FALMOUTH — Watching these two Class B schools clash on the football field, you would never have known that one team was looking for only its second victory of the season.
Poland’s second-half comeback fell short as Falmouth held on for a 25-22 victory Friday night.
Early miscues put Poland (1-7) behind early. After stopping Falmouth on the game’s opening drive, a punt on its first possession inadvertently touched a Poland player, and Falmouth took over on the Poland 28-yard line.
Falmouth quarterback Zack Alexander went to work, completing a pair of passes, including a 21-yard strike to Jack Cooleen to the game’s first touchdown.
The Knights responded with an impressive drive, keeping the ball on the ground. Poland quarterback Tony Whalen faked a pitch off the option and scrambled for a 32-yard gain. Conrad Labbe continued the rushing attack by pushing Falmouth tacklers to the 1-yard line before Tyler Sturtevant carried the ball in for the tying score.
After stopping Falmouth deep in Poland territory, the Knights turned the ball over and the Yachtsmen promptly scored on another Alexander pass to Cooleen.
After mishandling the kickoff, Poland fumbled the ball again on the first play to give Falmouth excellent field position. Three plays later, Alexander completed the hat trick, finding the tall Cooleen for an 11-yard scoring toss and hand the Yachtsmen a commanding 19-6 halftime lead.
As a full moon shined above the artificial turf, Poland was not ready to concede in the second half.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Poland coach Mark Soehren said.
Cam Woodford and Sturtevant broke off runs of 25 and 32 yards to get inside Falmouth’s 10-yard line just four plays into the second half. Woodford then scored from on an 8-yard burst. The 2-point conversion cut the lead to 19-14.
Alexander and Cooleen weren’t finished. The duo hooked up for two more passes, culminating with a 38-yard touchdown, their fourth of the game that seemingly shut down the Knights. Alexander would finish with 161 yards and four touchdowns.
Poland (1-7) fought back. The Knights continued to run the option with some hard-nosed running up the middle. On the 13th play of the drive, Christian Hanscom took a pitch from Whalen and scored. Woodford converted the conversion to cut the Falmouth lead to 25-22.
After defensive stops on both sides of the ball, Falmouth looked to run out the clock late in the fourth quarter, but Poland’s defense would not let that happen. Led by Devin Goyette (9 ½ tackles), the defense forced Falmouth to punt with two minutes remaining.
Poland attacked Falmouth’s defense with a pair of quick passes and a couple of scrambles by Whalen to set the Knights up with first-and-10 on Falmouth’s 22-yard line with a minute remaining. The drive ended when Falmouth’s Aaron Rogers intercepted the ball at the 10-yard line. With no timeouts remaining, Falmouth ran out the clock.
“We had to do more than just show up and play,” said Soehren. “We went out their and did what we needed to do and we played with them.”
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