SACO — When the Thornton Academy Golden Trojans (10-1) take on the Lawrence Bulldogs (11-0) today at 11:06 a.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, both teams will be playing each other for the first time since they met in the Class A State Championship in 1988. In that game, Thornton blew out Lawrence by the score of 47-13. This matchup looks to be a closer, ground and pound game.

“It’s hard to gameplan because it’s almost like a week one game, because you have a lot of tape you can watch but you haven’t gone against the team,” said Thornton coach Kevin Kezal. “We are going to have to play our best football for 48 minuets. I think we have peaked at the right time and we have been able to do that the past two weeks.”

In the tale of the tape, Thornton has a huge size advantage over the Bulldogs. Both offensively and defensively, Thornton pushed around Cheverus last week, using its size to take down one of the best in the state. But Lawrence is used to being an undersized team and uses speed to play to their strength. One big factor Lawrence brings into this game is experience. They have 21 seniors on the squad this season that saw time against Cheverus in last season’s Class A State Championship game.

The Bulldog offense features a rusher in Anthony Sementelli who has rushed for over 1,000 yards so far this season. This break-out, explosive back can run through arm tackles and turn open space into positive yards. At quarterback they will feature a three-year starter in Spencer Carey who gives Lawrence confidence in the passing game. Lawrence head coach John Hersom said if his run offense sputters, that he isn’t afraid to open things up more with the pass.

Thornton will once again feature its power running game to chew up yards on the Bulldogs’ defense. Andrew Libby will once again get the call to power his way downfield and into the end zone. But look for Thornton to stretch the field too, to try and take advantage of their size with one-on-one matchups at the corners.

“We will take what they give us,” said Kezal. “I think we do a good job at taking advantage of that. This time of the year it’s important to pound the ball because of conditions. I have always said our best defense is when our offense is on the field.”

Defensively, the Bulldogs are fast and use great angles of pursuit to the ball. They swarm to the ball quickly and display great tackling technique; all keys to a great defense. They are led by three-year starter Luke Lawrence at linebacker.

On defense for Thornton, the goal will be to stop the key players, Semenetelli and Carey, from having break-out runs. The gameplan will be business as usual just like previous weeks during the season.

“(Defensively), like we have the past few weeks, we will look to prevent the big play and keep the ball in front of us. Most importantly, these past few weeks we have gotten our team off the field on third down and need to do that again this week. They have some quality athletes at all the skilled positions and stopping them will be the key to the game,” said Kezal.

All of the football State Championship games will be held at Fitzpatrick Stadium today. The Class A game will kick off at 11:06 a.m., followed by the Class C game at 2:36 p.m. and then the Class B game at 6:06 p.m.

—Contact Nate Fowler at 282-1535, Ext. 323.