PORTLAND — Jackson Taylor had plenty to play for Saturday.

The Windham quarterback had family and community in mind as he led his Eagles to the Class A state championship game. Windham rallied from a 14-0 deficit in the first half to give the Eagles its first state title at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Taylor, who had eye black that said ‘Dad’ under his eyes in honor of his father, who was diagnosed with ALS two years ago. “It’s a mark of how committed people were to this. People started this while I was a freshman. The seniors were always, ‘Someday, you’re going to do this because you worked hard with us.’ The Gold Ball is for the entire community.”

Taylor helped spark the Eagles’ comeback with 12 completions and 282 yards passing. He threw two touchdown passes while teammate Jack Mallis led the ground attack with 131 yards on 29 carries and four touchdowns.

“We’ve been in that spot before,” said Taylor about playing from behind. “We were down 14-0 against Deering earlier in the year. We just try to stay calm and not get too high or too low. That’s a testament to the team and the coaching staff. We always come back and we always play confident.”

Windham scored late in the first half and then struck for three touchdowns in the third quarter. That left Bangor reeling and chasing on defense.

“Our game is fast,” said Taylor. “That’s how we like to play. We knew if we could get them moving, we knew we could get up and get ahead on them. That was a big deal when we started to get things going and getting the speed players in the right places.”

Windham (11-1) struggled to get any offense going early in the first half but made some noise with 1:13 left in the half when Taylor hit Tucker Miller for a 14-yard pass. The Eagles started the second half with the ball and quickly had the game tied. Windham used just three plays to score with 10:59 left in the third quarter. Taylor connected with Mallis on a 69-yard pass play.

“We knew we had to play well in the third quarter, and we didn’t,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “We never got our wind back.”

Bangor (11-1) punted on its next possession and watched the Eagles continue to click. Taylor led another drive that took eight plays. Mallis finished it off with a plunge from the 1 with 7:05 left in the third. The Rams were close to answering when Lonnie Hackett broke loose for a 45-yard run on Bangor’s first play from scrimmage, but a fumble gave the Eagles the ball back. Taylor passed his way downfield, and Mallis finished off the short drive with a 21-yard run for a 28-14 lead with 4:53 left.

Bangor cut into the deficit with a Hackett five-yard finish with 15 seconds left in the quarter, but the Rams didn’t get any closer. Windham added a 10-yard run from Mallis in the fourth to make it 35-21. Bangor got to the six in the final minutes but that drive stalled, allowing the Eagles to run out the clock.

“I thought it was a hell of a football game,” said Hackett. “They were just the better team, and we glad to be here.”

The Rams had everything going their way early. Hackett, who finished with 155 yards on 35 carries, helped Bangor score twice in the first half. Quarterback Joey Seccareccia scored from the 5 on Bangor’s second possession, finishing off a 10-play drive that started with a Rams interception. In the second quarter, Hackett scored from the 3 with 5:37 left in the half.

At that point, Windham had just 20 total yards on offense on two possessions.

“After they scored, we were a little out of sync,” said Taylor. “We were down in the dumps a little.”

Bangor couldn’t preserve that lead. The Rams didn’t get their passing game going until late, incompleting their first seven passes. That allowed Windham to key on Hackett and limit the Rams to just seven first downs in the second half, most of which came on their lone scoring drive.

“We didn’t throw the ball well,” said Hackett. “We took the pass away and didn’t get to it much.”