Some final thoughts on the high school football season as I switch over to basketball mode…

* It’s time to stop calling the current Cheverus football team a very good team, and start calling them one of the state’s best ever.

Additional Photos

Cheverus Coach John Wolfgram hugs team co-captain Christian Deschenes as teammate Coleman Walsh (34) celebrates after Cheverus defeated Lawrence 49-7 for its second straight Class A state football championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland Saturday. The win also marked the 10th state title of Wolfgram’s illustrious career. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Saturday’s win over Lawrence ran the Stags’ undefeated streak to 24 games, two full seasons. In six years under head coach John Wolfgram, Cheverus has evolved from a Western Class A also-ran to an historically dominant team, and the Stags effort in the two biggest games of the last two seasons, the 2010 and 2011 state championship games, bear that out.

Cheverus’s 46-8 over Bangor last season, coupled with Saturday’s 49-7 win over Lawrence, gives the Stags a margin of 95-15 in its two title games. No other team that has won back-to-back championships, in any class, comes close to that final game dominance. The win over Bangor was the most lopsided Class A championship game since 1985, until it was superseded on Saturday.

There’s no reason to believe the Stags will drop off next season. Running back Brent Green and Donald Goodrich, who combined for 322-yards rushing and all seven Cheverus touchdowns in the state final, return along with seven other starters.

The grind of football makes sustained runs difficult, and no team has played in three consecutive Class A championship games since Bangor pulled it off from 1979-81. No team has won the Class A championship three years in a row.

There’s no reason to think Cheverus can’t be the first.

* My final top 10 of the season:

1. Cheverus

2. Thornton Academy

3. Lawrence

4. Wells

5. South Portland

6. Leavitt

7. Mt. Blue

8. Yarmouth

9. Messalonskee

10. Mountain Valley

* The Class A state championship game did nothing to disprove the fact that the state’s largest high school football classification is broken, and has been for some time. The Cheverus win over Lawrence pushed Western Maine’s record in state championship games to 25-2 since the current East/West format was adopted in 1987.

We’ve passed the need for a fourth class in high school football, and with shrinking enrollments in already smaller Eastern Maine schools, the problem isn’t going away.

A prediction: If a fourth class isn’t added to the high school football landscape in 2013, you will see at least two more schools bolt from the Pine Tree Conference Class A to Class B. Or, the football committee will lower the enrollment floor for Class A, forcing schools to stay in the highest division, where they will never, ever, compete for a state title.

* Almost every year, there is a player whose state championship game effort propels him to the top of the Fitzpatrick Trophy discussion. This year, that player is Yarmouth’s Anders Overhaug.

Overhaug ran for 113 yards on just 11 carries in a 41-14 win over Bucksport, and scored six touchdowns.

Even before the state final, Overhaug’s strong season made him a contender for the state’s top high school football honor. But his performance on such a big stage, in front of many voters seeing him play for the first time, will get Overhaug more consideration if he’s on the ballot.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com