CAMDEN – The Five Town Football organization hosted the JV Harvest Bowl Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Camden Snow Bowl, home of the FTF teams. The Harvest Bowl is the one-day playoffs to decide which teams will play for the Maine Youth Football League championship next weekend.

The teams Saturday at the Snow Bowl included the Northern Division JV teams — Five Town Football, Rockland, Medomak, Lincoln County, Boothbay, Freeport, and this year's North Division champions, Gray-New Gloucester. These teams are made up of fourth and fifth grade players.

The final game of the day was the championship played between Rockland, which entered the season undefeated, and Gray-New Gloucester. After a scoreless game in regulation, because there had to be a winner, an overtime was played and the Patriots were able to score and then hold off the Tigers to claim the 8-0 win. They will now play the South Division winner for the league championship.

What I found so important watching this game was the amount of work that it took countless people to pull together to get it done. The work that the parents and volunteers do to make this possible for these young boys and girls is never-ending and when you put the wind, rain, mud and fog on top of that so that their kids can play the game of football, well, that tells me I am living in the right community.

Of course, the kids had no trouble with the conditions of the field Saturday. What fourth and fifth grader would not enjoy not only being allowed to play in the mud, but being encouraged to do so, by their parents, no less. What a great day to be a kid in a football uniform.

The photos below will show you the conditions they played in, but what I saw was smiles from ear to ear from the players. They had a blast and if you take a look at the full photo gallery you will see photos of the many workers, fans and organizers enjoying the day, as well.

Was it a mess? You bet it was. My shoes are covered in mud and I'm still waiting for them to dry out so I can clean them off. As some of the photos show, the players were covered from top to bottom in the mud; yet, we still had smiles.

When you see as many children in a weeks worth of work as I do covering so many games, it's good to stop and see the work that some of the local youth organizations do in the Midcoast. We are indeed lucky. From the Five Town Football, Rockland Tigers PeeWee Football, Medomak Football, The Midcoast Skate Club, Maine Coast Skaters Association, the local Little Leagues, local recreation departments, as well as many others, we, as a community, offer many opportunities for our children.

What I have learned to do is look at the whole not the moment. Sometimes, we see adults do and say things we wish they had not. Sometimes, we see the children involved act in a way that they should not. But if you look at the whole, these organizations do a tremendous job helping to not only shape a child to become the best citizen one can be, but also they help provide in raising a child.

Nothing is perfect and where would we be if not for the countless hours that the volunteers put into these organizations that do so much for all of the kids? While I know there is good and bad, there are those that do much more than others. I want to thank all of the people who volunteer to help our children. What you do is a blessing and I think when people stop and look at the whole picture, they feel the same way.

So what did or will the kids learn from Saturday's mud bowl? I think they will learn you work with what you have, there are obstacles in the path and you can deal with them or be scared. In times like these, with the conditions they were forced to play in, they had to play better then ever as a team, something everyone needs to work on. By the adults in their lives not giving up just because of a little inclement weather would make it uncomfortable for them. And to top it off, what fun! I was tempted to slip sliding on the 50 yard line yesterday myself, it just looked like a blast.

So thank you to FTF for hosting the day, organizing the concessions so people could eat a decent meal, all the players and coaches who worked hard all day, the parents and fans who volunteered to make the day happen. This was a great community day and I am pleased I got to witness some of it and share it here with what I saw through my lens!

Here is the link to the full photo gallery from the Five Town Football and Rockland Tigers JV playoff game.

PenBayPilot sports reporter /photographer Ron Hawkes can be reached at ronhawkes@penbaypilot.com; or by phone at 207-956-0079 (home office) 975-2311 (cell)