Football: Lisbon flips the light switch on at Thompson Field for first Friday night game

Lisbon and Fryeburg play the first night football game at Lisbon High School on Friday. After years of raising funds, the school approved the installation of lights earlier this year. Adam Robinson/Sun Journal

LISBON — Jeff Ramich remembers being a football player at Lisbon High School, and later coaching for the Greyhounds, and going to watch other teams play on Fridays, knowing that the Greyhounds were “the only game in town” on Saturday afternoons.

Saturday afternoon football games have always been a tradition at Lisbon. Until this year.

Friday marked the first night-time home game in the school’s history — a 24-8 loss to Fryeburg Academy — as it has installed lights around Thompson Field with help from local company Enterprise Electric. The lights were approved in the spring after a committee worked for six years to get the funding together.

Lisbon also has a new scoreboard this year.

“I don’t think it’s going to be any different about how they prepare,” Ramich said. “But, now they’re home and they have a sense of pride.”

Lisbon athletic director Eric Hall said he test lights for one final time Thursday night to make sure they were ready for Friday’s matchup with Fryeburg Academy.

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” Hall said. “Saturdays, you would get here, get everything ready and by 1:30 you were playing. And now they’ve had a full day of school, with a few hours to kill, and they get to come back and play underneath the lights, which is big for them.”

Dennis Turcotte played football for Lisbon from 1960-64. Back then, the football team played right behind the school, where the current baseball outfield is located. He remembers well Saturday afternoon games and is happy that current players, including his grandson, Greyhounds senior Connor Turcotte, get to enjoy the lights on Friday nights.

“It’s good to see Lisbon coming up and finally coming under the lights,” Turcotte said. “They play most of the other games under the lights, and my grandson, he plays, and they love the lights. The scoreboard used to be over there (at the opposite end of the field) and you couldn’t see it.”

Connor Turcotte’s dad, Kevin, said his son and teammates were eager to play under the bright lights.

“The energy is really high,” Kevin Turcotte said. “They’ve been pumped. They heard they got (the lights) their freshman year and since then they couldn’t wait. I love it. I like Friday nights better than Saturdays. People are busy nowadays.”

The players are excited, as is the community. It’s been a long time coming, and many in Lisbon are excited for Friday night lights.

“We’ve been a lifetime of having Saturday afternoon games, and when this opportunity opened itself up for us, we were very fortunate to have Enterprise Electric, run by Jeff Kelly and his family, to donate the lights and do a lot of the leg work and get this going,” Hall said. “Last spring, we got the OK to have Friday night lights. It’s been a big plus, and I think the community is really excited about it. We are looking forward to it.”