Staff photo / Preston Byers Girard’s Joey Alejars runs after a catch during the first half of a game against Poland on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium in Girard.

GIRARD — Twenty-nine years after his father, then a sophomore and now the head football coach, was a part of the last Girard team to beat Poland, Indians sophomore quarterback AJ Pearson scored the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion to lead Girard to a come-from-behind 29-28 win over the Bulldogs on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Indians coach Pat Pearson spoke with great emotion after the back-and-forth game, which also gave his team sole possession of the Northeast 8 Conference going into the penultimate week of the regular season.

“[I’m feeling] numb,” Pat Pearson said. “Proud. Just proud. Our kids played their hearts out. Hats off to Coach Pav, those kids played their tails off. That was a heck of a football game. Our kids just kept fighting, kept believing.”

One of the several Girard players honored before the game as part of senior night festivities, Jeramiah Hunter made an impact immediately by returning the opening kickoff nearly 40 yards to the Poland 48-yard line.

The Indians’ first drive would soon be derailed, though, as a penalty on a would-be first-down pass negated the completion and put them behind the chains. Two plays later, Girard punted.

Poland made no such mistakes during its first offensive possession.

The Bulldogs began their attack with a David Xipolitas pass but found comfort on the ground, where Xipolitas, Vito Komara, Chase Jones and Angelo Angelilli consistently marched ahead. On the 10th play of the 80-yard, nearly five-minute drive, Komara took a handoff around the left edge and beat a defender to the near pylon for the first touchdown of the game.

During its second drive, Girard again suffered from its own mistakes, some of which came as the offense attempted to use tempo as a follow-up to a big play, such as AJ Pearson’s 38-yard completion to Braxton Sloan.

Nonetheless, the Indians preserved, and after picking up a first down on third-and-short, Mario Lipinski punched it in from 2 yards out. Maxwell Erickson’s extra point tied the game with 2:14 remaining in the first quarter.

After a pair of punts and several Girard penalties, Poland found itself inside the Indians’ 10-yard line. However, an ill-advised throw to the end zone was nearly intercepted by Lipinski, and a false start before a field goal resulted in a longer attempt, which sailed to the left of the uprights.

Girard quickly took advantage of the miscue, successfully using tempo to connect Pearson with Sloan on a big pass play that flipped the field.

Another Poland mistake — a facemask penalty on what would have been a third-down stop — gave the Indians another chance. A few plays later, Pearson pushed his way across the goal line, giving Girard its first lead.

Poland slowly but surely responded, methodically moving down the field until a third-down play-action pass to Pete Zoumis, which put the Bulldogs at the Girard 11. Soon after, Jones took a toss to the left and powered his way into the end zone.

With a little more than two minutes before halftime, the Indians initially took a conservative approach, opting for a short pass and runs as the clock ticked under a minute.

Then, a long pass to Lipinski, compounded by a roughing the passer, put Girard in the Bulldogs’ red zone. After a first-down run to get to the 4-yard line, a touchdown pass was ruled incomplete after a referee conference.

On the final play of the half, Pearson was stopped by JJ Faunda at the 1-yard line as time expired, leaving the teams tied going into the locker room.

Girard struck first in the third quarter, moving the ball toward the end zone on its volition while also being aided by a dead-ball personal foul on Poland, which gave Indians first-and-goal at the 5-yard line.

On the next play, Pearson carried the ball into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown almost halfway through the third.

As Poland drove in an attempt to tie the game, Xipolitas was removed from the game due to injury and replaced by Komara.

The dynamic running back subsequently kept the ball and carried it left, and while seemingly stopped by the Girard defense, the rest of the Bulldogs began pushing and helped Poland pick up another 10 yards. Possibly more importantly, it ignited its sideline and crowd, both of which had been frustrated by the penalties that were called and went uncalled.

“Every play is really important in a game like this,” Poland head coach Tom Pavlansky said. “We just gotta keep on learning to play the next play as best we can because, like I said, each play is equally important.”

The Bulldogs soon thereafter knotted the game at 21 with a 3-yard Angelilli rushing touchdown and point-after with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.

Less than three minutes into the fourth, Girard fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Poland.

Komara then finished off the ensuing drive with a short-yardage rushing touchdown to give the Bulldogs the one-score lead with 3:10 left in regulation.

Undeterred, Pat Pearson said his message after Poland’s go-ahead touchdown was clear.

“Right when they scored, I said, ‘We’re scoring, and we’re going for two to win the game. We called it right then,” Pat Pearson said.

That’s exactly what they did, too.

The Indians, led by the younger Pearson, made it down the field, with 1:11 to go, AJ Pearson rushed for a touchdown to put Girard within one point of tying and two from taking the lead.

Coach Pearson kept the ball in the hands of his son on the two-point try, and he rewarded his father’s trust with another hard-fought run to get just across the goal line and go up by a point.

Komara, remaining at quarterback, was unable to lead the Bulldogs to a similar conclusion. Instead, with time winding down, Komara threw a pass over the middle, where it was intercepted by Lipinski.

Pat Pearson then watched with tears welling in his eyes as his son kneeled down on the final play to seal a win 29 years in the making.

“The Pearson family and this community is one family together,” Pat Pearson said. “They’re all our kids, so it does mean a lot. But this is one family. So this means a lot to everybody.”

The win put Girard alone at the top of the NE8, and a win next week vs. Hubbard or in Week 10 vs. Niles would clinch at least a share of the league for the Indians, who have never won the NE8.

As for Poland, it hosts Lakeview next week as it tries to rebound.

“We have to use this as a springboard to finish the regular season strong and go and get ready for the playoffs,” Pavlansky said. “We still believe we have a lot of football left to play.”