ORONO — It might be a few hours north of Wells, but on Saturday night Alfond Stadium on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono was definitely Warrior Country.
A large group of Wells fans made the three-hour trip to UMaine — and the Warriors would give them plenty to cheer about as they dominated Foxcroft Academy in a 55-20 win to capture the Class D state championship.
The victory was the third straight in the state finals for Wells — they won the Class C title in 2016 and captured the Class D crown last year — and it was the program’s 28th consecutive win.
“Wow … it’s awesome,” said longtime Wells coach Tim Roche on his team’s incredible run. “I mean look, we have the support of the community. We have the people around us, the administration, everybody so it’s awesome. I’m at a loss for words, which doesn’t happen very often for me.”

Just like the last few weeks, the Warriors (12-0) would count on senior running back Tyler Bridge and junior fullback Payton MacKay to lead the way.
Bridge ran for 206 yards and five touchdowns and MacKay finished with 171 rushing yards and two scores. The two would also hook up on a score when Bridge tossed a touchdown pass to MacKay.
“It feels amazing. Three in a row, I don’t even know how to describe the feeling — it’s so awesome,” said Bridge.
Roche wasn’t surprised to see the Wells duo go off in the title game.
“Those two are just unreal. When they have the ball, they just don’t want to go down,” said Roche of Bridge and MacKay.
The longtime coach also knows that without the work of the offensive line, Bridge and MacKay wouldn’t be able to destroy opposing defenses.
“I don’t think our line (Dylan Whitney, Cam Barker, Morgan Welch-Thompson, Nate Curtis, Matt Ouellette) gets enough credit. Tyler and Payton are awesome, but when you rush for 4,000-something yards you have to have a decent offensive line and we do. We got kids that want to go out there and smack you. I thought we took it to them,” said Roche.
MacKay agreed with his coach.
“Our O-line really did their job and we were able to score,” MacKay said.
MacKay would give the Warriors a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when he scored on a 24-yard run. That would be the lone score of the opening frame, but it wouldn’t take long for the Wells offense to heat up.
Bridge got going in the second quarter as he scored on runs of 1, 58 and 60 yards. The senior also tossed a 42-yard TD pass to MacKay to help the Warriors jump out to a 34-0 lead.
Foxcroft, which lost to Wells by a 48-0 score in last year’s title game, would get a touchdown before halftime to make it 34-7 at the break.
Devin Chace sprinted into the end zone from 21 yards out in the third. Bridge added a 32-yard score and a 4-yard TD run in the fourth to put an exclamation point on the game and his incredible career.
The celebration brought the entire Wells crowd onto the turf at UMaine — which made it even more special for the Warriors.

“This is a great atmosphere, a huge field and it felt so good to have our community come out. It’s three hours away and they all drove up here, that’s awesome,” said Bridge.
“It’s just shows that our fans really support us and our town is all behind us,” added MacKay.
The Wells football family will be hoping to celebrate together again in mid-January as Bridge should be one of the top contenders for the annual Fitzpatrick Trophy, which is given to the state’s best senior football player.
Bridge’s six-touchdown performance in the state final should certainly help his case, but the standout wasn’t focused on postseason awards during Saturday’s game.
“I was looking to have a big game to win the Gold Ball,” said Bridge, who can start to think about winning the Fitzy now. “That would be awesome … I don’t think anyone from Class D has done it, so that would be awesome.”
One of the major reasons the Warriors and their fans have been able to celebrate three straight championships is the work ethic up-and-down the Wells program, according to senior Morgan Welch-Thompson.
“It’s just amazing … hard work all the time,” said Welch-Thompson on the mentality inside the Wells locker room. “We’re just always in the weight room, always running before practice and we were just committed to (winning) the Gold Ball — we wanted it so bad.”
The Warriors and their fans will certainly celebrate this latest championship for a while — but for the underclassmen on the Wells squad, the push for another Gold Ball starts now.
“It starts again right away. We’ll get in the weight room and get ready for next season,” said MacKay.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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