It was a rough second half for Windham, also, but that wasn’t to the Eagles’ benefit.

The Trojans produced a strong second half and erased an early deficit to beat Windham 35-14 to win the Class A football state championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Thornton outscored Windham 27-0 in the second half to claim its second state title in three years, including two touchdowns in a span of 21 seconds.

“We’ve been resilient,” Thornton coach Kevin Kezal said. “We’ve had great senior leadership all year. We came up a little short last year in the Western Maine final game. They’ve worked their tails off and it’s a great accomplishment.”

Brothers Demel and Greg Ruff each scored a touchdown as the Trojans dominated the second half. The TA defense forced a pair of key turnovers in the second half and made a pair of fourth-down stops while holding the Eagles to just 76 total yards. One pass play made up 43 of those yards.

“It started clicking for us,” senior Demel Ruff, a senior, said. “It was great. Everyone started playing as a team. It all started going for us.”

Demel Ruff rushed for 89 yards on 15 carries and had the tying touchdown early in the third. He had 79 yards in the second half. Greg Ruff rushed for 21 yards on five carries and had the final touchdown.

“It was an unbelievable second half,” Demel Ruff said. “It started out with a touchdown run. We were able to come out on defense and get stops. It was an unreal half and we made big plays.”

Windham, which played a strong opening half and was up 14-7 at halftime, was stopped twice in the red zone and had a pair of critical turnovers.

“We were down here and had (Zach) Davis wide open and threw the ball late,” Windham coach Matt Perkins said. “We had a bad snap. We had a fumbled punt return. Those are mistakes you can’t make. We made them throughout the second half.”

The Trojans (10-1) opened the half with a good drive but had a pass intercepted by Eric Webb. Thornton stopped Windham on its next possession and forced a punt. The Trojans took over at the 46 and needed just one play to tie it with 7:27 left in the third. Demel Ruff broke it for a lengthy run to make it 14-14.

Then on the following possession, Windham (9-2) fumbled the ball on its first play from scrimmage. Elijah Ayotte recovered and Trojan had the ball at the 16. Two plays later quarterback Austin McCrum took it up the middle for 13 yards to make it 21-14 with 6:36 left.

Windham moved the ball on its next possession but was stopped at the 15 on fourth-and-third after a pair of incomplete passes.

“We just kind of settled down and made a few adjustments,” Kezal said. “We did a great job in the second half. We came out and executed a little better. I think we played great defense. They had us backed up a couple of times but we were able to turn them away on third-and short and fourth-and-short.”

Early in the fourth, Thornton was backed up at the 14 and forced to punt. The ball was caught by Webb at midfield, but in trying to make a big play, he fumbled the ball away. Matt Cleary made the recovery and gave the Trojans the ball at the 29.

Thornton produced a long drive and finished with a 15-yard pass from McCrum to Corey Hart with 8:07 left for a 28-14 lead.

“We had a big stop and turned the ball over,” Perkins said. “That was the shift in the game. Instead of having the ball inside the 50, they drove down and scored.”

Windham had another chance to rally. The Eagles got a lengthy return and were at the 17. Quarterback Desmond Leslie had a wide open Davis in the left corner but he was ruled out of bounds on the catch.

“They said he was out,” Perkins said. “It sure looked like he had one foot in.”

The Trojans finished that stop, getting a pair of incompletions, including a fourth-and-three. The Trojans took it the other way and finished off the drive with a Greg Ruff scoring run from the 5 with 1:55 left.

Windham took the lead with 3:48 left in the first quarter when Leslie connected with Webb for a 27-yard scoring play. Thornton tied it with 5:36 left in the half when Mike Laverriere took it in from the 2 Windham was able to retake the lead with just 1:38 left in the half. Dylan Koza took it in from the 2 on the left side for the 14-7 lead.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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