Winthrop’s Ben Porter celebrates after scoring a touchdown against Morse in the Class D South title game Nov. 14. Porter played the final game of his high school career at the Lobster Bowl on Saturday. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)

It ends, with no regrets.

Ben Porter knew this was coming for months, ever since the recent graduate of Winthrop High was named to the West squad for the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl. One final football game, then it was over.

At halftime of the game, it hit Porter again. This is it. Early Saturday evening at Lewiston High’s Don Roux Field, shortly after helping the West take a 28-26 win over the East in the annual game benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children, Porter was one of the players who pulled off his pads for the final time.

A couple days after Saturday’s game, Porter was proud of the way he played. He was used as a “star,” a roving position in which he was part outside linebacker, part safety. Porter was all over the field, forcing a couple turnovers and delivering big hits when his team needed them.

Definitely, he had no regrets.

“I was talking to one of my buddies, Dom (Hussey) from Thornton. It was his last game, too, and we were just taking it all in. Give it all we have,” Porter said.

The Lobster Bowl is full of players who use the time training for the game as a way to prepare for college football. Many of the players who walked off the field Saturday know they’re heading to training camp in the coming weeks.

Players like Porter accept the invitation to the Lobster Bowl for two reasons. One, to help a worthy cause like the Shriners hospitals. The game’s motto is Strong Legs Run So That Weak Legs May Walk.

Two, it’s one more chance to play the game they love.

Winthrop’s Ben Porter catches a pass and lands in the end zone to give Winthrop the lead in the Class D state final. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

It’s not that Porter couldn’t play college ball. He’s 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, fast and smart. A number of Division III college teams would love to add a player like Porter to the roster. He accepted an academic scholarship to study finance and real estate at the University of New Hampshire, which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision. Academics have to be Porter’s focus now.

Football prepared him for that, too, he said.

“When you’re getting up for double (sessions) and your coaches are pushing you past failure, you’ve got to keep going. I feel like that’s super important for shaping me into somebody who will work hard, coming into work like today early in the morning and just keep going,” said Porter, who is working this summer at the Augusta Civic Center.

Porter was nervous when he arrived to training camp at Foxcroft Academy. He’d focused on lifting weights, and wondered how his body would react to the intense schedule of three-a-day practices. A few days in, he relaxed and remembered why he loves football so much.

It helped that the head coach of the West was Joel Stoneton, Porter’s coach at Winthrop.

“He’s one of the top three, if not number one athlete I’ve coached in 30 years at Winthrop,” Stoneton said of Porter. “I’m not saying that in the sense he was better than (2000 Fitzpatrick Trophy winner) Lee St. Hilaire at quarterback. What I’m saying is, with his versatility, he was able to do whatever, any position, and excel at it.”

Porter would come back to the sidelines and report to coaches what was working, and what he thought would work, on either side of the ball. When Porter was younger, his competitive drive sometimes got the better of him, Stoneton said. Coaches worked with him to harness that in a positive way, and he became an even better player.

When Winthrop played Winslow in the Class D state championship game last fall, Stoneton and his staff moved Porter to free safety to better use his speed and chase down the Black Raiders speedy running backs. Winthrop won the Gold Ball, 41-14. Porter also caught a pair of touchdown passes.

“We kept the highest-scoring offense to 14 points, and he was a big part of that,” Stoneton said. “We could laugh with each other, be serious with each other. We could get after each other at times. It’s a mutual respect. You can get away with that only if kids understand at the level, hey, this is Coach telling me to cut the (crap), I better back off.”

Porter played Saturday with a chip on his shoulder. He knew that coming from a Class D school, where the smallest schools compete, he might be looked at as less of a player this his teammates from larger schools. But football is football no matter who is playing it, Stoneton said. As a coach, Stoneton used to get wound up about that stuff. At the Lobster Bowl, he focused on having a fun week with his players. Let them prove to the state Saturday afternoon they can play, whether they came from Class A or the 8-Man Small School division.

Porter proved it.

“One of my main driving factors was, I just want to go out there and show everyone that there are Class D guys that can play with the best of the best in the state,” Porter said.

Bonny Eagle quarterback Colin Moran was named West MVP after completing 9 of 11 passes for 137 yards and two scores. A well-deserved honor, said Stoneton, who added it’s hard to pick an MVP when all 11 players need to be in sync for anything to work.

If you want to single out a defensive MVP for the West, turn to Porter, who created havoc throughout the game.

“I knew he would perform, and he did,” Stoneton said.

Porter’s football career is complete.

“It went out awesome,” Porter said.

No regrets, Porter said. Absolutely none.