Maine Maritime Academy football coach Calvin Powell, right, talks to his team after a practice last week at Richie Field in Castine. The Mariners will play their first varsity game since 2019 on Sept. 7 at home against Hartwick College. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal

CASTINE — On the first day of football practice, Calvin Powell was in midseason form.

The Maine Maritime Academy football coach took a moment to instruct players during conditioning drills, his deep, booming voice echoing throughout an empty Richie Field.

There was a sense of urgency as he talked to his team at the end of practice, and rightly so. The Mariners are preparing for their first varsity game since the school suspended the program in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Mariners will open against Hartwick College on Sept. 7.

“I’m excited about that first game, I’ve been excited about it since the end of last year,” said sophomore defensive end Daniel Tibbetts, an Erskine Academy graduate.

“I’m extremely excited,” Powell added. “This time last year, we’re sitting in the office still, just doing paperwork and figuring out schemes. Honestly, we were still recruiting kids this time last year. It’s good to just get out, put on some shorts and just run around. We’ve been waiting around a little longer than I want.”

MMA, an NCAA Division III program, will play a five-game hybrid schedule this fall, including three varsity games and two sub-varsity games against the University of New England and Husson University. Those games won’t count toward the record. MMA’s varsity games will come against Hartwick, Nichols College and the Newport News Apprentice School in Virginia on Oct. 12.

The Mariners will play their first full varsity season in 2025 as a member of the Conference of New England – formerly the Commonwealth Coast Conference – which includes Husson, UNE, Nichols, Endicott College, Curry College and Western New England University. New England College of Henniker, New Hampshire, which is starting a new football program, will join the conference next year.

The Maine Maritime Academy football team runs through a conditioning drill last week at Richie Field in Castine. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal

Powell, hired by the school in February 2023, has experience with building a program from the ground up. He was a member of the coaching staff at Texas Wesleyan, which plays in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), when it brought the sport back in 2016 after a 76-year hiatus.

Powell immediately went to work on recruiting as soon as he arrived in Castine. The Mariners managed to play one junior varsity game – a 61-0 loss to UNE – last fall. This fall, MMA has 45 players out, including six who participated in the Lobster Bowl, Maine’s senior all-star game.

“The thing that they are going to hear every day – in some way, form or fashion – is learn, grow and develop,” Powell said. “That really goes with the anchors of our program, which are prepare, improve and persevere. With 28 freshmen (on the team), that is so huge… I’m fortunate that, even though my older guys are still pretty young, they’ll get to be here to witness (the program rebuild) and be a part of it.”

Powell added that he is eager to see where the strengths of the team lie.

“I think we’ll continue to be finding it out,” he said. “I feel good with the (football) knowledge that the young guys have, coming in. I think that’s going to be helpful. As to what our strong piece will be, I could tell you today and it could be different in 72 hours.”

MMA has a storied football program that dates to 1946. The Mariners won the title of the now-defunct New England Football Conference nine times, the most recent in 2009. They made their lone NCAA Div. III tournament appearance that year as well. The program fell on hard times from 2011-2019, going 13-69 during that stretch, including winless seasons in 2012, 2018 and 2019.

When the pandemic came, the school decided it was best to pause the program.

A current Mariner who’s well aware of the program’s history is linebacker Jack Mottola. His grandfather, Bill Mottola, was head coach of the team from 1968-1978, and served as the school’s athletic director until his retirement in 2004. MMA’s Hall of Fame has since been named after him.

“My grandfather and grandmother lived in Castine for the past 50 years, 60 years. Maine is like a second home to me,” said Mottola, who is from Coster, New Jersey. “I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid. My grandfather passed away in 2020, due to Alzheimer’s. I was determined that, if I could help his legacy here, I was going to take the opportunity to do it.

“Once they got rid of football, it made my family really upset. Once I saw that they brought it back, I knew I needed to hop on this opportunity and play for my family.”

Maine Maritime Academy head coach Calvin Powell, left, teaches a drill to his players during practice last week at Richie Field in Castine. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal

Jack Mottola, a graduate student at MMA, started his college football career at the University of Albany, a Div. I program. A backup during his career with the Great Danes, Mottola transferred to MMA when he learned the program was starting up again.

“I called my dad immediately and told him, ‘I have to play there, I don’t see it any other way,'” he said. “People will call me stupid for leaving Div. I, but I played four years, I got my fill of it. I’m happy to come here now and play.”

MMA suspended all fall sports in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The school — then led by president Walter J. Brennan — ultimately decided to suspend the program, citing financial issues. The announcement, which came in mid-August as football camp was set to begin, caught coaches and players off guard at the time.

Efforts to restore the football program came in September 2022, not long after the hiring of former MMA president Jerry Paul, a 1989 graduate of the school.

“Knowing how important this program is to so many people, being a part of it is incredible,” Tibbetts said. “My brother (Camilo Pardo) came here 10 years ago; he told me how incredible this program is when he was here. He wanted me to join it, and I’m glad I get to be a part of it.”