WALES — Oak Hill gave away its home opener by leaving the football on the turf too many times.

The Raiders had that generosity returned to them Saturday.

Poland fumbled it away twice inside the Oak Hill 10-yard line and once behind its own 20. Those turnovers were the catalyst for a scoreboard swing that pretty much spelled the difference in the Raiders’ 28-12 Western Class C victory over the Knights.

“I’m at a loss. We hit the guys right in the hands and we drop it. It doesn’t happen in practice,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said. “That’s a key for us is to keep the ball off the ground. It’s not bowling.”

The Knights employ an option game to take advantage of junior quarterback Tony Whalen’s quick feet and decision making. Poland couldn’t make the connection on six of those last-second pitches, however, racking up five fumbles in the first half alone.

Brandon Potvin and Mike Saunders covered up two of those miscues for Oak Hill (1-2), stopping probable touchdown drives at the 4 and the 9.

Cody DePuy devoured another to provide the meat in a two-touchdown sandwich. Parker Asselin completed touchdown passes of 8 yards to DePuy and 16 to Potvin on consecutive Oak Hill plays in a 20-second span, reversing a 6-0 deficit to a 14-6 Raiders lead late in the second quarter.

“That’s a high-octane offense, but it’s also high-risk,” Oak Hill coach Dave Wing said. “If you can get them to turn the ball over and take advantage of it, it makes a hell of a difference.”

DePuy carried 24 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns, including third-quarter scores of 8 and 6 yards to essentially put it away.

Asselin was 7-for-14 for 91 yards, connecting four times with DePuy.

“Our first game we were beating Lisbon at halftime and came out and ended up losing,” DePuy said. “This time we made sure we were fired up the second half and didn’t give up.”

Poland was persistent, too. The Knights closed the gap on a 7-yard Whalen TD with 9:40 remaining, then forced an Oak Hill punt and embarked on another drive.

Whalen went down hard after a collision with Jon Averill and Dylan Mulherin on a quarterback keeper and left the game with a neck injury. Sophomore Adam Mocciola took over on third-and-4 from the Raiders 26 and was sacked by nose tackle Donald Vannah.

Caleb Provost stopped Mocciola for a minimal gain on fourth down, and Oak Hill ran out the final 4:46.

“I’m just making myself feel better now,” Tibbetts said, “but (Oak Hill is) probably one of the better 0-2 teams you’ll ever see.”

Oak Hill lost to Lisbon (24-14) and Yarmouth (51-7), two teams expected to challenge for the Campbell Conference championship.

“It was kind of tough playing probably the two best teams in Class C, but I guess it got us ready for this,” Asselin said. “Now we‘re crawling up from the bottom.”

Despite the turnovers, Poland (1-2) still got on the board first with a 90-yard drive to open the second quarter. Whalen’s 51-yard burst was the centerpiece, setting up a 1-yard plunge by Tyler Sturtevant.

Whalen (13 carries, 97 yards) and Sturtevant (25 carries, 93 yards) carried the load for the Knights, who were missing leading rusher Christian Hanscom and starting linemen Sam Scales and Jake Rivard.

DePuy received help in the Oak Hill backfield from Averill (51 yards), Potvin (49) and Kyle Flaherty (33).

“I think it was a must-win game,” Wing said. “If we want to make the playoffs, we can’t be fooling around much more.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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