Portland High quarterback Louis Thurston and teammates were confident leading up to the Class A championship game last season against Thornton Academy.

These were the new Bulldogs, Thurston told the media. They were going to win. They were unlike past Bulldog teams that had lost to Thornton in 2015 or 2018, Bonny Eagle in 2016, or Skowhegan in the Class B game in 2022.

Well, it didn’t work out that way. The undefeated 2023 Bulldogs lost to Thornton, 24-14, undone by some mistakes and Thornton quarterback Wyatt Benoit.

Fast forward to this year. Both teams repeated as regional champions and are 9-2. Like last year, Portland won the regular-season game at Thornton; this time a 14-7 victory in which its defense dominated the second half. Saturday’s championship game will again be at Fitzpatrick Stadium, Portland’s home field, with an 11 a.m. kickoff.

When the Bulldogs met the press Monday, they again projected confidence. But verbal swagger was replaced with respectful comments.

Portland knows it will have to play well and stay composed against an experienced opponent to win the school’s first football title since 2002. Thornton is playing in its Class A record sixth straight championship.

Portland’s top players have been hardened by last year’s title loss, two setbacks this season, a much tougher schedule, and another year of learning from second-year coach Sean Green and his staff. Thurston says this team is more prepared to handle the Big Game.

“That team last year was still young in terms of not many players on the team had actually started in a state game or even a playoff game before that season,” Thurston said. “This year we have a lot of returners from that state game. I think we’re all a little bit more calm and collected and we’re not freaking out like we were last year. So, I think we have a lot better of a shot.”

Thurston is poised to have a much better game. He was 5 of 20 for 110 yards, missing nine of his first 10 throws, in last year’s championship game. This season he has completed nearly 63% of his passes (88 of 140) for 1,309 yards and 18 touchdowns against five interceptions. He’s also become a major asset as a runner, with 908 yards on 95 carries. It was his ability to extend a play and still make a throw that led to the winning 60-yard touchdown to Carter Lucca when the teams met in Saco on Oct. 19.

The Portland High School football team practices at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Tuesday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

“As a quarterback, my level of calmness is very important and it can be the difference between making a throw and not,” Thurston said. “And with the whole team, if we go down a touchdown, two touchdowns, I think this team is going to stay a lot more focused. We’re still going to be able to play the game and make a comeback.”

Portland has championship-caliber players. Junior Cordell Jones leads the team in rushing (116-934, 15 TDs) and receiving (23-528, 8 TDs). He will line up in skill positions, including quarterback. Senior running back Aidan McGowan leads the team in carries with 118 and has gained 795 yards with 10 rushing touchdowns. He has caught two touchdown passes as well.

Jones threw a touchdown in last year’s title game but he and McGowan were held in check otherwise, rushing for 35 and 33 yards.

The offense had two promising first-half drives come up empty when it committed consecutive penalties after reaching the Thornton 37- and 19-yard lines. A punt that landed 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage gave Thornton the ball at Portland’s 22. Benoit’s 13-yard touchdown run followed to put TA ahead 17-7. Another punt went 10 yards. McGowan lost a fumble on the second play from scrimmage that Thornton converted into a field goal.

“We just didn’t come to play that day and it wasn’t our day. Obviously it looked like it. We played terrible,” Jones said. “I learned a lot. I learned to be more mature in how to react on the field and how we respond to certain things. How we handle adversity and what we can go through and accomplish as a team.”

Portland’s offensive line might be the best in the state, led by returning two-way tackles Anthony Tavares, a Varsity Maine all-state player, and Colin Kelly. For the second straight season, Tavares has not allowed even a quarterback pressure, according to Green. Kelly has given up one sack.

Tavares and Green both think that the players last year were trying to do too much, “to be special,” as Green put it.

This year the plan is “to just have fun, really,” Tavares said. “It’s a football game. Football was started to have fun. So I say, ‘Just have fun.'”