SACO — Thornton Academy beat an undermanned Massabesic 45-14 in Saturday´s Western Maine Class A football quarterfinal at Hill Stadium, but still feel they have something to prove.

"We definitely have a chip on our shoulder and something to prove," said fullback Zach Sheehan, who bulled his way through and over the Mustangs for 114 yards on 17 carries. "All year long people have been saying we don´t play anybody that´s any good."

Part of the problem is that since the Trojans put up 35 points in the first 10 minutes of the regular season at Kennebunk, they have rarely been challenged. And despite a sluggish start Saturday, Thornton still led 24-0 at halftime and pushed the lead to 38-0 before Massabesic got on the board.

The competition is expected to get tougher on Saturday when No. 4 Cheverus (7-2) comes to Saco for a Western Maine semifinal.

"Cheverus is ... very physical and they don´t make mistakes," TA Coach Kevin Kezal said.

It´s the third straight year in this round of the playoffs for Trojans like Sheehan, starting quarterback Steve Trask (62 rushing yards, 3-of-9 passing for 70 yards and one TD), and bruising running back/linebacker Peter Remmes (TD runs of 2 and 47 yards).

"The big thing with this year´s team, knock on wood, is that we´ve been healthy," Kezal said. "A lot of the guys on this team, they made the Western semis as sophomores. They have a lot of experience in games like this."

That´s probably one reason why there was no panic with their slow start. "We were a little sloppy in the first half and that´s something we´ve got to get cleaned up," Kezal said.

"The second half of the first quarter we started to get the momentum and that carried over into the second half," Sheehan said.

Trask hooked up with Tim Grose on a 17-yard TD pass on fourth-and-10 for Thornton´s first touchdown.

In the second quarter, Trask scored from the 7 on a QB draw and Sheehan scored from the 9 with 57 seconds left before half. By this time, Massabessic´s offense had been completely stifled.

Massabesic Coach John Morin said that of his top 10 players at the start of the season, only three were able to fully contribute due to injuries.