34th Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl a resounding success for Windham’s Foster and Shriner Children’s Hospitals

By Matt Pascarella

Lewiston High School hosted one of the most anticipated events of the year, the 34th Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl football game on Saturday, July 20 and this game is an honor for the selected Maine graduating seniors who get to play in it. The annual game helps raise money for Shriner medical facilities across North America who provide care and services to children and their families. This year’s game featured Windham High graduate Ezra Foster who played for the East team and although they lost, 49-18, Foster came up with a spectacular interception in the second quarter.

Windham High's Ezra Foster grabs an interception in the
second quarter of the 34th Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl
at Lewiston High School on Saturday, July 20.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“It was really great to see all these kids that I’ve been playing against for the past four years becoming my new teammates and making bonds with them that I think will last,” said Foster. “It gave me some motivation because I’m playing for the guys who can’t be here on my team; I’ve got to perform.”

The Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic is a great honor for players as only a select few are chosen to play. Both teams spend a week working together and participating in team-building exercises. 

This year, the two Lobster Bowl teams raised an incredible $206,000 which goes directly to support the 22 Shriner non-profit medical facilities across North America which provide all kinds of treatment and medical support and care for children and their families regardless of their ability to pay.

“He’s prepared, he comes from a great background at Windham,” said East coach Dan O’Connell of John Baptist Memorial High School in Bangor of Foster. “He’s well coached, he comes into this game tested at a level that helps him compete because he’s been doing it already – he’s comfortable. When we need a big play, he reaches up and makes an unbelievable stop when needed. He’s a really good football player and we were lucky to have him in our camp and on our team. There’s not a more polite kid on our team, there wasn’t a more supportive kid on our team, and he was always willing to pick his teammates up. He’s just a kid who has a nose for the ball and in a game where the best players in the state play, he was at the top tier, and he should be proud of that.”

For Foster, while he said there was some apprehension at first to compete against former Windham opponents, it was fun to be around and play with and for these high school football rivals turned into friends.

“I know a couple kids from Bangor that’ve met him, and they said he’s the nicest kid they ever met,” said Foster’s East teammate and Bangor graduate Jack Schuck. “This is honestly a great representation of Ezra – he’s just a nice well-rounded character, he’s a great guy to be around; everybody loves him, everybody trusts him, he’s a great dude and it showed on the field too. That interception during the game was a great way to show his character. He's quiet, he’s humble and he’s great.”

In the sixth grade, Foster began playing football. It was his dad who encouraged him to play, and he said they would throw the football around in the yard. As soon as Foster first set foot on a football field, he says he instantly loved the game. He’s never really thought of himself as a big-time football player, but as he progressed, his skillset grew and his love for the game did as well.

“I wasn’t too nervous.” said Foster after the Lobster Bowl. “I knew it would be my last game, so I’d have to leave it all out on the field. I knew my teammates had my back and I had theirs. It’s an honor to play football and to help kids who aren’t able to do stuff every day. It’s so great to put on a show for people and raise money for Shriners Hospitals.”

Foster will attend the University of Maine at Orono next year to study finance; he says that he would eventually like to become a land developer and build houses in Maine. <