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PORTLAND — For a program that had never been on this stage, the Westbrook football team’s celebration was generations in the making.

With a minute to play and the Class B championship already sealed, coach Sam Johnson took off his headset and pumped up the crowd; after the postgame handshake line was complete, players Tony Bongomin and Lucas Roberson did backflips in front of the student section; then, after the Blue Blazes hoisted the Gold Ball, Johnson and Gio Staples shared an emotional hug.

Nothing but pure jubilation was necessary for Westbrook, which clinched the first state championship in program history by beating Cony 40-20 in the Class B title game Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The win completed a remarkable turnaround for a Blue Blazes team that went 2-6 a season ago.

“I’m not the kind of guy who’s usually at a loss for words, but it’s hard for me to find the right language to really describe it,” said Johnson. “It’s special. It’s a special thing for a special group of kids that worked really hard and did everything we asked of them.”

Staples, Westbrook’s star quarterback, ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing for 107 yards and two scores. The Blue Blazes, who clinched their first-ever regional title just last week, also intercepted Cony standout QB Parker Morin (19 of 37, 147 yards, two touchdowns) four times.

“It’s unreal. I cannot believe it,” said Bongomin, who returned an interception return for the game’s first score. “We all wanted to do it for this city, and to bring a title to Westbrook, it means the world to all of us.”

Both teams mounted drives to begin the game that came up empty, Cony throwing an interception on fourth-and-goal and Westbrook (10-1) turning it over on downs just outside the red zone. Although the Rams got on the move again, Bongomin picked off Morin’s pass and sprinted 87 yards for a score to give the Blue Blazes a 6-0 lead.

Cony (10-1) went in front on its next drive as Morin hit Cooper Clark for a 31-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8. The Rams appeared set to get off the field on the following drive, but on third-and-9, Staples hit Dimitri Lubin for a 71-yard touchdown to make it 13-7 Westbrook with 6:45 left in the half.

“He’s just amazing,” Staples said of Lubin, who had three catches for 100 yards. “To have him back last year since he was out last year due to a foot injury, it’s incredible. It just makes our team a lot better.”

It was a momentum-swinger for Westbrook, which began the second half by going 67 yards in three plays with Staples finding Hicks for a 6-yard score. Then, with 3:01 left in the third quarter, Cole Tanner scored on a 4-yard run before a Staples keeper on the 2-point try made it 27-7.

Cony answered on a 4-yard touchdown run by Anderson Noyes, but three possessions later, Westbrook mounted a 91-yard drive that culminated with a 9-yard run by Staples. The Rams scored another TD on a 2-yard pass from Morin to Landen Perry with 3:23 remaining, before a 12-yard run by Tanner rounded out the scoring.

Cony was stymied by the Blue Blazes’ remarkable athleticism, from Staples to Bongomin to Lubin. Coach B.L. Lippert called Bongomin, who made a great play to stuff the Rams’ David Frye on a fake punt early in the third quarter in addition to his pick-six, the best football player in the state and possibly the best linebacker he’s ever coached against.

“Credit to Westbrook; they did an awesome job against us,” Lippert said. “Like I told our kids, it’s a microcosm of life — you can do everything right, and sometimes it doesn’t go your way. That’s a lesson that’s hard to learn, but it serves you well in the future, and they’ll look back on this future and feel accomplished in terms of what they did.”

Cony was able to move the ball on Westbrook, outgaining the Blue Blazes 382-372 as Noyes rushed for 152 yards on 26 carries. Yet Westbrook ultimately prevented the Rams from finishing drives, putting more pressure on Morin than he saw all year and blanketing Cony’s standout receivers.

“The scout team set us up really well during the week, so we knew what we were going to see coming into this game,” Bongomin said. “It was just about who wanted it more, and our defense we were hungry not just for our city but for our coaches as well.”

Westbrook’s 40 points were the most scored on Cony all year. The Rams also registered by far their lowest point total of the season, their previous low coming in a 39-34 victory over Oxford Hills back in Week 4. Cony had won its nine other games by 32 points or more.

For a Westbrook team that hadn’t had a winning season since 2016 entering this year, this win completed a storybook run. Even after defying the odds all year, the Blue Blazes were counted out by many against a juggernaut Cony team — and a golden response, Staples said, was the sweetest of all.

“We used the hate as motivation, and we really just grinded,” Staples said. “Seeing all of the (Varsity Maine pickers pick) against us and only one person vote for us, we knew we really just had to put our heads down.”