Last modified: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 2:20 AM EDT Tri-County Regional High quarterback Lucas Mistler (9), shown playing in the MIAA Division 4 Super Bowl against Manchester Essex, isn't quite done with his high school football career just yet. Mistler, along with a handful of other locals, will suit up for the South in Friday night's Shriners Classic in Waltham, the annual game which features a collection of some of the top senior football players in all of Massachusetts. (Staff photo by TOM MAGUIRE) Pair of Rocketeers highlight Shriners squad BY PETER GOBIS SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTH ATTLEBORO - Kevin Richman and Mike D'Attilio thought that their high school football careers had concluded on Thanksgiving Day, representing the Rocketeers of North Attleboro High School. "It's kind of fun to be out there, in the pads and running into people," chuckled D'Attilio, who, with Richman, Mansfield High's Jeff Mallett, Bishop Feehan High's Tom Effler, Tri-County High's Lucas Mistler and Norton High's Brian Desmond, will be teammates and members of the South team for the annual Shriners Classic Football Game Friday night (7) at Bentley College in Waltham. Mallett quarterbacked the Hornets into the MIAA Division 2 Super Bowl; Mistler quarterback the Cougars of Tri-County into the MIAA Division 4 Super Bowl; Desmond caught a few passes, returned punts and kickoffs and knocked down a few passes for the MIAA Division 3 Super Bowl-bound Lancers; while Effler snapped the ball at center and made a few tackles at linebacker for the Division 2 Super Bowl playoff qualifying Shamrocks. Mallett will be at quarterback, Desmond will be a wide receiver and D'Attilio will be at left tackle on offense for the South team. Effler will be at linebacker while Mistler and Richman will be at cornerback for the defensive unit, one directed by outgoing North Attleboro High head coach Kurt Kummer. Kummer, who has turned over the reins to the Rocketeer program to Don Johnson while assuming full-time duties as the Athletic Director at North Attleboro High, is serving as both the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the South team. Norton High coach Robb McCoy will be serving as the offensive coordinator for the South team. "It's been unbelievable, a great experience," said McCoy. "The practices have been so up-tempo and so much fun. It gives you a better perspective at how many good kids there are in the state." Both the North and South teams will convene at the Shriners Temple in Wilmington tonight for a pre-game banquet. "We've been at it for about two weeks now," said Kummer of the two-hour, daily practice sessions at Taunton High School. The South team had an intra-squad scrimmage this past weekend at Bentley, not just to get acclimated to the turf, but to also go through a full-pads workout with contact. "It's fun to get a chance again to coach two of the North kids again too, both Kevin and Mike are not just great kids, but great representatives of the North Attleboro High program." "There hasn't been a lot of running (in practice), but it's taken me a couple of days to get used to practicing football again," said Richman, who like D'Attilio, were also teammates with the Big Red baseball team. "It's not too hard getting used to practicing again. There's just a little bit of hitting, just enough." Richman also played halfback and returned punts and kickoffs for North, while D'Attilio played tackle on both the offensive and defensive side of the lines. "I actually thought that practice would be worse," grinned D'Attilio of the pre-game workouts. "It's definitely not as bad as I expected, in fact, it's kind of laid back." Richman is headed to Westfield State in the fall, but does not anticipate playing football. D'Attilio will be attending Bridgewater State and will be playing football. Both were nominated for the Shriners Classic and notified of their selection to participate in early April. For the 6-foot-2, 230-pound D'Attilio, the South team is running both a "spread" and an "I" formation on offense, schemes that he is familiar with. "It's a lot of the same stuff that we ran at North. I'm kind of glad that I'm getting some practice in and playing in the game, that way I won't be as rusty when college practice begins." For Richman, the rules for the defensive teams at the Shriners Classic are such that a premium is placed on safety and reducing the risk for injury - teams play a standard 4-3 scheme and there is no blitzing. "The defense is pretty much the same stuff that we ran at North, it helps to have Coach Kummer as the coordinator," he said. "It's a nice game, a lot of fun. It's kind of weird though having kids that I've played against, to think of them as my teammates. Like Tommy Effler of Bishop Feehan, he and I played on the same Pop Warner team. "It's nice to play one more game before I'm done." D'Attilio was honored to be chosen to play and honored to be surrounded by so many good players, all all-stars in their own right. "There's so much talent out there and everyone has to work hard," said the recent NAHS graduate. "There's a lot of big boys too."