PORTLAND – Morse led Saturday’s Class B state championship game for 14 seconds, and they were 14 fleeting seconds.

Then Fitzpatrick Trophy semifinalist Justin Staires jigsawed his way through an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and a bitterly cold day started to get a whole lot warmer for Mountain Valley.

Before it was over, Staires racked up 319 total yards and four touchdowns, and helped Mountain Valley score more points in one game than Morse’s opponents had totaled in the previous 30 quarters.

The Falcons capped a perfect season and won their third state title in the past five years in a 52-7 thumping at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

The romp served as a welcome balm not only for the blustery chill, but for the lingering pain of a loss to Gardiner in last year’s championship game that haunted the Mountain Valley Falcons for the past year.

“We didn’t play very good in last year’s game. We had something to prove,” said Mountain Valley High School senior offensive lineman Kenny Grant. “We got a little kick in the butt (when Morse went ahead). Some of our players were a little flat and a little nervous, but after Staires’ score, everyone was on the same page – win big, win now.”

“This is one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had in my life,” he added.

Mountain Valley (12-0), of Rumford, outgained Morse, 363-68, of Bath, with all of those yards coming on the ground against a defense that had shut out four consecutive opponents late in the season. Matt Laubauskas added 85 yards and two touchdowns rushing and John Gorham 59 yards and a score, while Cole Clark, Taylor Bradley (one interception each), John Durland and Staires (one sack apiece) led a defense that limited Morse to one yard in the second half.

“Offense, defense, special teams – I couldn’t have asked for my kids to play better in any one of those three phases than they played today,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “I’m not sure that we didn’t just play our best game of the season right here on ‘Super Saturday.'”

The day got off to a super start for Mountain Valley when Chris Day recovered the Falcons’ game-opening squib kick and immediately set them up at Morse’s 46. Ten plays later, Staires scored on a 17-yard run to give them a 6-0 lead.

Morse (8-3) converted the game’s first turnover, an Alex Kee interception, into its only lead when J Cavanagh blasted up the middle for a 17-yard score and Ethan Kingsbury followed with the extra-point kick to make it 7-6 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

Staires fielded the ensuing kickoff at his own 15, wove his way through the middle of the field, then cut outside to his left on his way to the end zone.

“It was definitely a sweet feeling,” Staires said. “That kick return gave us the momentum back and definitely boosted us right up.”

“I’ll probably never kick another deep kick as long as I coach. Live and learn,” Morse coach Jason Libby said. “They’re just a great team.”

But even kicking short proved disastrous for the Morse Shipbuilders. Trailing 26-7, they tried a squib kick to open the second half. Nick Taylor, one of Mountain Valley’s up men, grabbed it at his own 48, then scampered 52 yards in front of the Morse sideline to a crushing touchdown.

Staires accumulated 188 of his 224 yards rushing in the first half, including a spectacular 81-yard touchdown jaunt during which a Morse defender briefly stripped the ball. Staires reached behind him to grab it out of mid-air, then broke away from a crowd of defenders.

“I had one guy to beat and I made an inside move and he hit the ball at the right time,” he said. “It came loose, but I grabbed it and then I was off to the races.”

“He’s the best athlete I’ve ever played with, easily,” Grant said of Staires.

“The cream rises to the top,” Aylward said. “I knew he had a game like this in him on a big stage. I know he’s a winner. I’ve watched the kid play Ping-Pong. He could be the best at that. He could probably barefoot water ski. He’s driven, and I knew he had this in him.”