BIDDEFORD – Eric Daniels had plenty of reason to sulk this summer.
The Oak Hill graduate missed the bulk of his senior football season because of a leg injury. This happened after he missed most of his junior year with another injury.
Last week, when Daniels answered the telephone, the last thing he expected was to field a football question.
“I was at work and my mom called and told me to call coach (Dick) Leavitt,” said Daniels. “I was thinking maybe that was for the game, but I wasn’t sure.”
It was, in fact, “the call.”
Earlier this week, he was back on the practice field, albeit a bit rusty.
“I was a little bit off,” said Daniels, “but I got back into it quickly.”
His name resonated across Waterhouse Field on Friday, and as the teams lined up for the ceremonial coin flip, Daniels paced out to midfield as one of the East squad’s captains.
“That was a shock,” Daniels said. “I just wanted to play, and it was an honor to get that.”
Daniels may be finished playing competitive football, but much like first impressions, those at the end can be pretty special, too.
Deja vu
For the second consecutive year, patrons endured a significant rain delay to begin their evening at Waterhouse Field.
Officials opened the front gate to spectators just after 6 p.m., only to tell them minutes later to vacate the metal bleachers as lightning started to flash across the sky.
At 7:50 p.m., the fans flowed back to their seats, and the players emerged from their locker rooms, anxious to get on the field.
After an abbreviated pre-game ceremony, the game kicked off at 8:40 p.m. While that was still 70 minutes later than the scheduled start, it was still nearly an hour earlier than last year’s start time.
The game ended after 11:30 p.m.
Handing out the hardware
Travis Fergola of Mountain Valley, Levi Ervin of Lisbon and Ken Paul of Massabesic were the inaugural recipients of the John R. Schmidlin award as the outstanding senior in their respective class during the regular season.
Among other things, the criteria for winning this new award included good citizenship and good sportsmanship. The players received their trophies at halftime.
One sad note
Everett Trask, who was responsible for setting up the first Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic in 1990, passed away earlier this month, just weeks before the 17th incarnation of his vision.
His vision started in 1988, and after gaining the necessary support and sponsors, Trask saw his dream through to fruition two seasons later. He witnessed 16 consecutive games.
In a pre-game ceremony Friday, officials, players and fans paused for a moment of silence to honor Trask.
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