Poland hammers Howland
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HOWLAND -- Poland's special teams showed why they're "special."
The Bulldogs' unit blocked a punt and scored a touchdown against Howland, propelling Poland to a 41-0 victory over the Tigers on Friday night at Lombardo Stadium.
"Special teams are a third of the game," Poland head coach Tom Pavlansky said. "It's a one-play game, and we have to win the play. That's been stressed, and we're proud of the kids for taking (that side of the ball) seriously. They practice it and we challenge them to keep getting better."
For the Tigers, it's back to the drawing board now after starting 0-2 in head coach Brian Jones' first year.
"That's not just a great team, that's a great program," Jones said. "We knew that coming in, but we just told our kids to keep fighting till the next play. Every play has a life of its own and we have to get a lot better and the kids know that."
Jones said the Tigers still have a lot of work to do on all three sides of the ball.
"We have to block better, we have to tackle better and we have to execute," Jones said. "We have too many missed assignments on plays. We're not lining up correctly, so it's the whole nine yards -- we've got a lot to clean up."
Not much went right for the Tigers from the start. On their first possession, a long snap sailed over the punter's head into the end zone, where Oliver McCully recovered the ball for the Bulldogs' first touchdown of the game.
"Special teams are a huge part of the game, and it got us off to a really good start," Pavlansky said.
From there Poland's offense went to work. The Bulldogs (2-0) picked up a pair of rushing touchdowns from Cole Fulton and Dom Pagano, and by the end of the first quarter, Poland had a three-touchdown lead.
At the start of the second quarter, Poland's special teams made its second play of the game. The Bulldogs partially blocked a punt, which set up a 17-yard touchdown strike from Pagano to Vito Komara on the very next play.
Danny Nittoli got in on the scoring action for Poland just before halftime, with a 7-yard touchdown scamper. Per OHSAA rules, the 30-plus point margin triggered a running clock for the second half.
The Bulldogs received the opening kick of the second half, and drove down the field and punched in one last score -- this one coming from Ryan Snyder from a yard out.
In addition to getting the shut out, the Bulldogs' defense limited Howland to just 109 total yards of offense.
"Really proud of the defense," Pavlansky said. "It looked like we flew around a little bit and we're physical. We got better from last week."
Poland finished with 242 rushing yards on 36 carries. Eleven different players recorded a carry for the Bulldogs, which were led by Cole Fulton's 75 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
"It was for fresh legs, and we think we have a lot of capable guys," Pavlansky said. "There's some guys who didn't touch the ball tonight who are also capable. We're excited about those guys, but it's a great weapon when we can spread the ball around."