AUBURN – Before the bulbs flicker on Friday night and cast their glow upon silver helmets or bleached white uniforms, before the Saturday sun warms the mud-mottled green turf and the breezes blow a rainbow of deciduous leaves across the chalk lines, there is a week of heartburn.

Where there is high school football, there is a dedicated group of men whose fervor for the game borders obsession. They experience myriad internal and external pressures. They sacrifice hundreds of hours away from families for stipend checks that barely foot the bill for the grub they put away at coaches’ meetings.

What happens when coaches meet? Well, let’s just say there is no shortage of stories, creative cursing, good-natured ribbing, inspiration and perspiration.

This week, as Edward Little High School prepared for a pivotal Pine Tree Conference game against Brunswick, head coach Darren Hartley graciously invited the Sun Journal to be a fly on the wall as he gathered with assistant coaches Craig Jipson, Don Morency and Dave Sterling on Sunday night.

7 p.m. – KICKOFF

Hartley and Jipson haul four armloads of drinks and snacks into Jipson’s classroom at EL.

“This isn’t just because the media is here,” Hartley said. “We do this every week.”

Sterling sets up a projector so the coaches can watch game film on the dry-erase chalkboard. The dissection of Friday night’s win over Oxford Hills is informal. Already, there is more talk of the future than the past.

“If they get momentum,” Hartley said of Brunswick, “we’re screwed.”

One particularly ragged run catches Hartley’s eye and his ire. “That was gross. Bring that back, Dave. There are about 20 things wrong with this play.”

In the next sequence, EL’s defense stuffs Oxford Hills inside the 10-yard line. Senior tight end and defensive end Travis Barnies delivers a classic de-cleater, John Madden jargon for a tackle that lifts both the ball carrier’s feet off the ground.

“Oh, look at that. Look at that! Aw, and then he helps him up,” Hartley crowed. “What a gentleman.”

7:40 p.m. – DRAGON TALES

Sterling pops in a tape of Brunswick’s game with Oxford Hills. There’s one problem. The tape came from Oxford Hills, and the student video technician tilted his camera toward the Vikings’ side of the line of scrimmage every time his team had the ball. EL can’t read Brunswick’s changing defensive fronts.

“This camera angle sucks,” Hartley said. “This is not good. This is not good.”

The picture isn’t any prettier when Brunswick has the ball. Tailback Demetri Rosette takes a pitch to the right, stops on a dime and zigzags for a substantial gain.

“He did that against us last year,” Sterling recalled. “He cut back and went the distance.”

Ten minutes into the film, Hartley starts to pace the floor. He opens a box of doughnuts.

“I’ve got indigestion from my coffee. I’ve gotta have one of these,” he announced. “I tell you, guys, if you want to take the edge off, these here with the strawberry frosting are great.”

Morency, a veteran Auburn youth football coach, doesn’t say anything to ease Hartley’s discomfort.

“Right now, these guys are just more physical on defense (than Oxford Hills),” said Morency. “Look at the helmets!”

“We’ve got to play defense like that,” responded Hartley, “so we can hang around and have a chance in the fourth quarter.”

9:05 – SKOWHEGANGATE

The next film is two nights old, featuring Brunswick’s road trip to Skowhegan. Brunswick commits three turnovers in the first half and trails 8-0 at the break. Dragons coach Dan Cooper gives the officials an earful as the teams depart for their halftime discussions. Hartley notices five or six Brunswick players hopping up and down in the universal language of restlessness.

“It’s too cold. I never could have done that,” Hartley confessed. “If I wasn’t playing and had to stand on the sidelines, I would have said, “That’s it, screw this. I’m going deer hunting.'”

Early in the third quarter, there’s a blur of static. When the footage returns, Skowhegan is punting and facing the opposite end zone. Several minutes of the third and fourth periods turned up missing. Cooper told Hartley that he must have dozed off during the recording process.

“I was watching the end of this game at 5:30 this morning,” said Hartley. “I saw the Brunswick quarterback take a knee and I said, ‘What the f—? It’s only 8-8.'”

His story is interrupted by a cell phone call from former Brunswick head coach, current Lewiston assistant and longtime friend Dick Leavitt.

10:15 – SECOND WIND

That phone call ends and talk turns to special teams. Hartley looks over at a subdued Jipson. “You gonna make it, Jip? You’re going to go home after this and break down basketball film, aren’t you, Jip?”

The mood is lightening. Sterling, a former EL player in the 1980s, walks to the board to diagram defensive schemes. Morency doesn’t miss a chance to jab one of his former players. “Coach, you think you could draw that a little bigger for us old farts?”

“He’s an engineer,” Hartley said of Sterling. “The salary’s a lot bigger than the handwriting.”

The head coach then pronounces himself “punch drunk” from a day of cheerleading practice and backyard football with his children. “You weren’t in the pumpkin patch at Chipman Farm with 2,000 kids,” Jipson retorted. “I yelled at eight kids that weren’t even mine.”

Some meetings run until after midnight. A week ago, Hartley said he arrived home at about 12:30 and dozed off in his chair. Twenty minutes later he was wide awake, unable to sleep for the rest of the night.

After a quick rundown of what’s on tap for the Columbus Day junior varsity game and varsity practice, this one’s done at 11:08.

Hartley helps put away the leftover doughnuts, Mountain Dew, Diet Coke, party mix, potato chips and pretzel rods. “Don’t tell Mike Lance or Jimmy or John Hersom,” he said, referring to three fellow coaches known for their lean muscle mass. “I’m a not a fitness guru during football season. I’m too nervous.”

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