In retrospect, Camden-Rockport Coach Don Palmer said, the road to this year’s State Class B title game began last November.

The Windjammers had lost the State Class B title game to a 21-0 York High team by a 2-1 score. The bus rolled out of Scarborough High School, site of the game, and headed north up U.S. Route 1 bound for Camden.

Around Falmouth, a decision was made.

“The seniors and juniors that were there last year started thinking about it on the way back from the York game,” Palmer said, a few days after his Windjammers won their second consecutive Eastern Maine “B” title last Saturday. “It’s just something they wanted – another opportunity. The kids just said, `we want another chance.’ ”

Now, they’ve got it.

The Camden-Rockport Windjammers will take a 16-0-1 record into this year’s State Class B title game against the Western Maine champion Yarmouth Clippers. The game will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. at Thomas College in Waterville.

Palmer knew the 1991 version of the Windjammer soccer team would be talented up front with the return of strikers like Eben Sepe (30 goals) and Kris Welt. Palmer also knew starting goalkeeper Jay Lavoie would be back better than ever.

Question marks – four of them, actually – would not leave Palmer’s head, though. Four fullbacks had graduated from last year’s team and Palmer had to find the players to fill the slots.

“I had some questions about the guys coming in to play fullback,” Palmer admitted. “I wondered if they could match up with the group I had just lost.”

After an unbeaten season in which the Windjammers gave up 13 goals and recorded eight shutouts, the answer seems to be a resounding “YES!”

Seniors Jake Hoff and Pat Killoran and juniors Toby Wincklhofer and Jon Conrad have filled in remarkably for the Windjammers, making the C-R defense one of the toughest units in the state.

In the playoffs, the Windjammers’ defense has helped carry the offense through some tough times.

In the quarterfinals against Belfast, a team Cam-Rock had twice beaten easily, the defense spearheaded a 2-1 win. Hoff called the game “a crisis situation.”

In the semifinals against Foxcroft Academy, the vaunted C-R offense scored only one goal. Yet, the defense shut the Ponies out.

In the EM finale, the defense once again recorded a shutout, sealing the team’s RSVP for a return trip to the state title game.

“They’ve really come together quicker than I thought they would,” said Palmer. “I knew they’d be a good group. But, I didn’t know they’d be this strong.”

Even in preseason, Palmer was confident with the offense.

“I felt real confident,” Palmer said. “I was real comfortfront six.”

Along with Sepe and Welt, Darren Micue sees a lot of action up front and midfielders Noah Shepard, Sam Mazzeo, and Adam Wright make the transition from defense to offense that much easier.

As for Yarmouth, the 7-7-1 Clippers are Western Maine’s Class B Cinderella team, a far cry from the dominating York team of a year ago.

Still, Palmer knows the Clippers are dangerous.

“If a team wins Western Maine, they’ve got to be tough regardless of where they finished or what their record is,” Palmer said.

“We’ll approach the game and plan on doing the things we do best,” the 23rd-year head coach added. “I just feel our strength is our quickness on offense. And, defensively, I think we’re as strong as anybody else.”

Once it was a question mark. Now, the Camden-Rockport fullbacks seem more of an exclamation point.