Shaking off a two-loss season that dropped them to the fourth seed, the Bonny Eagle Scots are the last team standing in the West and will have a shot at defending their 2007 state title.

The Scots won the Western regional title on Saturday with a 20-0 win at No. 2 Thornton Academy on a field that looked more like quicksand than grass by the end of the game.

The Scots (9-2) will be defending their 2007 Class A state title against Eastern champion Skowhegan (10-1) this Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The game time is set for 6 p.m.

After a back-and-forth first quarter that saw both teams battling the rainy and muddy conditions, Bonny Eagle got on the board first with a three-yard touchdown run by Scots’ quarterback Nate Doehler with 2:49 to go in the first quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Trojans looked like they were about to tie the game early in the second quarter, moving from their own 25 to the Scots’ 5. But, just as it appeared that Thornton’s Mark Reaser was going to go in for the tying touchdown, the wet ball popped loose, bouncing back to the 9 where the Scots’ Steve Martin pounced on it to end the Thornton threat.

Bonny Eagle took advantage of the miscue, driving almost the length of the field, capping off the drive with a six-yard run by Josh Ruby to make it 13-0 at the half.

Scots coach Kevin Cooper said the fumble was one of the turning points of the game.

“That stemmed a pretty good offensive drive by Thornton Academy,” he said. “They made some big plays to get down close to our goal line, to come up with that play and hold them off, I think it really turned the momentum back to our side.”

“That was just a huge momentum-builder right there,” agreed Doehler. “We just saw the ball go out and it just lifted everyone’s spirits.”

Cooper said that before the game, the Scots’ coaches made sure that their players knew that they had to be careful with the ball, and he was pleased with the way the team responded to the conditions.

“We stressed before the game to hold onto the football,” Cooper said. “Then you ultimately have to trust your players to be able to do it.”

For the players, the field, while muddy, somewhat added to the enjoyment of the game. “At first I thought it would be miserable, but it was a fun atmosphere just going around, flying around and sliding all over the place,” Doehler said. “It was hard to throw the ball, but that’s the same for both sides.”

Coming out to start the second half with a two-score lead, the Scots made some adjustments due to the weather, but they still had no qualms about putting the ball in the air, despite the pelting rain and the slick, muddy field.

“(We changed our game plan) a little bit, especially in the second half. We had a lead, we wanted to be safe,” Cooper said. “But ultimately, we weren’t afraid to throw. We didn’t hesitate to do that because of weather.”

Bonny Eagle’s defense stepped up late in the second quarter and throughout the second half, not allowing Thornton to mount any kind of extended drive, and keeping the Trojans on their side of the 50 for the entire second half.

“We played the best defense we played this far,” Doehler said.

While most of his contribution was on the offensive side of the ball, Doehler got in on the defense as well. Late in the third quarter, Doehler picked off Thornton quarterback John Trull, cutting short another Trojan drive.

“We had a cover-2 on and (the Scots’) Wade Severance had a good jam on his guy,” Doehler said. “I think that messed up their route and the quarterback was probably expecting (the Thornton receiver) to be somewhere else. I was the deep safety and I just broke on the ball.”

The Scots got an insurance touchdown with 6:51 left to go in the game when Doehler found Joe Davis for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make the final score 20-0.

With the win, the Scots are right where most prognosticators picked them to be at the beginning of the season, playing for the Gold Ball, even though the route they had to take there as the No. 4 seed was longer than they expected it to be.

But Doehler said the team, which had a self-reported forfeit loss to Westbrook and a tough regular season loss to Deering this year, never doubted the fact that they had the talent to get back to championship game and bring home Bonny Eagle’s fourth championship in five years.

“We didn’t care where we were placed,” he said. “We just wanted to make it to the playoffs.”

Cooper said he is looking forward to the game next week.

“It never gets old,” said Cooper. “We’re happy to go back and we’re happy to represent Bonny Eagle and the whole West in the state championship game.”

For the Scots’ seniors, next week’s game gives them a chance to defend their state title and end their high school careers on top. Doehler said that’s the legacy he’s hoping to leave behind. “Every senior here knows that the senior year is the year you want to win the states,” he said. “It’s more important than freshman, junior or sophomore years, because that’s the year you go out and that’s the year you’re remembered by.”