AUBURN – Cody Goddard’s first pinpoint spiral through Saturday’s blanket of fog over Walton Field got acquainted with Dominique Bailey’s fingers before dropping to the dewy sod.

Symbolic of a few opportunities and broken connections in Bailey’s life, that touchdown interrupted left the sinewy senior with a cluster of conflicting emotions. Anger and acceptance. Fear and focus. Doubt and determination.

“Coach said don’t get down on myself,” Bailey said. “At first I was kind of scared to catch the next one.”

Second chances fit Bailey like shoulder pads, even though he hadn’t celebrated much experience or success wearing either one until this fall.

Goddard went back to No. 8. And back. And waaaaaaay back.

Bailey never lost his grip again. He caught four passes for 164 yards – including touchdown torpedoes of 29 and 74 – and sent Edward Little on its ecstatic way to a 28-7 Eastern Class A semifinal win over Lewiston.

Don’t think for a second that Bailey confused the Blue Devils with any old Oxford Hills, Cony or Brunswick.

Lewiston isn’t merely the team that shares three bridges and parts of three centuries of football history with EL. Until last March, Bailey was a Blue Devil. His brothers, quarterback Ronnie Turner and tight end Dante Bailey, start for LHS.

Nothing personal? Riiiiight.

“Out of all the games this year,” said Bailey, “I didn’t care about scoring until we played Lewiston.”

Bailey has bagged five touchdowns all season, saving three for his family and friends. He grabbed a 20-yard TD toss from Goddard in the fourth quarter that stood up as the final margin of victory in a 19-12 EL victory two weeks ago.

“That’s the fruits of disciplined labor right there. If he just turns it up now, the sky’s the limit for Dom, and I hope he understands that,” said EL coach Darren Hartley. “I hope he just stays focused and comes back and works as hard as he did this past week.”

Four miles and a series of stoplights might not constitute a change of scenery for most of us during our daily commute to work or school. For Bailey, it’s been a life-changing experience.

Bailey was part of the Lewiston basketball team whose season unraveled in a bench-clearing fracas at Lawrence High School in Fairfield last winter. That unwelcome spotlight and academic tumult nudged Bailey to enroll at EL for the fourth academic quarter of 2007-08.

Despite the strong family connections to the football team, Bailey never made an impact on the gridiron at Lewiston.

“He came out for a couple weeks, and then something happened,” said Lewiston coach Bill County. “Dominique needed a fresh start. He’s done a nice job. From all I hear from those guys, he’s going to class and doing what he needs to do. Good for him.”

EL encircled Bailey with 16 fellow seniors who didn’t need him to be a leader.

Surrounded by Goddard, Shane Ciriello, Sean Daigle, Dylon Therrien and Merton “Buddy” Foss in the Red Eddies’ gifted offense, the newcomer has room to grow and plenty of volunteers to assist with the process.

“We hang out. We study together,” said Ciriello, who caught five balls for 114 of Goddard’s 290 yards Saturday. “He’s a great teammate. We’ve been talking back and forth all week about who was going to get more yards.”

Brother against brother and an athlete taking a turn through the revolving door are nothing new to the Twin Cities. It’s more common on the ice, where hockey players have tested their skates at Lewiston, EL and St. Dom’s to find a hockey program that’s the right fit.

Bailey takes the high road when discussing his former school, acknowledging only that he “didn’t feel a good vibe at Lewiston.”

The adult role models in his life say Bailey is finding the safe haven that eluded him during his early experiences after moving to Maine from Fall River, Mass.

“He said Lewiston High School is like a city school to him. Edward Little’s sort of like a suburb school. It’s different. It’s quiet. It’s more laid-back,” said Hartley. “Edward Little’s 100 percent more comfortable (for him). He’s told that to me a dozen times.”

With or without midseason transfers, the relationship between Lewiston and EL is a tangled web of families, friendships and rebuilt bridges. Classic example: Hartley, who coached at Lewiston for more than a decade and is in his second tenure as a vocational teacher there after briefly leaving the profession.

Now in his second try at a teacher-student relationship with Bailey, Hartley holds nothing back. Above all, Bailey’s coach holds him accountable.

“Dominique is aloof, and Dominique’s focus wanes at times. It wanes in the classroom, and it wanes on the practice facility whether it’s basketball or football,” said Hartley. “He and I have known each other a long time. I begged him: ‘Give me everything this week. Come out to practice. Stay focused. Do what I ask you to do. Run your routes hard. Block hard. Do what we tell you to do, and I tell you, it’s going to work.’ “

Bailey is carrying out those directives between the lines and beyond. This week he’ll visit Bridgton Academy, having filed all the paperwork and made the appointment with the admissions department himself.

He’ll also have at least one more week to watch film, shred the scout secondary, celebrate the camaraderie and enjoy the game and the school he’s come to love. EL earned the right to host Skowhegan in the regional final, and the newest, adopted member of its family was a resounding reason.

“Dominique’s a hell of a player,” said Ciriello. “I’m glad he came out.”

Over and out, actually.

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His e-mail is [email protected].