SACO — Perspective can be a rare commodity, when you’re dealing with a team on the sort of a dizzying joy ride that Thornton Academy is now in the midst of.

Rare, everywhere, except for maybe with the Thornton camp itself.

While Saturday’s convincing 45-14 triumph over the No. 8 seed Massabesic in a Western Maine Classa A quarterfinal may have Maroon and Gold Nation dreaming of state titles, the Golden Trojans themselves are thinking about one thing.

Cheverus.

The next opponent.

Not two opponents, or three opponents down the line, opponents that the Trojans hold no guarantee of ever seeing.

Just Cheverus, the No. 3 seed, whom Thornton will welcome into Paul Hill Stadium on Saturday in the Western semifinal.

“We won this game,” said left tackle Sam Lalezari, a key member of a front five that paved the way for five rushing touchdowns, two of them by Peter Remmes, “but all we really earned is another week, to come out and show what we’ve got.”

Said  fullback Zach Sheehan, who ran 9 yards for one score, “You want to make sure you play hard, and focus on playing football. If you lose, you’re done. So you have to stay in the here and now, and produce.”

After a few red zone hiccups in the first quarter, the Trojans had little trouble producing.

The Mustangs, playing as though having nothing to lose and everything to gain, held Thornton in check for its first two possessions, allowing just a 23 yard by Alex Howard, the first of his varsity career, that made it 3-0.

“Toward the beginning of the game,” said senior lineman Greg Callanan, “we came out hot, defensively. We took them out of the things they wanted to do.”

However the field tilted in Thornton’s favor, after a fumble recovery by Chris Dolewa gave the Trojans the ball on the Massabesic 17.

Five plays later, Steve Trask found Tim Grose in the back of the end zone, and after Howard’s conversion, Thornton was able to take a 10-0 lead into the second quarter.

“They were giving us a few different looks than we were anticipating,” said Sheehan, who scampered for 112 yards on the ground. “We just had to adjust and roll with the punches. Toward the end of the first half, we started to do what we do. Trojan football.”

Thornton added two more scores in the second quarter, an 8 yard dash by Trask, and Sheehan’s 9 yard blast up the middle.

“The shortest distance to a point is a straight line,” said Sheehan, applying some of the trigonometry knowledge gleaned from the Thornton class room. “I just try to head (to) where I’m going. Drop the hammer and fall forward.”

Thornton scored there more TDs in the third quarter to make the game a runaway.

The Mustangs, whose lineup ”“ particularly in the skill positions ”“ was shredded by injuries, answered with a pair of scores.

Travis Mansfield accounted for the first of those, by hauling in a 35 yard pass from freshman QB Casey Nava.

Sam Chaves ran three yards for another to cap the scoring.

By that time, Callanan, a co-captain who hopes to play at Bates College next year, was able to put some perspective on a Massabesic career that had just ended.

“I love being a Mustang,” Callanan said. “It means a lot, and I’ll carry these moments with me in life. I’m proud to be a Mustang.”

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.