PORTLAND — Known for their potent ground game, one of the first things Mountain Valley wanted to do Saturday was throw the ball. The Falcons had the wind at their back and saw the opportunity to shake things up a little through the air.

“When we knew we had the wind at our backs in the first quarter, I knew we were going to throw the ball,” said Mountain Valley Jim Aylward. “By throwing early I think it loosened things up a little.”

After an interception that put the Falcons at the Leavitt 45, quarterback Cam Kaubris found Christian Durland on a 12-yard pass play. That was followed by another Kaubris pass to Durland for a touchdown. Kaubris rolled right on both attempts and got great grabs by Durland. The two passes were the extent of the Falcons passing attack for the day, but it was enough to put up the early score and more.

“A lot of times, teams try to put 11 guys on the line of scrimmage against us,” said Aylward. “I really felt our passing plays in the first quarter went a long way the rest of the game.”

Hungry like the wolf

 Cheverus’ 46-8 rout of Bangor in the Class A final cemented John Wolfgram’s status as perhaps the greatest coach in Maine high school football history.

Wolfgram now owns nine state titles at four different schools in a career that spans portions of five different decades.

The run began with a Class C crown at Madison in 1974. Next stop was Gardiner, where Wolfgram guided the Tigers to Class B titles in 1979, 1981 and 1985.

South Portland developed into a 1990s dynasty under Wolfgram, ruling Class A four times in an eight-year span.

After a stint as an assistant coach at Bowdoin College, Wolfgram took over the Stags in 2007.

Wolfgram is 9-1 in state title games.

His only loss came in the 1978 Pine Tree Conference championship at Colby College. Skowhegan kicked a field goal to edge Gardiner, in what was the first overtime in Maine high school football history.

Skowhegan was coached by Dave Wing, now in charge of the program at Oak Hill.

Triple crown for West

All three Saturday championship games went to Western Maine in convincing fashion, a rare feat under the current, three-class format.

The West was 3-0 for only the fifth time in 24 years. It hadn’t happened since 2002, when Portland, Scarborough and Boothbay pulled off the trifecta.

Prior to that, it was Noble, Wells and Lisbon shutting out the East in 1997.

Eastern Maine has never pitched such a shutout, in part because the Southern Maine Activities Association (West) moved to 22-2 in the modern-day Class A final after Cheverus’ rout of Bangor.

You can do both

Two of Saturday’s finalists had a chance for an unprecedented sweep in Maine Principals’ Association fall sports.

Both Bangor and Yarmouth were in position to win boys’ soccer and football state championships in the same season.

Yarmouth’s win over Stearns in the Class C final completed the double dip. The Clippers ruled the pitch in Class B soccer two weeks ago.