SACO — Anthony Bracamonte is one of the most explosive football players in the entire state, but the Thornton Academy senior had been patiently waiting for his opportunity to make one of his highlight-reel plays that fans are used to seeing.
Bracamonte’s moment would come Saturday afternoon as the TA senior returned two punts for touchdowns, hauled in a long TD pass and also ran for a score in the Trojans’ 63-7 victory over visiting Massabesic.
“I’ve been waiting for (those big plays) since the beginning of the season. Teams haven’t really been kicking to me, so it was exciting,” said Bracamonte.
Thornton Academy coach Kevin Kezal certainly wasn’t surprised to see Bracamonte break off some electrifying plays.
“That’s Anthony,” said Kezal. “Any time he touches the ball he can certainly go the distance. Give credit to the kids around him for putting him in a position where he can do that, but Anthony is a dynamite player for us and we try to get him the ball as many different ways as we can.”
After each team turned the ball over on their first series, TA quarterback Kobe Gaudette would hit Bracamonte on a 58-yard scoring strike to get the Trojans rolling.

Julien BaileyCottle added a 15-yard touchdown run midway through the opening quarter to put TA up 14-0 — and then Bracamonte and the Trojans’ return unit would take over.
Bracamonte’s first punt return score would come on a 55-yard scamper with a perfect wall set up down the Trojans’ sideline to make it 21-0.
Massabesic’s next drive would result in another punt and this time Bracamonte caught the ball at his own 40 and took it all the way to the house to put TA up 28-0 with 3:06 left in the first.
“Our special teams did a great job making a wall for me to make reads off of … to be honest I didn’t think they were going to kick to me and once they did it was just like, ‘let’s go,’” said Bracamonte.
The next time Massabesic had the ball, the Mustangs (0-3) would face a fourth-and-short situation near midfield and decided to punt. This time the punt would be driven out of bounds as they tried to keep the ball out of Bracamonte’s hands.
Not so fast.
The Trojans (3-0) handed the ball to the senior on the very first play of the ensuing drive and Bracamonte got to the outside and ran 51 yards for the score. Brady Forbes made the kick to make it 35-0 early in the second.
Isaac Ofielu and Costa Gikas added touchdown runs before the first half was over and the Trojans had a 48-0 lead at the break.
BaileyCottle and backup QB Hayden Pomerleau found the end zone in the second half for Thornton Academy. Massabesic would get on the board with a 12-yard TD run from Josh Dyer as the Mustangs avoided the shutout.
“It was a learning experience. We knew we were in for a battle. That’s a really good team. I think they’re probably one of the better teams in the league,” said Massabesic coach Eric Ouellette. “Our goal this week was to get better individually so that’s what we’re going to build off again for the next couple weeks. (We need to) just learn and know that we have to play harder and more physical against a team like this.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the winless Mustangs as they host Bonny Eagle next Friday and then play at Scarborough in Week 5.
“We make small goals and we try to achieve those small goals each and every week, so we’ll make small goals against Bonny Eagle and hopefully check a few of them off and try to get better week to week,” Ouellette said.
The Trojans have outscored their opponents 180-14 in their first three wins and road trips to South Portland (1-2) and Windham (0-3) are up next.
“The theme of our team right now is we don’t care about who’s lined up on the other side of the ball. We just need to compete against ourselves, get better and raise the bar each week,” said Bracamonte on staying focused before their back-to-back October showdowns with Scarborough and Bonny Eagle. “Come weeks six and seven, that’s when we need to play our best football.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports