Motivated Thornton Academy was sharp from the get-go, and a Portland team dealing with the death of a beloved parent and youth coach never got untracked Friday in a showdown between the finalists from the past two Class A football state championship games.

Set up with short fields by its defense and Portland miscues, Thornton (4-1) struck for three quick touchdowns in the first quarter and went on to a convincing 36-0 win at Fitzpatrick Stadium, behind 190 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Conner Ayoob.

Portland (4-1) held a moment of silence before the game to honor Ryan Jordan, who died Thursday after a brief and unexpected illness. Jordan, a 1997 graduate of Deering High, is a past president of both the Portland Youth Football League and Portland Little League. His two sons play for Portland: junior linebacker/tight end Bailey Jordan is a two-way starter, Quinn Jordan is a freshman lineman.

“Ryan Jordan was one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met,” said Portland coach Nick Cliche. “He gave back to the Portland community for a number of years. He’s coached 95% of our kids in sport or another, basketball, baseball, football. … His boys and our boys (on the team) have grown up together and it was a tough loss for us this week.”

What was at stake

Defending Class A champion Portland was ranked No. 1 and Thornton was No. 2 in the Varsity Maine poll. Portland beat Thornton twice in 2024, winning the regular-season game in Saco, then ending a 22-year title drought with a 35-14 victory in the state final.

Thornton won the 2023 championship when it beat previously unbeaten Portland, 24-14.

Thornton coach Kevin Kezal said he could tell he had a motivated and prepared team heading into Friday’s game.

“We’ve been stacking. That’s what we talk about: just stacking days of practice. Make every day count and get better every day, and we’ve had great practices,” Kezal said. “We had a lot of inexperience on offense, and where they’ve come and where they’re at now is because of the hard work they do during the week.”

How it happened

Thornton’s defense provided short fields and its offense converted, especially in the first quarter.

Thornton stuffed the Portland running game and got great field position after an 8-yard punt, a Cordell Jones fumble and Ben Knox recovery, and a fourth-down stop, as the offense took possession at Portland’s 32, 22 and 41. Thornton held Jones to 66 yards rushing.

“The focus was stopping (Jones), stopping their run,” said Thornton linebacker and captain Grady Hersey. “Cordell is a great player, so that was one of our keys.”

Chunky runs by Ayoob set up touchdowns by Simon Gellis (5-yard pass from Noah Fullerton) and Sam Rondeau (3-yard run), and then Nathan Neely got into the act with an 18-yard run on a sweep left to set up his own 13-yard TD on a well-blocked sweep right for a 21-0 lead with 2:17 left in the first quarter.

“The offense relies on the defense. If they get us in good spots, it’s easier to score,” Ayoob said.

Thornton scored on its fourth possession, too. Ayoob capped a 59-yard drive after another three-and-out by the Golden Trojans defense with a nifty 22-yard run around right end.

“They came out with intensity and obviously a hunger to come out and do damage, and I just don’t think we matched it right away, and it was kind of an avalanche from there,” Cliche said.

Portland interceptions by Jake Johnson and Alex Martin kept Thornton from adding more in the first half, but the Trojans used a punishing 60-yard drive with 10 consecutive runs, capped by Ayoob from the 1, to push the game to running time with 7:05 left in the third quarter.

Dealing with injuries

Both teams were playing without key starters due to injury. Portland was without two-way starting slot receivers/defensive backs Maddox Meas and Charlie Abramson-Thompson and nose guard Will Lukoki.

Thornton was without three defensive starters in junior inside linebackers Brennan Tabor and Josiah Blain and senior defensive tackle and captain Curtis Nason, all injured in a Week 3 loss at Bedford, New Hampshire.

Trent Wilson stepped into one of the inside linebacker positions and “played great,” Kezal said. With all-conference outside backer Dominic Hussey shifting inside, Thornton played a lot of snaps with five defensive backs, but still got good edge protection on Portland’s outside runs from players like Stevo Jones.

“Thankfully we have the depth to withstand that,” Kezal said. “I’m so happy with how the kids have responded.”

Thornton is at Massabesic next Friday. Portland is at undefeated Bonny Eagle, the No. 3 team in this week’s Varsity Maine football poll.