SACO — After an underwhelming performance in a quarterfinal win against seventh-ranked Kennebunk on Oct. 27, some people had questions about the Thornton Academy football team. The No. 2 Trojans silenced their critics Saturday afternoon with a 49-14 trouncing of the third-ranked Scarborough at Hill Stadium.

The Trojans wasted no time proving that they could play better than they did against the Rams, forcing Scarborough into a three-and-out and then scoring on their first play from scrimmage. After a good kickoff return put the Trojans into Red Storm territory to start, Eric Christensen hit Dylan Morton on a 40-yard touchdown pass right up the middle.

Scarborough answered right back, however, as Dillon Russo hit Merrick Madden for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the Red Storm’s next play.

Thornton Academy was in a no mood for a back-and-forth battle, though, and took momentum right back. Andrew Libby returned the kickoff to the Red Storm 32-yard line to give the Trojans favorable field position again. The Trojans then ran the ball five straight times to get it down to the Scarborough 4-yard line, but a holding penalty wiped out a Libby touchdown run and put Thornton back at the 13-yard line. Christensen then hit Morton for an 8-yard pass on third-and-goal to bring up fourth down at the 5-yard line. The Trojans took a timeout, and decided to go for it. Christensen found Libby in the front-right corner of the end zone to give Thornton the lead back.

Christensen was on point from the get-go, looking sharper than he had in weeks.

Eric put the ball on the money early, and that really kind of set the tone for us offensively. It got the momentum on our side, and our kids just kept it the whole game,” said Thornton head coach Kevin Kezal.

On Scarborough’s next drive Libby intercepted a Russo pass and returned it 37 yards to the 8-yard line. Libby then scored on the next play on a 8-yard run to give the Trojans a 19-7 lead.

“That was definitely a big turning point,” Libby said of his series of big plays. “It set the tone of our team, to keep playing hard, and rise above adversity.”

Unlike the week before, when the Trojans couldn’t put Kennebunk away, the Trojans kept their foot on the gas. After giving up a first down to the Red Storm, the Thornton defense stuffed Russo and forced Scarborough to punt before crossing midfield. The Trojans then scored five plays later, as Christensen hit Cody Lynn on a 48-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline with 2.4 seconds left in the first quarter.

After giving up just a single first down again, the Thornton defense stopped Scarborough on the 50 and forced another punt.  The Trojans then went on an 11-play drive that featured exclusively runs, and Christensen capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run on a quarterback sneak.

After another three-and-out, Christensen capped off another drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and the Trojans led 42-7 at halftime.

The Trojans got the ball to start the second half, and dared the Red Storm defense to stop them. Thornton Academy went on a 17-play drive that included 16 runs, 15 plays of positive yardage, and it ended with Alex Rizeakos running in for a touchdown from 13 yards out. More importantly, the drive took almost nine minutes off the clock.

“You take nine minutes, and you score. That pretty much finishes the game off. That was a great drive,” said Kezal.

Libby said the drive proved a point, not just to the Red Storm, but any other team that may have been wondering.

“We want to show them that we’re a physical team. We can hit you harder than you can hit us. We can just run it all day if we need to,” said Libby.

It was a dominating performance by the Trojans, who beat Scarborough every way you slice it.

“We played great in all three phases of the game. We played well offensively. Defensively, we got stops. And special teams we played great. That was a great effort by our kids,” said Kezal.

Christensen had a masterful game leading the Thornton offense. He as 6/6 passing for 134 yards and three touchdowns, and added 57 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

The Trojans scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions, going 10/11 on third down in the process.

On defense, Thornton held Russo to under 50 percent passing, and just 57 yards after the long touchdown pass. Dakota Tarbox also picked off Russo with the Red Storm driving late in the third quarter.

“You just try to keep him in the pocket, make him throw the ball, play good coverage. And I thought we did a great job of that,” Kezal said about how they stopped the dangerous Russo.

The Trojans were firing on all cylinders in their biggest game of the year. Kezal found it hard to find a criticism in how his team played, saying “that’s how I think we can play.”

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323.