SACO — The Thornton Academy football team will be looking to make history on Saturday, as it battles Lawrence for the Class A State Championship. Along the way, the players have learned a little history about what winning Saturday’s game will mean to a community that has been patiently waiting for said title.

Thornton’s last state title in football was in 1988, when the Golden Trojans beat Lawrence. That’s 24 years if you’re counting, or before any of the current players were even alive. It’s been a lifetime of waiting for this TA team to make it to a state championship game, and an eternity for a football-crazed town.

“We have a football community. It’s a great football community,” said Thornton head coach Kevin Kezal. “We have a school that supports us. We have a great group of players and parents that support us. We just want to go out and represent our community and our school in the best way that we can.”

The importance of Saturday’s game to the community is not lost on the players, either.

“For the program, it means a lot. This is a big football community and school. We haven’t been there for (24) years, so it’s really special,” said senior captain Connor McCrum.

“It’s still hitting us,” senior captain Bobby Begin said of finally making it to the state final.

Begin said that the team has received plenty of support and attention from the town, which is both a shock and a blessing.

“People I don’t even know come up to me and say ”˜great job out there. You’re doing great. Keep it up.’ And they’re just giving lots of support, and it’s really great to have a community like that behind us,” said Begin.

The Trojans were on the doorstep of reaching the state final last season, but let a halftime lead against No. 1 Cheverus slip away. That loss provided the groundwork for this season’s success. Kezal said it all started with the kids not settling for a regional final appearance.

“It takes a group of kids that are committed,” Kezal said. “Ever since we played in the Western Maine final last year, those kids made a commitment that they were going to try to get back to that point, and hopefully get a little further to the state title game.”

Begin said the team’s goal this year was not to get back to the Western Maine final, but to make it one step further, and to win the state championship. Now it is just one win away from reaching that goal. For Begin and McCrum, it’s a dream becoming a reality.

“It means a lot to me because it’s the goal I’ve been working for my whole life, pretty much,” McCrum said of playing for the Gold Ball.

Begin shared similar feelings. “It’s my dream ever since I started playing football, and it’s great to finally make it as a senior,” he said.

McCrum said he is still in disbelief that Saturday could be the culmination of everything he has worked for, and everything of which he has dreamed. But he’s not going to let the dream fall short, and just be satisfied with making it to the state final, he said. Like Begin said, they plan on winning it.

“It’s pretty shocking that we made it this far, and now we’re just going to get it done on Saturday,” said McCrum.

NOTES: Speaking of history, in 1986 Thornton Academy won the Class A state title against Bangor after not having won the title for 24 years. That year, Carl Stasio was hired as headmaster, replacing the retired James Jortberg. This year, Stasio retired and Rene Menard took his place as headmaster. This year marks exactly 24 years since Thornton won a state title when it beat Lawrence in 1988 ”¦ Menard was also a starting guard on the 1986 squad coached by Dick Agreste, now an assistant coach with the program.

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.