RUMFORD – Bearing no resemblance to the group that brought two Class B football championships to their school the previous three seasons, Mountain Valley High School’s offensive line set one, succinct goal over the summer.

“Just not to (stink),” said senior right tackle Andrew McCann, his straight answer drawing raucous laughter from the understated group gathered in a semicircle after an hour of strength and conditioning exercises Tuesday in Puiia Gymnasium. “That was my goal, anyway.”

Now, Mountain Valley football players don’t ordinarily exude anything but confidence. Everything is relative, though, when the trophy cases lining your hallway are jammed with football-related heavy metal hearkening back to the days before you were born.

And if those expectations aren’t enough, imagine what it’s like when your immediate predecessors already are spoken about in hushed, reverential tones now that they’re alumni.

“They’re brand-new,” Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward said of the unsung group that will be pushing, pulling and running interference for all-conference runners Justin Staires and Matt Laubauskas in Saturday’s state championship game against Gardiner. “But they’re kids who played against Thaddeus Bennett, Kyle Dow and Matt Glover. That’ll make you better. So while they were unproven, I certainly thought they were capable.”

Dean McCrillis and Owen Jones lined up at tight end for last year’s Class B champions, although Jones admittedly saw action there only in about four of the Falcons’ dozen games.

Otherwise, from tackle to tackle, Mountain Valley defended its regional crown with a roster of rookies. McCann, a 260-pound senior, shares the right side with 275-pound sophomore guard Ryan Laubauskas. Tackle Cole Clark and guard Adam Stearns anchor the leaner left side, at least for now. Ryan Cormier, a 152-pound senior captain, is the center.

Not even that much will be etched in stone when Mountain Valley walks into Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland for its 6 p.m. Saturday kickoff.

“If you look at our films from the last five or six weeks, I don’t think we played the same combination twice. We’re moving them around in positions. We’re trying everything. We’ve had two other kids who’ve also started in there at some point,” Aylward said. “We’re a work in progress, and that’s how it’s going to be. Actually we have some depth, so that allows us to continue to be a work in progress.”

Progress is the operative word. No matter how gifted your so-called skill position players are, they couldn’t combine for more than 2,500 rushing yards and lead an offense that averages just under 50 points per game without another vintage Mountain Valley line.

Peculiarly enough, only one-fifth of the revamped front five – Ryan Laubauskas – joined his brother Matt, plus Staires and cornerback Derek Sicotte, on the Campbell Conference all-star team. But that anonymity only adds to the group’s mystique.

“We started out the year and nobody believed that we could do it,” said Cormier, who played mostly defense in last year’s state championship triumph over Winslow.

“I thought it was going to be hard getting us all to work together,” Ryan Laubauskas admitted. “The line before us, they were all in the same class. They had been starting since they were sophomores.”

That familiarity with their predecessors is a likely factor in the new line’s success.

Being a JV player at Mountain Valley means two things. Not only will you enjoy at least as much varsity playing time as the starters, thanks to the Falcons’ frequent blowout victories, but you will also get an extra two or three weeks’ practice while your team ventures deeply into the playoffs.

It’s an on-the-job experience that can’t be conveyed in a film room or fitness room.

“If you’ve been playing for this team for the last three years like these seniors have,” said Aylward, “you have been playing against the best linemen around in practice. I truly believe that makes the difference.”

Long before they began hitting the blocking sled together, the new Falcons already had a family atmosphere in place.

“Most of us have been playing all our lives together in middle school and AYF (youth football),” Stearns said. “This was just the first time on varsity.”

The group never lacks for motivation. Aylward, who doubles as their position coach, pointed out that the line was unsure of some “basic” blocking assignments in the regional final against Cape Elizabeth,

Then again, Mountain Valley tradition dictates that the guys in the trenches are rather self-motivated.

“I didn’t want to fail,” said McCann, expanding upon his earlier bluntness. “I didn’t want to be the team that didn’t make it.”