Thornton football stuffs Bangor in decisive Class A win

Thornton Academy’s Dominic Hussey hoists the football as he celebrates with teammates after intercepting a Bangor pass, setting up a touchdown by the Trojans on the next play. Purchase this image

SACO — Briefly, it looked like this Class A football game could be a slugfest to the final whistle, after visiting Bangor put together a grueling drive that resulted in a tying touchdown in the first quarter.

From that point, though, Thornton Academy made all the big plays – and plenty of smaller ones, too – to keep Bangor in check en route to a convincing 42-7 win.

“The little things matter. Bangor is a great team, they came in and they set the tone early, but I think they have seven guys playing both ways and we just have fresh legs, just keep working, keep driving your feet and you’re going to get some touchdowns,” said Connor Ayoob, Thornton’s senior lead back who demonstrated both power and speed on touchdown runs of 25 and 18 yards.

Thornton improved to 2-0 with a scoring margin of 86-7 and will face New Hampshire powerhouse Bedford next week. Bangor, coming off a 21-0 home win against Deering, will play Class B Lawrence.

Big plays a difference

Thornton took advantage of a short field (a recurring theme) to score its first touchdown on Ayoob’s 25-yard run, which featured him running over one tackler before busting outside and sprinting into the end zone.

“I try to run angry,” Ayoob said.

Bangor responded with a 13-play, 59-yard drive, as its trio of power runners – quarterback Kyle Johnson, Zac Cota and Eli Marsh – each had key carries. Marsh sliced through a good hole over right guard for a 3-yard score.

Thornton got its lead back behind the throwing of junior quarterback Noah Fullerton, who connected with Nathan Neely for a 27-yard gain to spark an 81-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard slant pass to Simon Gellis.

Thornton’s defense, which held Bangor to 141 yards (93 rushing on 30 carries), set up Fullerton and he again hit Neely for gains of 17 and 16 before finding Gellis with a quick hitch to the left that Gellis took in for a 31-yard score, cutting against the grain.

Bangor made a defensive stop to open the third quarter, but Fullerton’s 41-yard punt pinned the Rams at their own 12. On first down, Johnson rolled right and threw back to his left, where Thornton captain Dominic Hussey had already figured out what was coming and intercepted the ill-advised throw.

“Coach had prepared us for that,” Hussey said. “He didn’t try to block me, so I was just a little (suspicious), so I stayed back, and when I saw him turn his head, I knew the ball was coming this way and I just reacted to it.”

Brennan Tabor scored on the next play from the 2, and Sam Rondeau added a 2-point conversion run to make it 29-7.

Bangor did not reach Thornton territory the rest of the way. Thornton added to its lead with Ayoob’s second touchdown and a 4-yard TD run by senior reserve back Brayden Hooper, who rushed for 38 yards on four carries.

Statistical leaders

Bangor: Kyle Johnson (16 carries, 57 yards, 7 of 20 passing for 48 yards and two interceptions), Zac Cota (10 carries, 23 yards)

Thornton: Connor Ayoob (11 carries, 106 yards, two touchdowns), Nathan Neely (5 catches, 88 yards); Simon Gellis (2 catches, 45 yards, two TDs), Noah Fullerton (7 of 12 passing, 133 yards, 2 TDs)

They said it

“That punt was a big thing there that really shifted the momentum because it was 21-7 and we thought we could come out and if we put together a drive, it’s 21-14. But when you get pinned back like that and that interception, that didn’t help obviously. At times we executed really well and then there were times when it rained, it poured.” – Bangor coach David Morris

“They’ve got some big, strong physical backs and second-effort guys. I thought we did a really good job. We bent a couple times, but overall I thought we did a really good job defensively stopping their running game.” – Thornton coach Kevin Kezal.