SCARBOROUGH – After three straight disappointing seasons, the

Scarborough girls soccer team wins the Class A state title.

SCARBOROUGH – The best heroes are those with baggage.

As a culture, we are rampant fans of the underdog. We feast on adversity, and cheer for the loveable loser. Where would Luke Skywalker be without his agonizing loss of an appendage at the hands of Darth Vader? Who is Frodo Baggins without the constant temptation of the One Ring? Are the New England Patriots really that superb without the decades of disaster prior to the new century? Do we even need to mention the Red Sox?

And so the tale of Scarborough girls soccer, what with its long winter of defeat, and triumphant, storybook finish as the team captured the Class A state championship with a 3-0 win over Bangor on Saturday, will seem like an oddly familiar story. But the great ones are always the same, and we love them all the more for it.

Our heroes have flaws; they accumulate critics.

Then they silence them.

“I would never have thought (it would turn out like this) in a million years,” said Mike Farley, Scarborough head coach. “You just don’t think that kind of season is going to be put together. They did an amazing job of staying focused in every game, and it was 25 players – our two goalkeepers who played, and a lot of players coming off the bench, who really wouldn’t let the play go down. I mean, they really earned it. It was amazing.”

But what blossomed into the wonderful was sewn with the forgettable. For three straight seasons – 2007 through 2009 – the Red Storm went into the playoffs as the favorite, only to be unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament in a single game. A comment posted by a user known only as “Soccerdad” on keepmecurrent.com after last year’s 2-1 overtime loss to Marshwood even suggested that “we need to look at coach Farley,” implying – ludicrously – that on some level fans were beginning to question the Red Storm’s leadership. To their credit, Farley’s team never had any doubts.

“He’s always positive,” junior Meghan Tyson said of Farley. “Even if we did something wrong, and even in playoff games when we weren’t playing so well, he was always there to boost us up. He does pick apart what we’re doing, and tell us what we can do better, but it’s always something that we know we can accomplish.”

And, if anything, 2010 was one big celebration of the program that Farley built.

Right from the get-go there were signs of greatness. The Red Storm shut out their first three opponents by a combined score of 19-0, then proved their capacity to win close games by blanking perennial rival Gorham 1-0 on Sept. 13. It was a moment that many players identified as the turning point of the season.

Senior captain Tori Armishaw described that victory as key because of the “level of competition we saw.”

“I definitely think that game prepared us for (winning the championship today),” Armishaw said. “Because of games like that, we came out here knowing that they were going to pressure us, and that we were going to have to pressure them right back.”

But as the season progressed, there were growing concerns that, if anything, the team was too good, and perhaps even setting themselves up for another big fall. Scarborough maintained a yearlong shutout of opponents that wasn’t broken until the team’s 2-1 comeback semifinal victory over Cheverus on Oct. 30 – an incredible 15 games without giving up a goal. According to senior captain Cortney Hughes, ending the streak actually lifted a degree of difficulty off the shoulders of the team.

“Maintaining that shutout was a lot of pressure,” Hughes said. “I am glad we got scored on in the playoffs, because I think that really took the pressure off of us a bit. It really helped us.”

After sweeping through the regular season, the Red Storm – ranked No. 1 yet again – opened the playoffs by hosting eighth-seeded Cape Elizabeth. The Capers, who play a mix of a Class B regular season schedule and jump up to Class A in the playoffs, threatened to send the Storm packing once again. However, this time Scarborough – led by a determined, thrice-burned set of 12 seniors – wasn’t about to let that happen. Their 2-0 victory over Cape was the breakthrough moment that the Class of 2011 had been waiting for their entire careers.

“Beating Cape was the best moment of the season,” said Armishaw, “because I have never won a playoff game, and I have been on varsity for four years. A couple of the other kids feel the same way.”

Farley echoed the thoughts of his captain when reflecting on how that first win helped to push the team beyond the memories of years past.

“I think once we got past that first game, they had all the motivation in the world,” he said. “They got over that hump, and they really started to play very good soccer in the last couple of games.”

Those last couple of games were by no means a cakewalk. The Storm had to battle back against their first deficit of the year against Cheverus, then fought off first-half jitters against Thornton Academy in the Western finals on Nov. 3. After clearing this final hurdle with a second half goal by junior Haley Carignan, all that remained was for Scarborough to complete their undefeated run by eviscerating Bangor 3-0.

“I’m so happy for them,” Farley said. “I am sure they are going to love it, and the whole town of Scarborough is going to love it. I mean, it’s just really good to see something good happen to these kids.”

And what of next year? Well, for the moment our heroes will rest confident in the knowledge that, with the Ring destroyed, the Death Star blown up, and that big, golden soccer ball locked comfortably away in a the trophy case, the world is safe once more. They’ll rejoin the fight next season, finally comforted – rather than burdened – by memories of the past.

“We’re going to have to work at it a lot harder than we did this year, just because we’re losing eight or nine of our starters,” Tyson said. “But this experience does help us, especially the juniors. There are five or six of us that play a lot, and I think that with this experience and this feeling, we can really drive the other players to want to get back here.”

Tori Armishaw, right, and Haley Carignan share a hug moments after the Scarborough Red Storm defeated Bangor in Saturday’s Class A state championship game in Falmouth. The Red Storm put three seasons of near-misses behind them with a dominating 3-0 win. (Photo by Rich Obrey)Bangor’s bench players and coaches watch as Scarborough junior Meghan Tyson sends a centering pass in toward the Bangor goal during the first half of Saturday’s Class A state championship game in Falmouth. (Photo by Rich Obrey)