By Michael Hoffer

Saturday, the teams met again in the Class A state final and this time, Ayoob carried it 32 times and the Golden Trojans produced a much happier ending.

Ayoob turned his opportunities into 233 yards and four touchdowns and after a year away from the pinnacle, Thornton Academy won its seventh championship in the past 13 seasons, 28-0, capping an 11-1 campaign.

“It’s amazing to do it with this group of guys,” said Ayoob. “I’ve been playing football with my best friends since third grade. Last year was all the motivation I needed. That loss did something to me and we didn’t want to feel that again.”

The Bulldogs (9-3) had early chances to go ahead, but missed a field goal. Then, after a 64-yard burst from senior standout Cordell Jones moved Portland to the Golden Trojans’ 13, they couldn’t convert.

It took until the midway point of the second quarter for Thornton Academy to go in front, as Ayoob found room to the right, turned the corner and completed a 21-yard scoring rush to make it 7-0.

The Golden Trojans began the second half with a promising drive and an Ayoob run set up 1st-&-goal at the four, but on the next play, he fumbled the ball away for the first time all season.

Ayoob got a chance to atone and with 5:10 left in the third and his nine-yard TD run made it 14-0.

Ayoob – as he’s done all season – wore down the opposition in the final quarter, making it 21-0 on an 18-yard touchdown run up the gut with 3:11 remaining. He brought the curtain down with a clinching 25-yard burst with 1:36 to go.

“I thought we played a great second half,” said Thornton Academy coach Kevin Kezal, after his 200th career victory. “Our offensive philosophy is our best player is going to touch the ball and Connor got the ball in the second half.

“It’s so special for these guys, who put in so much energy and effort into this. It’s a great group of seniors and I’m really proud of them.”

Portland, which was seeking the program’s first-ever back-to-back state titles, got one more big game from the University of Maine-bound-Jones, 177 yards on 20 carries, but he did throw four interceptions, including two to Carter Cormier.

“I think the final score doesn’t really dictate the game,” said Bulldogs’ first-year coach Nick Cliche. “It got away from us late. It was a dogfight the whole way. We had opportunities in the first half, but we just couldn’t finish.

“We have a tough group of kids. We got a lot of stops today that a lot of teams didn’t get against Thornton Academy this season. I’m extremely proud of this group. We’re 40 kids deep in Class A football. We play a premier schedule.

“We stayed together as a family until the end.”