SACO – At 10 a.m. Saturday morning, Bobby Begin rode in the backseat of a car as the king of the Thornton Academy homecoming parade. At around 1:40 that afternoon, he showed he could reign on the football field as well.

Begin picked up a Scarborough fumble and rumbled 75 yards for the opening touchdown at Hill Stadium. The play was a momentum changer, and Thornton never looked back in 35-7 win in a battle of unbeaten Western Class A teams Saturday.

“All I saw was ball and open field and I just didn’t want to stop running,” the senior linebacker said. “It went by quick. I didn’t want to look back, just wanted to keep running.

“It was huge because they were driving the field and it just gave us all the emotion and momentum that just drove us to score and score again.”

The Trojans, now 5-0, did score, plenty, using a balanced rushing attack to keep the Storm (4-1) off-balance all game. Andrew Libby led the way with 201 yards (144 of which came in the second half) and three touchdowns, Nick Kenney ran for 98 yards and a score and speedy Dylan Morton added 51 yards on four carries. Quarterback Eric Christensen chipped in 32 yards on the ground and 34 through the air on 3 of 6 passing.

“They played a lot of coverage today, so we wanted to run the ball at that and Nick and Eric and Andrew and Dillon did a great job running the ball at that,” Thornton coach Kevin Kezal said. “We get the ball in everyone’s hands and keep everyone in the game. Certainly, we’re not one-dimensional.”

The Red Storm had taken the opening kickoff and embarked on an impressive five-minute, 13-play opening series to the Trojan 10-yard line. But a fourth-down snap deflected off quarterback Dillon Russo’s hands, and a blitzing Begin beat everyone to it, showing off some speed to take it 75 yards the other way.

“It definitely switched momentum in a big hurry, and you can’t give a good team like Thornton points,” Scarborough coach Lance Johnson said. “We need to cash that one in down there and not give up the seven to them.”

Thornton had no problem cashing in, thanks to Libby and Kenney. The Thornton offense didn’t touch the ball until the 2:55 mark of the first but didn’t take long establishing dominance up front, driving the ball in 73 yards in 13 plays. Libby scored on a sweep around the right from 18 out, and Brandon Briggs’ kick made it 14-0.

A 47-yard Morton run then set up Kenney to finish Thornton’s second possession with a five-yard plunge up the middle to make it 21-0 with less than a minute to play in the half.

On the other side, the first drive would be an omen for what was to come for the Scarborough offense, which gained 195 first-half yards but couldn’t finish off drives with points. Three times the Storm moved into the red zone in the first half, coming up empty on each.

The passing game did most of the damage in between the 20s, as Russo was 17 of 32 in all, completing passes to six different receivers for 231 yards. But when the running game was needed to gain the tough yards near the goal line, the Trojans defensive line was dominant.

“I thought we did a good job of taking and controlling their running game, which made them one-dimensional,” Kezal said. “If you can do that to a team, it certainly helps you out defensively. I thought this was certainly our best defensive effort of the season so far.”

After driving 53 yards in the final 49 seconds of the half the Storm had a chance salvage three on a 32-yard Greg Viola field goal attempt, but Thornton’s Connor McCrum got a paw to the kick to end the half.

“I think we had opportunities, we didn’t cash in on opportunities and you can’t win that way,” Johnson said. “I think we played with them, we just didn’t cash in on opportunities and made some mistakes. Not to take anything away from them, they’re a good team.”

The teams traded punts to start the third, but the Trojans took the ball at their 10 midway through the quarter and embarked on a 13-play drive, all runs. A 36-yard Libby run brought the ball inside the Storm 10, and three plays later the junior scored from one yard out on the opening play of the fourth quarter to make it 28-0.

With nothing to lose, Scarborough then opened up the offense and Russo completed six straight passes on the Storm’s only scoring drive. Dan LeClair’s 47-yard catch set the table and three straight Russo completions to Chris Cyr cleared it, with the last going for seven yards and a TD.

“Dillon‘s really worked hard, I think he’s getting better at understanding coverages and where to put the ball,” Johnson said of his quarterback. “He’s doing a good job, he always plays hard and he’s a great competitor.”

Scarborough got the ball back with 4:40 to play, but just as he’d begun the day, it was Begin who finished it with an interception of Russo at the Trojan 25.

“That was just being in the right place at the right time,” Begin said. “I was lucky, he threw it right to me.”

Libby broke a 68-yard scoring run running out the clock, and Thornton remained undefeated with the 28-point victory. Next up for the Trojans is a tough game up at 3-2 Windham Friday night, before a showdown with fellow unbeaten Cheverus Oct. 13.

“We’re just playing one game at a time right now,” Begin said.

Scarborough will look to rebound at home Saturday against Massabesic. Currently sitting in the last playoff spot at 2-3, the Mustangs should come in desperate for a win, and the Johnson said it was important for this team to forget Saturday quickly.

“We’re on to Massabesic,” he said. “This isn’t the end of our season.”

Andrew Libby goes over, through and then under defenders to score TA’s second touchdown with just over nine minutes to play in the first half.
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