Falmouth’s Gio Guerrette breaks free for an 80-yard touchdown run in the a 26-13 lead in the third quarter. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Seeing the Wells Warriors win another state football championship was nothing new. As for the other 11-man teams that brought home Gold Balls on Saturday? It had been a long time coming.

Portland (Class A) and Fryeburg Academy (Class C) ended state title droughts of 22 and 59 years with their respective championship game wins. In Class B, Falmouth took down Kennebunk, 26-13, to win the first Gold Ball in program history.

“The ability to bring the first Gold Ball to Falmouth, it just feels incredible,” Spencer Emerson, the Navigators’ first-year head coach, said Monday. “I think it’s starting to sink in a little bit, but it’s still pretty unreal. I’m just really, really proud of our guys and what they accomplished.”

Fryeburg’s 28-0 shutout of Hermon in the Class C title game marked the Raiders’ first state championship since winning two in three years in 1963 and 1965, when state titles were decided by regular season records.

Portland’s drought might pale in comparison to those of Falmouth and Fryeburg, but the Bulldogs’ 35-14 victory over Thornton Academy in Class A still marked the first title since the current players were born. It also ended the team’s streak of five straight state championship game losses (2015, ’16, ’18, ’22, ’23).

“It means everything to these guys,” said Portland Coach Sean Green. “It was tough (losing to Thornton in the state championship game) last year – we felt we were the best team in the state – but this group this year was a little bit different; they had that ‘it’ factor to them.”

Unlike the other Gold Ball winners, though, Saturday’s win wasn’t the end of Portland’s season. The Bulldogs will be back at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Thursday to face Deering (8-2) in the 112th edition of the traditional Thanksgiving Day rivalry game. Portland leads the all-time series 62-42-7.

“It’s unique in Maine, and it’s a game these boys come to look forward to and expect every year,” Green said. “(Deering) has a great football team, and they’re going to be a challenge. … I know we’re excited to play together as a team one last time.”

ONE OF THE YOUNGEST players on Portland’s defense Saturday afternoon was also one of its most impactful.

Portland’s Alex Martin tackles Thornton Academy Wyatt Benoit during Saturday’s Class A title game. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Sophomore outside linebacker Alex Martin wreaked havoc against Thornton Academy, flying to the ball, blowing plays up in the backfield and helping prevent the Golden Trojans from finding offensive rhythm in the Class A final.

In the second quarter, with the Bulldogs ahead 6-0, Martin helped stuff Mauricio Sunderland for a loss of 2 yards on a second-and-10 carry from the Portland 13, then brought down quarterback Wyatt Benoit on a keeper for a loss of 2 yards to force a fourth-and-long that the Trojans failed to convert.

Martin wasn’t finished, adding a sack of Benoit on third-and-4 from the Portland 18 in the third quarter, again setting the stage for a turnover on downs. Early in the fourth, he brought down Sunderland for a loss of 3 yards, and later in that same drive, he sacked Benoit for a loss of 14 yards.

“It’s the whole team. We just execute in practice, Coach puts up the great plays and writes up everything we need,” Martin said. “I knew I was going to come up and be a big-time player. I had to help the team as much as I could. It worked out.”

Green praised Martin’s work ethic for making him the disruptive player he was in the season’s biggest game.

“Alex Martin’s a tremendous football player,” he said. “He’s a two-way starter for us, he plays on all the special teams units, and he’s just a kid that shows up every day and does his job – he certainly did that today. Kids that work as hard as he does, you like to see it pay off for them, and it certainly did.”

Eddie Yin, left, and Anton Kravchuk of Fryeburg Acadmy celebrate after the Raiders beat Hermon, 28-0, in the Class C state championship game on Saturday in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

ANY LIST OF THE TOP postseason runs in the history of Maine high school football should include the 2024 Fryeburg Raiders.

The win over Hermon on Saturday at Lewiston High School completed a stretch of three straight postseason shutouts for the Raiders. They joined Cheverus in 2021 as the only two teams since 1982 Winslow in the Pine Tree Conference Class A (now B) to hold foes scoreless across multiple playoff games.

Fryeburg (9-2) did so by focusing on Hermon’s ground game. Max Hopkins gained only 42 rushing yards on 16 carries for the Hawks (8-3), and Bruce Coulter, one of Class C’s top backs, was held to 24 yards on nine carries.

“We stopped the run; we knew they were going to do it, and we stopped it,” said Fryeburg junior Ty Boone. “We practiced all week – we were prepared all week – and we just came out here, and we executed.”

Fryeburg, the top seed in Class C South, opened the playoffs with a 48-0 victory over York in the regional semis. The Raiders then defeated Leavitt 38-0 in the Southern Maine title game, avenging a 2023 C South final loss in which they led by multiple scores late before the Hornets pulled out a 36-32 win that motivated Fryeburg for the next 12 months.

“I’ve dreamed of that day for one year,” said Fryeburg senior Daniel Ruiz. “I had in my mind that we were going to come (back) here – that I was going to work my ass off and that we were going to come here and win.”

Eli Potter of Wells carries the ball behind the blocking of Keegan Roberge during the Class D state championship game against Foxcroft Academy. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

IT WAS FITTING for Wells to follow Fryeburg’s Class C win with a 34-0 triumph over Foxcroft on the same field in the Class D title game. The Warriors’ only close game all year, after all, was a 21-20 victory against Fryeburg on Oct. 18. (Fryeburg’s only other setback was a 15-14 loss to Class B champ Falmouth on Sept. 27.)

Like the Raiders, Saturday’s win capped off an impressive postseason run for Wells (11-0). The Warriors defeated Oak Hill, 55-14, in the D South semis and Winthrop, 35-7, in the regional title game before claiming their second consecutive Gold Ball and stretching their winning streak to 22 games.

Foxcroft entered the Class C final unbeaten and had given up an average of just 7.7 points per game and held foes to one score or fewer in eight of its 11 contests. Wells made that stingy defense crumble as Eli Potter (185) and Dom Buxton (144) combined for 329 rushing yards.

“Our O-line was incredible,” Potter said. “They worked hard, and I’d say this was our best performance of the entire year. They opened up the holes, and all we’ve got to do is run hard and get our feet going, and we’ll get through.”