BATH, Maine—A group of five boys assembles near the main entrance of Morse High School as the dismissal bell sounds and daily afternoon chaos ensues. The boys appear stoic, cloaked in the teenage air of indifference.

Fast-forward two hours and about three miles through ankle-high snow, and the young men, most of them in sneakers, are sprinting across the football field, smiling and throwing snowballs as the sun sets. There is no pouting, slumping shoulders, or complaining about the cold or what they missed at home between 2:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.