By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer
Hard work has paid off for Poland’s Emily Bennett.

POLAND – Coaches eye the offensive and defensive lines in a high school football game. The rest of us watch the ball.

So maybe nobody notices anything different about No. 55, the left guard, reserve defensive tackle and special teams staple for Poland Regional High School.

She, that being the operative word, suspects differently.

“My hair flies out of my helmet, and they can see me through the face mask. My name is on the roster,” said Emily Bennett. “They’ve got to know.”

Bennett is a senior, an occasional starter, a tireless presence in the fitness room, a smiling face and source of encouraging words on the Poland sideline, and yes, a girl.

The Mechanic Falls student’s participation in this almost exclusively male sport isn’t unusual. Girls show up on area football rosters almost every autumn. Many of them enjoy junior varsity playing time as freshmen or sophomores, an age when they often match the boys’ physical strength and stature.

Few stick around for senior year. Fewer, still, get on the field. And Bennett’s level of achievement, becoming a varsity starter as a senior in her first year of organized football, might be a first in Maine.

“She is a quick study,” said Poland coach Rick Kramer. “Emily started with JV, and she just kept getting better and better to the point where she was next in line.”

With illness, injury and ineligibility making the rounds as they do on every football team in mid-October, Poland prepared for a recent rainy-day game at neighboring Lake Region with a significant hole in its offensive line. Kramer chose Bennett for the spot, but didn’t tell her until that Saturday morning.

While quarterback, running back and receiver are labeled the “skill positions,” learning to play up front is just as complicated.

It’s a full-contact position on every down, with different techniques for passing and running plays. Bennett had little trouble learning the basics, however, and the physical aspect seems to fit her personality.

“I love hitting people,” said Bennett. “It’s fun. You get to run around and hit people and hang out with the guys all day.”

At every level of football, players often work their way into the regular offensive or defensive rotation with spirited play on special teams.

Bennett probably earned her start the previous week, when she made a resounding solo tackle on a kickoff against Falmouth.

“The whole sideline was cheering,” Kramer said, “and the look on her face was priceless. That was the best part of it all.”

If the boys feel stigmatized because they’re being tackled by a girl or being edged out for a starting job by one, they don’t show it.

“Nobody’s given me a hard time,” Bennett said. “The guys are awesome. They all treat me like I’m just another person on the team.”

Bennett previously played soccer at Poland, which added football as a JV program her sophomore year and moved up to varsity in 2004.

The win over Lake Region extended a school-record winning streak to three games before last week’s loss at Cape Elizabeth.

“I wish I started playing in 10th grade,” Bennett said.

Saturday’s home game against Gray-New Gloucester will end her football career. Bennett looks forward to basketball season in a few weeks. Next year, she’ll attend Springfield (Mass.) College or one of the University of Maine campuses.

With his program still in the building stage, Kramer would love to punctuate Poland’s season with another highlight-film tackle from his unlikeliest architect.

“We’re all cheering for Emily,” said the coach. “Nobody has worked harder to get to this point.”