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Poland runs over Girard

GIRARD — Three yards and a cloud of dust or one play and a touchdown.

For the Poland Bulldogs, it was the big play that broke the backs of the Girard Indians multiple times in Northeast 8 play Friday night.

They rode those big plays to come away with a 42-21 win over the Indians.

Poland racked up 415 yards rushing on the night behind in essence a four-headed monster of a rushing attack: Dom Parker (122 yards), Dillon Smith (92 yards), Cole Fulton (71 yards), and Christian Colosimo (34 yards).

“We have four backs that I think anybody would want to have,” Poland coach Tom Pavlansky said.

Poland couldn’t have drawn it up better on their opening play of the game as Dom Parker’s 57 yard run gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game.

“It’s always nice,” Pavlansky said. “We don’t want to trade that. You can’t score quick enough in a ball game, that’s for sure. It helped set the tone, meaning it was 11 guys doing their job. Dom made a couple of nice moves as well, but again it was all 11 guys doing their job. It was a big play to start the game.”

The Indians (4-3, 2-2) answered though on their third possession of the game when Nic Bengala found Michael Palmer on a 45 yard slant to make it seven all with 11:50 left in the first half.

Though, whatever momentum Girard had vanished soon after when Poland (4-3, 2-2) marched 65 yards in a little less than three minutes as Parker’s second touchdown of the night, this time from 24 yards out made it 14-7.

“I was really proud of the team, how we bounced back and how we responded,” Pavlansky said. “It was good to see, proud of the kids, and for our coaches.”

After a Girard punt, the Bulldogs again ran just one play as Jack Fulton found Ross Dedo behind the Girard secondary on a 80-yard streak to make it 21-7 midway through the second quarter.

Again, the Indians went three-and-out.

“It’s a part of our offense,” Pavlansky said. “We want to be flexible. We want to be multiple. We want teams to have to guard the entire field. It’s nice to have the offensive line be able to protect. We have some weapons on the outside plus in the backfield and we are able to take advantage of those things.”

From there with 4:56 left in the first half, the Bulldogs marched 88 yards on a steady dose of runs from Dillon Smith and Fulton moving the ball to the Girard 35.

Smith finished the drive off from there on a 35 yard run to make it 28-7 with 1:26 left.

At that point in the first half, the Bulldogs had held the Indians to three straight three-and-outs and 108 yards of offense with 45 coming on the touchdown pass to start the second quarter.

“They’re a really good team; big, strong, physical and really well coached,” Girard coach Pat Pearson said. “We were definitely pressing to make plays and sometimes when you’re pressing to make plays, you put yourself in bad positions with a couple of one-on-one tackles and we didn’t make the tackle and their kids made big plays.”

The Bulldogs rushed for 226 yards in the first while holding the Indians to 57 yards on the ground.

Poland extended their lead to 35-7 after Parker scored his third touchdown of the night, this time from 15 yards out with 6:55 left in the third quarter.

For Girard, Bengala was playing quarterback for the first time all year as the Indians came in with multiple injuries that Pearson didn’t want to make excuses for.

Bengala finished with a touchdown through the air and on the ground with 170 yards passing.

“Nic did an absolutely great job,” Pearson added. “He’s a warrior, an unbelievable kid. No excuses, injuries don’t matter. That wasn’t Girard football tonight. We’re gonna rally back.

“We have a great group of kids. We just got to get back on the horse here and go. We’re upset. Coaches are upset. The kids are upset with it. We have to execute. That is what it comes down to.”

The win was a big one for the Bulldogs sitting at 13th in the latest OHSAA rankings Division IV, Region 13 beating the 8th ranked Indians.

Next week, Pavlansky and the Bulldogs will welcome the Lakeview Bulldogs to Poland.

He coached at Lakeview for 22 years.

“Our philosophy is trying to make each day count,” he added. “That’s all we’re trying to do. We want to try to be the best we can here, after today and do your best we can tomorrow morning. We ask for days back to back together and we’ll be able to be the team that we’re capable of being.”

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