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Connor Ayoob summed it up best. Ayoob rushed for 231 yards and four touchdowns in Thornton Academy’s 28-0 Class A championship victory over defending champ Portland on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

But Ayoob knew he wasn’t the reason Thornton won its seventh championship under 26-year coach Kevin Kezal, who earned his 200th career win.

“The offense played great but it was the defense that won the game,” said Ayoob, who pushed his single-season rushing total to 2,193 yards.

Thornton’s defense intercepted four passes thrown by Portland quarterback Cordell Jones (8 of 20, 48 yards passing; 22 carries for 166 yards rushing).

Carter Cormier had two interceptions on deep passes. Linebacker Brennan Tabor dropped into coverage in the flat and snagged the first pick, setting up Thornton with a short field and Ayoob’s first score in the second quarter. Brayden Hooper caused a fumble on a Portland kick return (recovered by Grady Hersey) and fielded a deep throw for the final interception.

Hooper’s interception set up Ayoob’s final score, on a 25-yard toss sweep out of a full-house backfield with less than two minutes to play.

“Offense and defense have to play off each other,” said Hersey, a senior captain. “If the offense isn’t having a great day then the defense has to step up and we did that today.”

Thornton finished 11-1. Kezal now has a 200-56 career record.

“We knew about it,” Cormier said. “We got our freshman coach (Jack Morrison) his 200th win and he told us about Coach Kezal going for 200 last night.”

Kezal’s first state title came in 2012, well into his coaching career. This was the program’s seventh consecutive trip to the Class A final — the last three against Portland, which finished the season 9-3, including a 36-0 loss to Thornton in the regular season.

“The timing has been unbelievable,” Kezal said of getting his 200th win in a state final, “but I’m so blessed to be where I am. To be at Thornton Academy, it’s a phenomenal school, phenomenal community support. We’ve got great coaches, great support staff, it makes it easy. Most of all we have great kids that just come and work hard and try to get a little better every day.”

Both teams struggled to convert their chances — especially in the early going.

Portland started the game with a 14-play drive that ended with a missed 36-yard field goal by Justin Bouchard that slipped wide left. Thornton put together a 12-play drive that reached Portland’s 22, but turned it over on downs.

The next two drives were also similar. Jones busted a 64-yard run to get Portland to the 14, but a holding penalty and a sack by linebacker Trent Wilson with help from Curtis Nason ended the threat. Thornton reached the Portland 20 thanks to Quinn Cook turning a quick out pass from Noah Fullerton into a 57-yard gain. Portland’s defense got a fourth-down stop.

While Thornton played most of the rest of the game in Portland’s territory, Portland didn’t get back inside the Thornton 35.

“It’s all about momentum in high school football and they swung the momentum there,” said Portland coach Nick Cliche. “We missed a field goal, then another drive we didn’t convert. Kudos to them. They capitalized on our mistakes.”

Jones threw the interception to Tabor on third-and-7 from his 23.

To that point, Thornton had tried to mix up its offensive threats, featuring jet sweeps and looking to pass. With Tabor’s short return setting up the offense at the 21, Thornton turned to Ayoob. He scored on a 16-yard run and Yeonwoo Kim added the first of his four point-after kicks.

It was still 7-0 at half. Portland’s defense forced an Ayoob fumble at the Bulldog 5 to hold off Thornton on its initial drive but Thornton’s defense forced a quick punt. This time, three Ayoob runs and one 11-yard pass to Cook (4 catches, 83 yards) set up Ayoob for a 9-yard score.

Both defenses buckled down from there, getting three consecutive stops, keeping Portland in the game.

“Our defense played an awesome football game today,” Cliche said.

Thornton’s offense broke through after Dom Hussey sacked Jones for a 10-yard loss with 5:50 left in the game.

Ayoob carried seven straight times. One touchdown was called back for a holding call but he finished with an 18-yard score, cutting back off a block to make a tackler miss to put Thornton ahead 21-0 with 3:11 to play.

Ayoob finished with 34 carries — 25 in the second half.

“One of our offensive philosophies is our best player is going to touch the ball and Connor certainly got the ball in the second half,” Kezal said.