WALES – Not even the Maine high school football teams that have depth as a luxury typically take full advantage of it.

Even the vaunted programs in Class A – Bonny Eagle, Bangor, Lawrence and Deering come to mind – saddle up their fair share of two-way starters.

At the other end of the spectrum, Oak Hill High School has tiptoed the Class B-C enrollment cutoff line for a full generation, with playoff appearances a rare and cherished treat. More autumns than not, the Raiders have considered themselves lucky to see 11 able bodies dressed on the sideline to match the number on the field.

So what’s the deal with all these seniors?

“It’s definitely different for us,” Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas said of the crowded house at this summer’s camp. “Now when I put a sub in, it’s a senior going in for a senior. We don’t have that deer-in-the-headlights look.”

Thirty freshmen signed up for football in 2005. It’s a nice number, but not jaw-droppingly unusual. Keeping a double-digit number of them in cleats for the full four years would have been considered a victory.

Nicholas will send 20 seniors into the Pine Tree Conference Class B battles this fall. You can bet that a majority of Class A programs in the state are envious.

“To come in every year knowing that those kids are going to come back and we’ve played together all of our years is big,” said senior fullback and linebacker Drew Jannelle. “This is our year. If anything’s going to happen, this will be the year.”

Oak Hill has tiptoed its way up the ladder since an increasing student body forced the Raiders back into the ‘B’ division early in this decade.

The Raiders have been 3-5 the last two years, good enough to be a playoff team in a structure that sees the top two-thirds make the cut. Still, there’s been little doubt that Gardiner, Winslow, Waterville, Leavitt and Morse have enjoyed a huge disparity in depth and top-to-bottom talent.

Now it’s the Raiders who flaunt two experienced quarterbacks, two senior fullbacks, a senior halfback, two senior wingbacks, three senior split ends and an all-senior line.

“I think we have a lot of confidence because we’re going to have a pretty big, stacked backfield,” said Tony Vattaso, himself jockeying for playing time in the backfield and secondary. “We have a lot of options.”

Of course, having someone the same age with comparable talent peeking over your shoulder pads is a double-edged sword.

Competition in camp has never been weightier. Consider the plight of Adam Hathorne, a terrific athlete who was stuck behind Jannelle and Kamar Banton at fullback. Hathorne made the switch to wingback, where he’s forced to battle returning starter Matt Averill for playing time.

“When you go from six seniors last year to having 20, it’s a big battle this year,” said two-way lineman Caleb Fournier.

There are no worries for Hathorne, who is entrenched at outside linebacker when the Raiders don’t have the football.

Oak Hill has the same brand of in-house competition at receiver. Incumbents Tim Blais and Tyler Wells are bidding to hold off classmate Ben Rines, who returned to the team after sitting out his junior campaign.

“It’s good knowing that you have a guy that’s just as good as you behind you, so if you go down you’re not letting the team down,” Jannelle said. “We just have so much depth with our legs.”

Two-way starters have been a necessary evil for Nicholas, who enters his 16th overall season in two tenures at Oak Hill.

Record numbers are an added blessing for the Raiders in September. Oak Hill is one of the few area schools without lights and the potential for Friday night home games. Dehydration is a familiar enemy.

“We hope to play a lot of guys on both sides of the ball. Hopefully that means about 20 guys playing 22 positions,” Nicholas said. “There aren’t many teams in any class that can say that. Hopefully it pays off in the fourth quarter and we’ll be fairly fresh.”

As for how the manpower will translate into the win column, nobody is making outlandish claims.

“It’s a tough schedule. We start with Gardiner. We go to Leavitt in Week 2. We go to Winslow in Week 4,” Nicholas said. “People ask, ‘How are you going to be?’ and I have to laugh. We’re going to be a pretty good football team, but it’s possible that we could be 1-3 before we know it.”

“We’re here to win games,” vowed Fournier. “We’ve got to work hard, finish our games, go all the way to the end. No stopping, no taking breaths.”

For once, though, a little breather isn’t out of the question.