WELLS — It has been 364 days.

That’s how long it’s been for players on the Wells football team to wait for their long-exacted shot of revenge against the Mountain Valley Falcons when they meet at Warrior Memorial Field Saturday afternoon in the Western Maine Class B final.

It was Nov. 12 of last year, the Warriors walked off Hosmer Field in Rumford, the recipients of an 18-0 loss in the regional final.

“I told them, it started about 52 weeks ago this week that we wanted to get this,” Wells head coach Tim Roche said. “It’s time to hopefully strap it up and win a championship here at Warrior Memorial, that would be great.”

The two teams met in the regular season. Mountain Valley traveled to Wells and the Warriors came out with a 28-12 win.

But that was the regular season. Saturday, it’s the regional championship, and the stakes are higher, such as the opportunity for Wells (10-0) to travel to its first state title game since 1997, when the Warriors won their only championship in football in a 32-30 win over Belfast.

The going will not be easy. The Falcons (9-1) have scored 338 points this season on offense, an average of almost 34 points per game. They’ve been almost as dominant defensively, allowing 107 points, an average of almost 11 points per game. If that weren’t enough, Mountain Valley is one of the most physical teams in the state, a statement to which coaches and players can attest from the first contest earlier in the season.

“They’re the most physical team we’ve played all year,” Wells quarterback Paul McDonough said. “They’re one of the most prepared teams we’ve seen all year. They just mix it up a lot, they know what they’re doing. And they bring it hard every play. It’s fun to play against them, they just bring it every game.”

“They’re the same Mountain Valley group that was there last year, they’re the same Mountain Valley group that was there 23 years ago,” Roche said. “It’s the same kids, the same names on the jerseys it seems like. It’s what they do, football is their thing, sports is their thing.”

While the Falcons have statistical success and history (four state championships in the past eight years) on their side, Wells has been nothing short of dominating this season. The Warriors have the stingiest defense in Class B, allowing just 72 points this season, an average of seven per contest. Offensively, Wells has used multiple options to score, but Louis DiTomasso has been the top threat, running for more than 1,100 yards while scoring 17 touchdowns.

DiTomasso said the biggest difference between the Warriors from last season to this season has been production in practice.

“We’ve just had better practices,” DiTomasso said. “We have more intensity at practice and have played fundamental football, day-to-day, and we just try to get better every day.”

One advantage that cannot be ignored is home field advantage. The Warriors are 6-0 at Warrior Memorial Field this season, outscoring opponents by a margin of 180-52. Only two of those teams, York (21) and Mountain Valley (12) have scored double-digit points. The crowds in Wells have been boisterous this year, thanks to the help of cowbells and vuvuzelas.

“The community backs us,” Roche said. “We have a similar type of thing (as Mountain Valley). On a Friday night, when you come to Warrior Memorial, and you go out there and you see the crowd, we have the same community support they got. It’s fun.”

The game is set. The Warriors have the opponent they want. Now it’s all a matter of determining who the best Western Maine Class B team is.

“It’s meant a lot to us,” McDonough said. “We’ve worked our (butts) off all summer for this, and it’s finally come. It’s unreal that we’ve done everything that we’ve been projected to do. We just want to keep it going. This is the biggest week of football in our entire lives, and we’re just trying to prepare as best we can.”

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.