There’s no holding back now.

That’s how the Mountain Valley football team looks at today’s 11 a.m. Class B State Championship game against Winslow at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

With their first football state championship within reach, the Falcons intend to exhaust every ounce of energy and every single option.

“There’s nothing to save now,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “There’s no worrying about showing anything. Anything we’ll have, we’ll try.

“You don’t lose gold balls, you win gold balls. I’ve been on the other side. I’m going to make sure these kids understand that if they give everything they have and they’re willing to lay it out for 48 minutes, they can be successful.”

The Falcons have come up empty in three previous tries in the state championship. Winslow, on the other hand, is after its 10th state title.

None of the players on either side were part of the previous state games. The Falcons returned 11 starters this year, but Winslow had just two regulars back.

“They graduated a lot of kids, but what I’ve heard is that they’re the most improved team in the state,” said Aylward.

Winslow’s only two losses came against teams Mountain Valley beat. The Black Raiders were routed by Gorham 44-7 early in the season. The Rams had 341 yards on the ground and 110 yards in the air, while the Black Raiders managed just five rushing yards on 24 attempts. Three weeks later, Winslow lost to Leavitt 14-11.

The Falcons beat Gorham twice, 24-14 in the regular season and 14-8 in last week’s regional final. Mountain Valley also beat Leavitt, 53-6.

“If you look on paper, it isn’t much of a matchup,” said Winslow coach Mike Siviski. “If you compare the scores, there isn’t a match. Leavitt beat us, and they beat the heck out of Leavitt. They’ve beaten Gorham twice and Gorham beat us.”

The Black Raiders are a much improved team since then though and should give the Falcons defense a challenge.

“They’re running the ball much better than when they played us,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway, whose seen the Black Raiders play often since his team gave Winslow its last loss. “(Justin Lindie) has really come on in the last couple of games. That’s given them a double threat in the backfield. They just seem to be running a lot harder and their offensive line is gelling a lot more.”

Mountain Valley faced a Gorham team that lived and died with its running game. Winslow can be a little more diverse, forcing the Falcons to guard against the pass game.

“Our passing defense was great all year,” said Falcon junior linebacker Travis Fergola. “We didn’t get to use it too much against Gorham, but we should be able to show it this game.”

Winslow has a solid ground game led by Lindie but also has a dangerous receiver in Eric Lopez. During the regular season, three of the Black Raiders receivers averaged more than 11 yards per catch.

Aylward says the Falcons can’t let the receivers beat them.

“Defensively, we can’t give up big plays,” said Aylward. “We have to be steady and keep them in the ballpark. We have to make them earn the first downs and make them move the chains against us like we tried to do against Gorham.”

Winslow has allowed just 13 points against this season and has four shutouts. The Falcons managed just 61 yards in the second half against Gorham last week and will need to find more consistency.

“We have to play better than we did Saturday,” said Aylward. “Blocking those big studs from Gorham is like trying to block big slabs of concrete.”

The gusty breeze didn’t help the Falcons cause either. Mountain Valley’s pass game has been successful in the postseason, when weather has permitted.

Hathaway says one of the reasons his club had such success against Winslow was it managed to exploit the secondary.

“We were able to throw the ball on them really effectively,” said Hathaway. “I don’t know if Mountain Valley has the drop-back passing game that can exploit that like we did, but I think (Zach) Fergola has really improved his game, not just from last year but over the course of the season. That gives Mountain Valley another threat, especially if Winslow stops their running game.”

Hathaway says his kids felt that the Falcons were one of the most physical teams his club had faced, especially up front. Mountain Valley’s ability to control the line of scrimmage is always a factor to its success.

“I think we’ve got to go out ready to play 100 miles per hour and hard like we’ve always done,” said junior back Aaron Arsenault. “This is what we’ve been preparing for all season.”