Wednesday's football game was one big community hug

Being able to come together as a community on Wednesday and watch a football game was much-needed closure after last week's tragedy.

Last Saturday, the first day the shelter in place order was lifted in Lewiston after a surreal, terrifying two-plus days stuck inside in a house that is placed between both Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, I ran into Shaws to get a couple groceries. 

Not even three steps into the grocery store and I watched three different groups of people hugging each other. Who knows how long it had really been since they had seen each other, but the last 60-plus hours had felt like an eternity. There were so many tears in that produce section.

You know the story by now. Eighteen people were murdered at Just-In-Time and Schemengees by Robert Card at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday night. Officials found Card’s car at a boat launch in Lisbon, but Card wasn’t found until Friday night, dead within a mile of his car. 

The two days of waiting in our homes felt like weeks. So the embraces witnessed at Shaws the next morning were ones of love, longing, relief, sadness and many more emotions prevalent recently. It was a microcosm of Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and the surrounding communities and how familiar we are with everyone in the area. 

“Everyone knows everyone.” You hear that often and while Lewiston has over-38,000 people in it, I really feel that. When someone brings up, “Do you know this person?” It’s usually a yes. 

I personally heard from people I hadn’t talked to in months, years, even. From former coaches I have covered, friends from elementary school, past teachers and even strangers on Facebook and Twitter. I felt the love from every angle, and we all needed it. 

Fast-forward to the following Wednesday and Lewiston High School prepared to host Edward Little in another edition of the Battle of the Bridge football showdown between the rival schools. I’ve covered many Lewiston/Edward Little battles in countless sports with the Sun Journal, but nothing compared to last night’s event. 

“Get there when the gates open” I was told by a few people. I know the parking situation at Lewiston and it turned into great advice. 

I walked onto Don Roux Field, a field over from other playing fields at Lewiston’s new athletic complex, as well as the high school, that just a few days prior held helicopters and countless police, military, and medical personnel and saw media members from all over lining the sideline preparing their newscasts. 

On the wall behind the south end zone were 18 posters of every name of every single person murdered a week prior. Countless blue and white balloons filled the area, blue clothing and a giant poster hung on the side of LHS with both Lewiston and Edward Little logos sandwiched in the middle of “LA STRONG” and “WE STAND TOGETHER.” 

Fans and community members strolled in endlessly for the next 90 minutes. I said hi to so many people I knew, hadn’t seen in a while. I saw so many catching up together, embracing, laughing, smiling and living in the moment just as I had at Shaws and how it was happening all over Maine this week. I have to say that every single smiling face that said hello to me was one I was over-the moon to see. I took my time to talk to people, I hugged my friends from the Sun Journal and took in the moment. Some people weren’t as lucky. I’ve tried to remember that this week. 

Both football teams lined up across from each other, making a path from the high school to the football field at around 6 p.m. to usher in every single first responder that has helped the community through the tragedy. 

The first responders made a giant square on the field and were honored by Lewiston superintendent Jake Langlais. After a speech from Langlais and Lewiston police chief David St. Pierre, Grammy-winning musician James Taylor sang a breath-taking rendition of the national anthem. There were few dry eyes in Lewiston and throughout the hundreds and hundreds of people watching the game from home on the live stream. 

Finally, the game was played. Lewiston came from behind and won 34-18, an emotional win for the Blue Devils and one that secured a playoff spot for the home team. But Wednesday’s game was more than just the football game. 

“To me the most important factor about tonight is the opportunity to be together again and try to silence the noise of last week and put new visuals and signs in our minds,” Langlais said in an interview during the game. “We want to have an experience where it’s about the kids competing, recognizing the people who sacrificed so much and also our seniors on the team. That’s what it’s about.”

It was unique, ironic, or serendipitous timing for the area’s rivalry game to be pushed back and then played depending on how you looked at it. But, it was exactly what the community needed. 

“I said earlier today that sometimes things happen in mysterious ways,” Langlais added. Tonight, from the bells that played just as the national anthem finished, this game was Friday that got rescheduled to today and to say, ‘We aren’t going to drag this out, we need to get back to some sense of normalcy.’ What a great event.”

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Everyone has a story about the tragedy from last week. Everyone around here knows someone, even through another person, that was affected, at either place, or that they lost. 

I know that I was at Gridiron, a bar that is about five turns away from Schemengees in a car, and left at seven and headed home. When I parked my car in the driveway at about the same time the shooter entered Schemengees, I heard three different sirens a street away. I thought it was weird, but sirens come and go. 

When I got inside, I started receiving texts about a shooter. Then the rumor was two shooters. Then the rumor was three, then four spots that were targets. Word spread fast and I eventually started hearing from people out of state that I knew, asking what I knew. I swear half of Maine was listening to the police scanner online that night. 

For Langlais, it was all hands on deck. Two schools were holding parent-teacher conferences. There was adult education taking place and the athletic fields at LHS were occupied with playoff games. 

“We needed to tell people right away and did our best to do that,” Langlais said. “As I did that, I notified the staff immediately. ‘Avoid, deny, defend,’ then we tried to gather any information.”

Langlais said his daughter was working in Lewiston at the time and that a young man that lives with his family was at Just-In-Time, relaying terrifying information to Langlais from the scene. 

“He was calling with incredible amounts of information that was scary,” Langlais said. “He was in shock and we were trying to get him back home. As we started to digest how real this situation was, I got a call from law enforcement that said, ‘We need a place for central command.’ I said, ‘High school.’”

Langlais left his house, even not feeling good about doing so, and headed to LHS where he met with Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller. They immediately got to work. 

They began to clear space for local law enforcement and then military personnel. The high school opened up to students on Tuesday and Wednesday’s game served as a bit of a “Welcome back” of sorts for the community. 

“I said it before and I’ll keep saying it, we have to care for those who are caring for others,” Langlais said. “We have to pace that so we can heal and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

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I’ve heard a lot about Lewiston over the years from people who have never been here. I’m from Auburn, I grew up in Auburn, but for the better part of five years now I’ve lived two roads away from Lisbon St., down the hill from Lewiston High School and a stone’s throw from so many landmarks here. 

People have their opinions on the city. I was sent some crazy things when information was at a minimum, questions about who did it, the color of their skin, where they were from. I read some crazy things after more information came out. 

On Friday I went to just-outside of Schemengees to see media members congregated at the top of the hill, putting on serious faces before signing off and laughing together while they spoke about how they were going to get out of the state. I saw an NBC News crew member get in frame of a local news shot and wave at it like a child. 

Eighteen people died. 

I just wanted to make sure that Lewiston was being represented fairly. I wanted to make sure the city wasn’t being insulted. I’m protective of Lewiston/Auburn, as are so many around here. It’s our home. We know what it’s really like. 

But since the shooter was found and people have been able to come outside and embrace each other, the only emotion I’ve felt is pride. Lewiston is a tough-ass town. It doesn’t take much shit. It shouldn’t. A reporter at the football game told me “Mainers are so stand-offish.” You obviously haven’t been paying attention. 

Wednesday’s game made me so proud to be from around here. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve never heard that football field louder, seen more signs, witnessed more support than I did Wednesday. And it all went to Langlais’ and Fuller’s plans. 

“People can say a lot of things about here, but we are as authentic central Maine as anyone can be,” Langlais said. “We are absolutely who we are and we love every bit of it. I don’t just work here, I live here. My world is a bit of a lifestyle and this is just who we are. I don’t really give much thought about what people might think about us. You look at the support tonight that has flooded here and this community, it’s special.

The media outlets will leave. Headlines will be filled with other things happening across the country and the world. I hope people don’t forget about us and what so many went through here. Lewiston certainly won’t, and Wednesday’s game was an incredible reminder of that fact. We’re here for each other. 

Hug your loved ones. I love you. 

Rest In Peace to Tricia Asselien, to Peyton Brewer-Ross, to Thomas Conrad, to Maxx Hathaway, to William Brackett, to Michael Deslauriers II, to Bryan MacFarlane, to William Young, to Aaron Young, to Keith Macneir, to Ronald Morin, to Jason Walker, to Joseph Walker, to Robert Violette, to Lucille Violette, to Stephen Vozella, to Arthur Strout, and to Joshua Seal.