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Jul. 16—Like most people, Rufus MacVane doesn’t answer his phone from unknown callers.
Especially when he’s tuna fishing.
But then MacVane started to glance at the text encoding of the voicemail.
MacVane, a recent Yarmouth High graduate, could tell he was getting a call asking if — on short notice — he could play in the Maine Shrine Lobster Classic all-star football game.
“Then I’m trying to answer the phone before they hang up. I couldn’t call back fast enough,” said MacVane, who was added to the West team a little over a week ago.
The 34th Lobster Bowl will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Lewiston High. Proceeds, including fundraising done by each player, benefits Shriners Hospitals for Children. This year, Varsity Maine, the brand name for high school sports coverage by Maine Trust for Local News organizations, including the Portland Press Herald, Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, is the media sponsor.
Players and coaches from both teams met with the media Tuesday at Foxcroft Academy, which is hosting training camp.
It was apparent that MacVane, a 6-foot, 220-pound linebacker, has become a favorite of his West teammates.
While doing a brief interview, at least 20 teammates held up their phones to get video, making it hard for both player and reporter to concentrate.
“This is kind of crazy,” MacVane said.
Every year there are late roster additions because of injuries, school or military commitments that come up after the original selections are made in February, or simply a player’s change of mind.
MacVane is replacing his former Yarmouth teammate, running back Michael McGonagle, who was a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist. According to West Coach Brendan Scully of Deering, McGonagle is recovering from knee surgery.
“I’m playing at UNE and doing training for that, so I was ready to go when I got the call,”…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lobster-bowl-notebook-additions-help-225900945.html
Author : Portland Press Herald, Maine
Publish date : 2024-07-16 22:59:00
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