By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Dean McCrillis, 19, and 20-year-old Jimmy Bump saunter across Hannaford Field in Cape Elizabeth on a drizzly June afternoon, comparing their summer plans. 

McCrillis, far away from his home in central Maine, has found a summer place in Scarborough close to Cabella’s. He will work there before returning to his studies at the University of Southern Maine in the fall.

Bump will spend the rest of his summer working at Cape Elizabeth’s Inn By The Sea until returning to classes at the University of Kentucky. 

By the tone of their voices, the pair could be pen pals, old-time friends or even cousins.

In reality, they met during a heated battle between the Mountain Valley and Cape Elizabeth football teams more than three years ago – the game that sparked a rivalry between the two sports teams. 

“It was a great game,” Cape Elizabeth High School Football Coach Aaron Filieo said. “[Mountain Valley] met all of our expectations.”

It was a game that caught the attention of Kirk Wolfinger, an Emmy-award-winning filmmaker who travels across the country specializing in documentary productions. For two years, Wolfinger  – a Cape Elizabeth native and father to one Cape Elizabeth player – filmed games between the two teams, documenting the intense level of competition between coaches and players. The film “The Rivals” is featured in today’s Maine International Film Festival in Waterville. 

“He noticed something,” Filieo said of Wolfinger. “You can’t create rivalries. If there was nothing to it, nothing would be there.”

Aside from the intensity of the players, Filieo said a clash between Mountain Valley and Cape Elizabeth teams seemed destined because of the structure of the Maine Class B football division. Most other rivalries within the division were between teams within close proximity to one another, while Cape Elizabeth and Rumford – home of Mountain Valley High School – were miles apart.

“There are a lot of natural rivalries already in the league,” Filieo said. “We were basically the only two left.”

Bump and McCrillis said more than athletic ability fuels competition between the teams. 

“It’s about the contrast of two communities that both focus on this big idea called football,” Bump said. “In Cape, it’s soccer or swimming, not football. [In Mountain Valley] some of the guys are playing since the third grade.”

Filieo said the team began as a club sport and was sanctioned by the school in 2003, then entered the Class B football division in 2005 – the first time Cape Elizabeth met Mountain Valley on the football field. 

Although the Mountain Valley team has existed for more than 20 years, McCrillis said the Cape Elizabeth players challenged their strategies in new ways. 

“It’s a different pace, their style of offense was different,” he said. “High school football is usually a running game but they do a lot of passing. It’s just a lot of ‘everything you’ve got.’”

Both former players said it’s just as important to leave “everything you’ve got” on the field; the rivalry between the two teams stops at the last whistle, they said.

“When you’re on the field, you’re not really friends anymore,” McCrillis said. “You’re there to do your own sort of thing. And after the handshake – it’s different.” 

For Bump and McCrillis, conversations have evolved from on-the-field growls to civil conversations; the pair made sure to compare cell phone numbers before retreating to their own summer schedules. 

“The Rivals” documentary about the two teams will open this year’s Maine Internantional Film Festival at the Waterville Opera House at 7 p.m. today. Jim Aylward, the coach of the Mountain Valley football team, could not be reached for comment.

   Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.