Mountain Valley will be playing for the Class B state title for the fourth time in the last five years Saturday (11 a.m., Fitzpatrick Stadium), but it will hardly be routine.

Morse, meanwhile, will be playing in its first championship game since 1972, which was the tail end of a run of five consecutive Class B titles. The Shipbuilders, obviously, won’t be taking anything for granted.

After the first play, though, that history goes out the window, and this meeting between two classically blue collar football teams – and former Campbell Conference rivals – will come down to everything but the past.

Mountain Valley (11-0), still feeling the sting of last year’s loss to Gardiner in the title game, was the prohibitive favorite in the Campbell Conference this year. The Falcons will take the the field averaging 47 points per game and allowing 6.7 points per game. Until last week’s 28-19 win over Cape Elizabeth, the Falcons had routed every opponent by at least four touchdowns.

Morse rolls into Portland riding an eight-game winning streak and having gone on the road as the No. 5 seed to knock off higher-ranked Winslow, Leavitt and Mount Desert Island. The Shipbuilders posted four straight shutouts and held opponents scoreless for 18 consecutive quarters before MDI took its opening drive to the end zone. Morse won, 10-7, on a late field goal.

The stingy defense helped the Shipbuilders rally from adversity. Pat Wolfe, the leading rusher in the Pine Tree Conference at the time, went down with an ankle injury late in the season (Wolfe returned to practice this week, but is expected to see limited action). Alex Kee and J Cavanagh stepped in and, if anything, the Shipbuilders’ running game became more versatile and dangerous.

Cavanagh pounds the ball between the tackles. Kee is also a tough runner but is more likely to go outside. Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward said getting them off their feet as quickly as possible will be a factor for the Falcons.

“Number one, we have to tackle,”Aylward said. “We have to put them in a position where they’re not getting seven or eight yards on first down. We need to make them make decisions. We need to put them in third-and-fives, third-and-sevens, not third-and-ones, third-and-twos.”

Different players have been stepping up for Morse ever since Wolfe went down. Quarterback Mike Walton showed up for the MDI game suffering from the flu, so to save his strength on offense, Libby assigned Ryan Chaney to the kickoff return duties Walton normally handles. All Chaney did was return the second half-opening kickoff 85 yards for the Shipbuilders’ only touchdown.

“That kind of sums up our team,” Morse coach Jason Libby said. “We put him in there, and who puts up arguably the biggest play of the game …”

But don’t dismiss Morse as merely an opportunistic or charmed team. Libby said the Shipbuilders pay attention to details and try to control the flow of the game. They’ve played excellent situational football, kept their mistakes to a minimum and controlled the line of scrimmage at the most critical times.

“They do the little things well,” Aylward said. “They have a good punt team. If they need to, they can power-run their way out of trouble. They can throw the ball. But I really believe it all comes back to that defense.”

“It sounds simplistic,” he added, “but I’m most impressed with the way they tackle. They’re hitters and tacklers, and it’s not hard to understand why, after watching the film, they don’t give up any points.”

Cavanagh and Carl Nygaard (seven sacks) lead a defense that is limiting opposing running backs to just over three yards per carry. But Mountain Valley boasts perhaps the most explosive and punishing running game Morse has faced yet, featuring Justin Staires, Matt Laubauskas and a patented Mountain Valley offensive line.

“They’re physical,” Libby said. “We try to pride ourselves on being physical, but you watch those guys on tape and you bet they’re physical, plus they’re bigger. Their line is big. They run north and south with two very big backs. We haven’t seen backs as big as this.”

Laubauskas sat out practice at least part of the week after being hobbled by a knee injury against Cape Elizabeth, but will play. Staires (1,700 yards rushing) was also banged up in that game but did practice this week. The Falcons will line him up not only at tailback but at quarterback, and he has thrown a couple of touchdown passes this year. Sophomore Cam Kaubris takes most of the snaps at QB, though, and has been dangerous in the red zone of late, teaming up with tight end Travis Ruff on a couple of touchdowns this post-season.

The Falcons’ defense didn’t post as many shutouts as Morse, but that may have been because the first defense was often on the sideline by the third quarter of blowout after blowout. Laubauskas and Ruff lead a formidable linebacking corps that forms the backbone of the hard-hitting group.

“Other than the little things,” Aylward said, “we’ve just got to play to the best of our ability, play hard, come out from play one and just give it everything until the final play.”