When Edward Little football players stepped on the scale this summer, the readings revealed a sharp turn in the opposite direction of how most older folks wish to go in that department.

Brandon Henry gained 10 pounds. Jake Vallee put on 15. Corey Gillespie added 25. Dillon Hummes and Quinn Bradley, well, you won’t even believe it.

It’s a healthy trend up and down the roster, fueled by tireless offseason work in the weight room, and it has the Red Eddies and coach Dave Sterling more excited about the potential of a season than they’ve been in a while.

“We’ve had players really that have worked hard in the offseason and conditioning and have seen their bodies develop and be able to react in a much better way than they ever expected,” Sterling said. “It’s created a much better balance in the type of athletes that we have, and that allows us to do a lot more things.”

Now in his fourth season, Sterling has attempted to instill the idea that football is a year-round game.

He pointed to a recent Friday night when games from Florida and South Carolina were broadcast on ESPNU.

“It’s the added dimension to Maine football that’s missed. Those kids that play on ESPN, they have a whole spring season. Maine’s not allowed to,” Sterling said. “If our guys can get exposed to the summer stuff a little bit more like we’ve been doing and some of the other schools have been doing, the whole dimension of Maine football could be raised dramatically.”

Sterling’s junior and senior classes have answered that call. They sent a team to the summer 7-on-7 league in the Portland area, while EL sophomores competed against the Central Maine schools at Leavitt.

“It was just good,” senior co-captain Jake Vallee said. “It was a confidence boost going up against teams like Bonny Eagle and Thornton and being able to perform as well as we did.”

The coach opened the weight room every day during the winter and spring. One of his most dedicated players was Hummes, who was listed on the roster his sophomore season at 5-foot-11, 155 pounds.

This year’s starting center is now six feet, 192.

“And there’s not an ounce of fat on him. To have someone that committed, that he was there in the weight room with me every day during the school year, is excellent,” Sterling said. “The guy responded, and because he did that there’s other people on the team, like (starting linebacker) Corey Gillespie who played linebacker, and Corey was in the same boat. Corey was 145 pounds last year and now he’s 170.”

Left tackle Bradley’s 6-foot-3 frame has developed from 210 pounds to a rugged 250. Bradley and his linemates reported to school eight consecutive Wednesdays this summer for footwork, conditioning and other drills to supplement their efforts with the iron.

And believe it or not, Bradley thinks he could have done better.

“Not as well as others, or as it should have been,” he said. “The team really put through a lot of work, more than other seasons that I’ve seen. I’m really happy about that. I’ve been on three different varsity lines, and I haven’t seen any move together as well as we do.”

Neither Vallee nor fellow captain Henry started a junior, seeing most of their duty on special teams. Although they’re consummate team players, admittedly their commitment was part of a personal goal to get on the field.

“I just wanted to be bigger and stronger and get at it more,” Henry said.

“Just knowing that I’m a senior this year, I wanted to be ready even more so than I was any previous year,” Vallee added. “All summer being in the weight room, being at most of the offseason practices, just wanting to be as ready for the season as possible.”

Preparedness was a hefty percentage of the battle a year ago, when EL’s revised schedule in the new four-class alignment included Portland, Cheverus, Deering for the first time in more than a decade, as well as recent power Windham.

“It’s Class A football,” Sterling said. “You’ve got to be ready to play at the highest level.”