PORTLAND — The Wells Warriors ended a long campaign successfully Saturday afternoon, concluding football season by winning the Class C state championship game against Mount Desert Island (MDI), 44-0. 

Mount Desert had been seeded No. 1 in the North for this tournament and Wells No. 2 in the South, although this was Mount Desert’s first play at a title. 

The shutout match didn’t pick up steam until the second quarter, when Wells would pick up 21 points and the red tide started to pull Mount Desert Island under despite the formidable efforts of MDI’s captain Drew Rich and Graham Good.

Less than three minutes into the second half the Warriors soldiered on, Evan Whitten bringing home the only touchdown of the quarter to help Wells to 28-0. Like clockwork, less than three minutes into the fourth quarter Riley Dempsey ran in another touchdown for Wells and with the beautiful arc of another flawless extra-point, built up the score to a solid 36-0. 

The scoring machine marching on, Whitten ran in a 45-yard touchdown which, coupled with another good kick, cemented the Warriors win at 44-0.

Wells head coach Tim Roche saw the victory coming as clearly as anyone else and had the forethought to hand off his phone to someone before the cooler was inevitably dumped on him. The team received a life-sized golden football trophy, a spontaneous parade down Route 1 in Wells, and a small reception on the home football field.

Standing on the edge of the field after the game, his proud mother watching nearby, Riley Dempsey said, “We started this journey back in June and it’s been a grind for however many months. It’s a perfect ending. We worked extra hard. Linemen did a great job, running backs did a great job, quarterbacks did a great job. It was a total team effort, and yeah we had one loss but that just made us work even harder. It’s been awesome.”

In between being asked to take pictures, coach Roche remained down to earth, “It’s awesome — the town’s great, the community is so cool. We were packed, it’s a great night. That’s what it’s all about. We told the kids that it’s about our community. That’s what we wanted and we brought it home for our community. It’s nice Wells is a great town and it’s such an awesome honor to be a part of something like this.”