Thornton Academy, a longtime football school, is now also a futbol school
Thornton Academy coach George Sherry celebrates with his team while holding the championship plaque after the Trojans beat Falmouth 5-1 in the Class A South final on Tuesday in Scarborough. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
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SCARBOROUGH — Thornton Academy senior Precieux Mbolela recalled his freshman season of soccer with the Golden Trojans. The team won three games. A natural center back, Mbolela had to play up front to try to give the Trojans’ offense a boost.
Thornton has been a football school for years. Why couldn’t it be a futbol school, too, Mbolela asked himself.
Tuesday night, with a Class A South title secured, Mbolela’s question was no longer rhetorical. A 5-1 win over Falmouth pushed the Trojans to their first Class A championship game.
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“It’s been a grind. Ever since freshman year, all of us have been told we’re the worst program in Class A in Maine,” Mbolela said. “We’ve kind of taken that to heart. Every year, we’ve built on it and only gotten better and better.”
The previous benchmark for Thornton boys soccer was a semifinals appearance. The goals have changed. Now in his second year as head coach, George Sherry anticipated this team coming together. The Trojans have 17 seniors on the roster, a few who, like Mbolela, began playing significant minutes as freshmen.
That group improved from three wins to four as sophomores, then to eight last season. Going into the Class A state championship game on Saturday against Brunswick, Thornton’s record is 14-1-2. Some of the fans who pack the stands for football games started showing up to boys soccer games, too, Mbolela said.
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Sherry actually applied for the Thornton coaching gig in the late 1990s when he started teaching at Saco Middle School. When the job opened again before the 2025 season, he jumped at the chance after coaching the school’s girls team for one season. Before that, he coached at Waynflete, where he helped the Flyers win a Class C girls state title.
“I’ve worked in Saco forever. This is my 29th year at Saco Middle School, so I’ve known a lot of these guys coming through. I’ve always wanted to be a part of it,” Sherry said. To go from where they were to where we are now is, it’s an amazing story.”
Falmouth was trying to write another chapter in its own fairy-tale playoff run. The No. 11 Navigators eked into the playoffs with four wins, then proceeded to knock off No. 6 Portland, No. 3 Gorham and No. 2 Scarborough to reach the final.
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Not even 10 minutes in on Thursday, Thornton’s David Moyemade had a pair of goals and the Trojans were rolling to their own happy ending.
“This is our game. We wanted this game since the beginning of the summer, and we showed it today,” Mbolela said.
Mbolela and his teammates made the regional final a point of emphasis when they got together to play soccer throughout the summer. When they played pickup games, it was about building chemistry for games played when the leaves had fallen off the trees and daylight faded in late afternoon.
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The Trojans’ 2-1 semifinal win over South Portland in overtime, was a test the Trojans needed, Mbolela said. Trailing late, Thornton tied the game with just over two minutes left in regulation, then won when Matthias Sunderland, who scored the equalizer, converted a penalty kick late in the first overtime.
The Trojans’ state final opponent is Brunswick, a seasoned team that will be playing in its second straight title game and fourth in six seasons.
“One more. The big one,” Mbolela said. “We have the tools. We have the players. It’s all about the mentality.”
With an undefeated football team about to enter the playoffs in defense of its Class A state championship, Thornton is definitely still a football school. With a state championship boys soccer game to play Saturday, Mbolela is happy to know the hard work he and his teammates put in means Thornton can be known for something else.
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Tagged: Sports Columns, thornton golden trojans, travis lazarczyk
Travis Lazarczyk has covered sports for the Portland Press Herald since 2021. A Vermont native, he graduated from the University of Maine in 1995 with a BA in English. After a few years working as a sports. More by Travis Lazarczyk
