When the Wells High School football team won the Class B state football title on Saturday night, it did more than win a championship for the school. It helped ignite the passion of a small, coastal Maine community.

Sports can cross life parallels and transcend into realms that go beyond the athletic fields.

The Wells football team, with its title, proved that. Throughout the season, the Warriors battled through a tough football schedule. Week in and week out, they defeated every opponent they played. As their record swelled, the Warriors’ fans and the residents of Wells began to notice. At each home game, the crowd grew larger as more fans, inspired by their hometown players, flocked to Warrior Memorial Field on Friday nights to see their team, their children, their friends, their grandchildren and their nephews play a usually inferior opponent.

If one went to a home game at Wells, they would’ve felt like they were in the middle of something special ”“ and they were.

Students showed up with faces painted, ready to shout, cheer and roar. They brought vuvuzelas, usually seen in World Cup soccer matches where the soccer teams are more honored than a country’s government.

Cowbells rang and fans cheered loudly as the team ran over the opponent each time. This cheering wasn’t just about a team winning and playing well on the football field. It was about a sense of pride as the 11 players in red and black on the field represented the town. They represented that for which the town stands. They represented the hard-working residents who pridefully live every day in a town called Wells.

This pride was evident in quarterback Paul McDonough’s words after the team beat Leavitt on Saturday, 21-13. McDonough said the game was about more than winning a title. He said it was for the community, whose members he thanked for supporting him and his teammates.

The Warriors hadn’t won the Class B championship since 1997, when they defeated Belfast. The Lions, at the time, were the pride of Maine high school football. In a town of only 6,000 people, their fans packed the high school football field on Friday nights. The fans cheered loudly for every Lions win because again, like Wells, they represented who they were.

The fervor in Wells and Belfast is similar to that of most small Maine communities where everyone knows one another, struggles together and works together to better their hometown.

High school football allows these community members to bond over a similar interest.

We know that some people might say that too much emphasis is placed on sports, especially at the high school level. While at times this is true, one must remember that athletics can teach, enhance and develop a young person physically and mentally.

Sports should never take the priority over family or academics, but when they can help unite a community, they should always be looked at as great moments that allow people to forget about their problems as they focus on something pure and good.

Just ask the residents of Wells.

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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.