In his senior year playing for the Pelham High School Pythons, running back Robby Maille rushed for about 1,500 yards, said athletic director and Maille’s coach, Tim Powers. He also scored more than 20 touchdowns that year, two stats that are both rare for high school football running backs and telling of the drive Maille had, both on the field and in his life.

“His competitive nature personified him. He always wanted to win, and he would do whatever it takes to win,” Powers said.

Maille died at Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday, Aug. 13, after fighting for his life for several days. He was the son of Michael and Janet Maille of Pelham.

He was 21 years old, about to enter his senior year at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., and was looking forward to a bright future.

“He was my best friend, and we had a lot of good times together,” said Jon “Biggie” Gendron, 21, who grew up with Maille. “He always had a great outlook on life. He was always the life of the party.”

Maille was swimming at a friend’s house in Tewskbury, Mass., on Friday, Aug. 8, when he dove in. He misjudged the depth of the pool and broke his neck.

“We pulled him out of the pool, once we knew something was wrong,” said Maille’s longtime friend, Brian Stanton, 22, and his friends performed CPR until the ambulance arrived.

Stanton and several other of Maille’s friends and family stayed by his hospital bed until his death.

“The doctors told us he may be able to hear us, so I just spent the time in there with him, talking to him and telling him how strong he was,” Stanton said.

Audrey Sousa, 21, was Maille’s high school sweetheart and went to two proms with him. The couple dated for three years before heading off to separate schools, Sousa going to Rivier College in Nashua.

“He loved to dance. He would dance anywhere,” Sousa said, recalling their senior prom. “He had got his uncle’s Mustang, and he was so excited and so proud to drive this thing. The license plate said ‘giddy up,’” she remembered. The two remained close friends after separating, Sousa said. She last saw Maille on July 30, when she went to his house to watch “Stomp the Yard,” a movie about street dancing.

“He made me watch it even though he quoted everything in the movie,” Sousa said, laughing.

Sousa said Maille excelled in football, but also in baseball, basketball and academics.

“He could just see things happening that no one else could pick up on, and just read plays,” Sousa said.

Will Demers, 21, met Maille at the age or 6 or 7, he said, when Demers first moved to Pelham. Demers described Maille has being the “strong personality” that brought Demers out of his shyness.

“The best way to put it was that he always represented to me what it meant to really live life to the fullest, and he had a strong impact on me,” Demers said. “He was the guy who took charge. I was always really shy, and he really made me be me.”

Demers, who also stayed by Maille’s side in the hospital, said he spent a lot of time telling his friend how much he’d affected his own life.

“Especially when it started to drag out a few days, I tried to tell him not to fight anymore. By the end, it was just time for him to go, and we were just trying to make him understand that it was OK,” Demers said.

Stanton and others recalled a football game in their senior year in which Robby made a play characteristic of his attitude toward life. Maille got the ball and ran 40 yards for a touchdown. The touchdown didn’t count because the game officials called a holding penalty.

“Robby just turns to the coach and turns to the rest of (the team) and said, ‘give me the ball and run the same play,’” said Stanton, the team’s wide receiver.

Powers, the football coach at the time, remembers that play vividly. “He just ran over to the sidelines and said ‘call it again, call it again,’” Powers said.

When he got the ball this time, he again ran for a 40-yard touchdown and got it that time.

“He was a person that if he told you he was going to do something, he did it,” Stanton said.

Powers said Maille’s confidence and upbeat personality spread to the rest of the team in that year in particular, in which they lost the first two games before winning eight in a row, losing in a hard-fought championship game.

“He had that intensity and he had the ability to go out on the field and do things like that,” Powers said.

Demers said Maille wouldn’t want his friends to be sad about his death, but would want them to get the most out of life.

“He wouldn’t want people moping around. He’d want people to enjoy the time they have,” Demers said. “I just wanted to make sure he knew how much I really looked up to him, and the impact he’s had on me is going to last forever.”