three-sport career at Dirigo as the middle brother in an athletic family, Spencer saw the wheels turning in his cousin's grieving mind.

"I know it definitely made him stop and think about life," said Spencer. "His dad was a big fan of football. I think he wanted to do something he could dedicate to him."

And so Tim Ross, all 5-foot-8, 129-pounds-on-a-rainy-night of him, returned to the gridiron in 2008. Mountain Valley, led by a weightier pair of cousins named Justin Staires and Matt Laubauskas, rolled to a Class B title. Ross barely got a sniff of varsity time.

Senior year didn't promise anything different. But football being a snapshot of life, it wasn't long before a separated shoulder, cramps and a concussion intervened. Three defensive backs dropped like empty water bottles and suddenly there was Ross, playing safety with his head on a swivel as minutes dissolved to frenzied seconds in a game at Wells.

The underdog hosts drove end-to-end in three minutes and threatened to punch in the game-tying or winning touchdown. Wells' quarterback crossed the field left to right and back left again, then offered up a prayer to the end zone ... right into the mitts of the kid with the guardian angel.

"People kept telling me that Dad would have been proud of me," said Tim. "I thought about him the whole time. I know he was watching."

Spencer, home resting up for a game against Old Orchard Beach the next day, didn't have to wait long for the phone call and the play-by-play.

"I said, ‘Alright, way to step up and play like a Ross,' " Spencer recalled.

Oh, but the story gets crazier. Thanks to another defensive back falling by the wayside with a season-ending knee injury, Tim Ross still found himself smack-dab in the middle of the Falcons' secondary at playoff time.

Isolated against York's star running back Jared Prugar and picked upon as the perceived mismatch all night long, Ross out-jumped Prugar in the end zone for a game-saving interception in the final three minutes of regulation. Mountain Valley won that regional semifinal, 14-10, avenging a 19-point loss two weeks earlier.

"I know he shocked some people, and even his coaches," said Tim's mother, Catherine.

Cape Elizabeth's fourth-quarter rally in the Western Class B championship washed away the Ross' hopes of a family reunion in the state finals. Spencer, an explosive runner, receiver, kick returner and defensive back, led Dirigo into Saturday's Class C title showdown against Foxcroft Academy.

Dirigo's journey to the summit has been bigger than football, and Spencer Ross' connection to his uncle merely scratches the surface.

Ben Dolloff, a 270-pound senior, has played the last four years in memory of his younger brother, Lucas, who was only 11 when he lost his life in a tragic household accident in October 2006.

And there was Dolloff's linemate, Jake Dowland, who overcame a rare disease of the esophagus and a rarer, potentially fatal complication from it just to play this season.

Their perseverance is nothing new to anyone familiar with these towns, whose collective work ethic, pride in community, strong family connections and love of sport are second to none in this region.

Through the most unfair twists of life, they remain blessed. I consider myself blessed to have watched them and to have been given the chance to meet them this fall.

Until a few days ago, I believed it was the best seat in the house. Now I realize that an unseen guest or two had me beat.

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His email is koakes@sunjournal.com.