WELLS — Wells High School football coach Tim Roche describes fullback/linebacker Louis DiTomasso as a bruising and punishing player capable of changing the course of a game with one “nasty” hit or game-breaking tackle.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time and some of the best hits I have ever seen have come from Louis on the football field,” Roche said. “He’s tough and relentless.”

It’s paid off for DiTomasso who was named the Campbell Conference Player of the Year, the Journal Tribune Football Player of the Year, the Gatorade Maine Player of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Fitzpatrick Award. The accolades were all awarded after the 6-foot, 180-pound senior helped Wells this season win its first state championship since 1997.

There is, however, a different side to DiTomasso. There’s a softer, gentler side that a lot of people don’t know about.

“I love art and I love to draw,” he said. “It’s something I’ve really been getting into.”

DiTomasso first became interested in drawing when he was in eighth grade at Wells Junior High when he began noticing tattoos. The at times intricate ink drawing of people’s skin piqued his senses and soon he found himself learning to draw.

“I would get bored in the winter after football and I was looking for something to do,” he said. “I saw the tattoos and started doing my own drawings.”

Since then DiTomasso has enrolled in several drawing classes to hone his skills. He has even decided to dabble in painting and pastel work. He said he doesn’t have a particular subject matter, but will try to recreate a vision that interests him.

“I’m just trying to learn more about art,” he said. “I want to do more things that are funny and really catch people’s eyes.”

His work has caught Roche’s eye. Last year Roche bought a Wells High School calendar that featured student art work. He mainly bought it because it featured one of DiTomasso’s pictures, he said.

“I try to support my players,” Roche said with a chuckle. “I had never bought one of the calendars before, but I bought this because it had Louis’ work in it. He might not think he is that talented, but I really think he has a lot of talent and is really good at what he does.”

While DiTomasso is relatively new to being an artist, he already has that artist self-loathing, critical introspection of his own works.

“I’m never really satisfied with anything that I do,” he said. “I look at it and I don’t really like it.”

For Roche, that’s just a part of who DiTomasso is.

“He’s the most humble person I’ve ever met,” Roche said. “He doesn’t brag. He doesn’t really talk too much about himself, but he does have a lot of talent.”

DiTomasso admitted that a lot of people don’t know about his non-football pastime, but he likes it that way. He is a quiet person who doesn’t feel the need to flaunt his extra-curricular activities.

“My best friends know I do this,” he said. “But other than that I don’t say a lot about it.”

DiTomasso’s hobby could one day become a career. Although he hasn’t chosen a college or decided on a major, he is leaning toward studying art or architecture.

That desire to turn a hobby into a career is something for which Roche strives in his players.

Football players are generally considered tough men who hit hard and live hard. They are not seen as having soft sides where they dabble in music and art, but that’s exactly what Roche wants his players to do if they choose.

While talking about DiTomasso, Roche recalled a player that played for him in the late 1990s. An intimidating football player who participated in chorus all four years of high school.

“When he first enrolled in chorus his freshmen year, I thought it was a joke,” Roche said. “Then I quickly learned this is something that this kid loved to do and I thought it was great.”

Currently DiTomasso is working on a project where he is drawing a picture that is half his art teacher and half of a robot.

“I’m trying to work on my creativity and be more creative,” DiTomasso said. “I don’t think I’m even close to where I want to be.”

Roche said DiTomasso might not know where he is in terms of his art skills right now, but he can see great things for DiTomasso, especially if he decides to become an architect.

“I truly expect to be going to a grand opening of one of his buildings that he designed,” Roche said. “I believe in him that much.”

DiTomasso’s desire and Roche’s belief in his player exemplifies the Wells High School football program.

Roche strives for his football players to become more than athletes. He desires for them to combine their lessons learned from football and fuse them with their talents to become successful people.

Roche describes his favorite quote by Ed Thomas ”“ high school football coach who was shot to death in 2009 ”“ as being inspirational.

“He said that ”˜if all I do is teach this kid football, then I have failed,’” Roche said. “I like that. If all we do is teach these kids to play, then we have failed. I hope in the long run we have taught them a lot more than that.”

It seems that Roche has. Just ask artist Louis DiTomasso.

— Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.