PORTLAND, Maine — The 13th annual Jeff Cole Memorial Football Scrimmage at Fitzpatrick Stadium, which capped the spring football campaign at the University of Maine, was a homecoming of sorts for Dakota Tarbox and Owen Elliott.
Tarbox, from Dayton, and Saco’s Elliott each won state Class A championship games for Thornton Academy of Saco at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Tarbox and the Trojans captured the 2012 state title with a 37-23 victory over Lawrence of Fairfield while Elliott helped TA claim back-to-back championships in 2014 (35-14 over Windham) and 2015 (24-14 over Portland).
“It was nice (to play here). It brought (back memories) of the state championship,” said Tarbox, a junior defensive end who was involved in 20 tackles last season.
“It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed coming down here to play at home for once,” said Elliott, a freshman linebacker.
A couple hundred people showed on the overcast day with intermittent rain. The playing surface was replaced last year with new FieldTurf and Tarbox said it was a definite upgrade.
“It’s a beautiful field. It’s very nice, very cushiony,” said Tarbox.
“It’s a great surface. This is what (artificial) turf should feel like,” said UMaine football coach Joe Harasymiak.
Both looking forward to the Nov. 4 Colonial Athletic Association game against Delaware. It is UMaine’s first game at Fitzpatrick Stadium since 2005.
“It’s a great thing for the program,” said Tarbox. “It’s the only Division I program in the state. This will give all the people in southern Maine who don’t make it up north a chance to watch a game.”
“I think it will draw a big crowd,” predicted Elliott. “It’s closer to where everything is and it will give people (in southern Maine) a chance to see what Maine football is all about.”
Several parents of players attended the scrimmage and liked the idea of having a game in Portland. For almost all of them, it will mean a shorter drive by a couple of hours.
“It’s a good opportunity to expose the program to other people in Maine so they see how good the team is,” said Judy Sheffield of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, the mother of redshirt freshman linebacker Sterling Sheffield. “(Former coach Jack) Coach Cosgrove and Coach Harasymiak have done a fabulous job.”
On Friday, Cosgrove was honored at a Portland event celebrating his 36 years of service to UMaine football. He was a quarterback and assistant coach before becoming the Black Bears’ head coach and spending 23 years in that capacity.
He is now a senior associate director of athletics at UMaine.
Saraya King and Milagros King, mother and grandmother of junior linebacker Benjamin Davis, made the trip from Harrington Park, New Jersey, and Julius Grayer traveled from Steelton, Pennsylvania, for the scrimmage.
Grayer’s son is freshman linebacker Jaron Grayer.
They echoed a similar sentiment about having the program expand its exposure to another part of Maine and one that has plenty of UMaine alums living there.
In addition to reducing their travel, it was pointed out that there is plenty to do in the Portland area.
Carol Vento, grandmother of junior quarterback Drew Belcher, who is from Reading, Massachusetts, said she is used to driving past Fitzpatrick Stadium on her way to Orono so it was “very nice for us” to stop and watch.
“It’s a really nice setup down here,” said her grandson, Drew. “It’s right next to the baseball stadium (Hadlock Field). And I liked the turf.”
Transfer graduate student quarterback Max Staver, who is from Brentwood, Tennessee, noted that the Portland market is an important one for the university.
“We have a lot of alumni here so our fan base is big. We need to connect better with our fan base here in Portland and in Massachusetts,” said Staver.
Harasymiak and Seth Woodcock, the senior associate athletic director for development, were pleased with the test run in preparation for the November game.
They said there is a lot of work still to do in preparation for the game.
“We’ve got some things we’ve got to do down there,” said Woodcock. “We’ve got make sure it’s good to go for the press and the media.”
For example, there was no Wi-Fi in the press box on Saturday. He said UMaine is considering putting bleachers in the end zones and adding scissor lifts so assistant coaches can get a better view of the field.
“We want to do a great job with the presentation of the game so we can go back there,” said Harasymiak, who pointed out that the they need to appease the CAA in order to continue to play conference games there.
Harasymiak also said senior cornerback Najee Goode suffered “a knee sprain” near the end of the scrimmage but should be ready to go next season.
“There was no structural damage,” said Harasymiak.
And sophomore running back Joe Fitzpatrick from North Yarmouth should also be fine after taking a shot to the head and going through the concussion protocol, Harasymiak said.