The Boothbay football team had some extra media scrutiny for its Oct. 26 Class E quarterfinal game in Readfield. Three Maine College of Art students attending the school’s Salt Institute documented Boothbay football as part of their school assignment “Friday Night Lights.”

The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies is an intensive 15-week program for students focusing on developing their documentary storytelling skills. The institute has 15 students divided into three groups of five. Each documentary team chose one Maine football playoff game to create a one day mini-documentary film. The group of Anna Cassell, Lucas Westcott and Emily Scott selected the Boothbay versus Maranacook Class E quarterfinal game.

The Maine College of Art is at 522 Congress Ave. in Portland. The students had their choice of any game played on Oct. 26. So why would these students select a Boothbay Seahawks game when closer playoff games were available? In Portland, a Class A quarterfinal between  Cheverus and Bangor was played, and a little more north a Class B matchup pitted Brewer against Brunswick.  The answer is because Westcott attended college with Boothbay Region Elementary School teacher Jessica Nadeau.

“I was in Boothbay last summer and spoke to Coach Ed (Crocker). He told  me about the struggles the program has had in recent years, and we thought this would be a great subject for our documentary,” Westcott said.

The film crews were assigned to shoot a Friday Night Lights documentary in one day. The crew shot game footage and interviewed Crocker and others who follow the team.

Cassell is from North Carolina. She enrolled at the institute to study making radio documentaries and podcasting. Westcott is from Alaska and works for the state park service. He plans on making 3-5 minute videos for the park service. Scott is from the Philadelphia area and plans on making freelance documentaries on the east coast.