After two seasons when breaks and opportunities worked against him, Connor Ayoob was itching to get his chance to be Thornton Academy’s top running back.

Ayoob “trained like an athlete,” as he put it. Adding strength to his already rugged 5-foot-8, 190-pound frame was part of the plan, but improving zip and agility so that he could get through gaps and spin off tackles was the focus.

When a number of large and small factors shifted in his favor as a senior, Ayoob was ready.

“He seized the moment,” said Thornton coach Kevin Kezal.

Ayoob rushed for 2,102 yards and 31 touchdowns, both single-season records at Thornton, which traces its football history to 1893. He powered the Trojans to the Class A championship, beating down defenses geared to stop him.

For producing one of the best seasons by a running back in Maine high school history, Ayoob has been chosen as the 2025 Varsity Maine Football Player of the Year. Portland quarterback/middle linebacker Cordell Jones was the other top candidate for this year’s honor.

Over 78% of Ayoob’s rushing yardage came in seven games — all wins — against Class A’s best teams: A North champ Portland, A South runner-up Bonny Eagle, and A South semifinalists South Portland and Noble. In those seven games, Ayoob averaged over 30 carries and 235 yards. Thornton was 11-1 overall, its only loss at Bedford, which rolled to the New Hampshire Division I championship.

“We judge our kids by how they play in the biggest games,” Kezal said. “He would have set the rushing record in my (26 seasons) in those seven games.”

In his final high school game, Ayoob rushed for 231 yards and all four touchdowns in Thornton’s 28-0 win against Portland. As had been the case in two huge games against Bonny Eagle (40 carries for 304 yards; 35 carries for 265 yards in the South final), Ayoob got stronger and the Portland defense wore out.

“His stat line is pretty staggering,” said Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper. “If you look at what both Portland and us did defensively in the playoffs, we were totally geared to stopping him. Straight man coverage, crowding the line of scrimmage, everything we did was to stop him, and we couldn’t.”

Ayoob entered the season without fanfare. It could have been different.

He was Thornton’s season-opening starter as a sophomore and had 10 carries for 50 yards and a touchdown before breaking his collarbone. He missed the rest of the season.

Another sophomore, Mauricio Sunderland, took over. Sunderland had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Ayoob was solid as Sunderland’s backup in 2024 (600-plus yards, seven touchdowns) and played a lot of special teams, but it was Sunderland’s show.

When Sunderland decided to spend his senior season in his native Mexico, Ayoob caught a break. He knew it would be his turn. But it wasn’t general public knowledge.

Ayoob said he read one Thornton preview that highlighted Sunderland “and he wasn’t even returning.” The Portland Press Herald listed 11 Thornton players in its “Teams to Watch” entry. None were named Ayoob.

“I did use it as motivation. I wasn’t on any of it and I wanted to make a name for myself,” Ayoob said.

Through three games, Ayoob averaged about 15 carries and 100 yards while sharing carries with junior Brennan Tabor. Kezal says he always likes to have two backs sharing the load. But in Week 3, at Bedford, Tabor and two other defensive starters were injured.

“And the next two weeks, we had South Portland and Portland, and we were scrambling defensively,” Kezal said. “I met with Connor and basically said, ‘You have to carry the load.’ Our best defense was going to be him on offense. And he had over 240 yards vs. SP and then 200 against Portland.”

The work load lessened against Sanford and Massabesic, but in a Week 8 game at rival Bonny Eagle, it was again time to turn to Ayoob. The field was a bit slick, the skies spitting rain, and the power run game seemed the best way to attack Bonny Eagle’s fast, athletic defense, which to that point had been dominant. Even the flow of the game added opportunities for Ayoob. Bonny Eagle’s scores came quickly. A fumbled second-half kickoff gave Thornton an extra possession. By game’s end, Ayoob had 40 carries for 304 yards and a season’s worth of highlights that showed him running over, spinning around and sprinting past would-be tacklers.

Connor Ayoob, the kid from Saco who fell in love with carrying the ball as a third grader, had made a name for himself. Over the next four weeks, he stamped it on Maine’s collective football consciousness. After the season, he was named Maine’s player of the year by Gatorade and MaxPreps and selected as a Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist.

“He was special, man,” South Portland coach Aaron Filieo said.

Filieo said one play he saw on film really stood out. The Bonny Eagle player’s “tackling technique was textbook. He hit him low and (Ayoob’s) balance was something I haven’t seen before. Every other back in the state goes down on this tackle.”

Ayoob, 17, said he wants to work in construction trades of some sort. He is exploring his options to continue to play football, with an eye toward construction management.

“If I go to college, I’ll play football,” he said.