POLAND – For all that went wrong in the first half, the Poland football team had one reason for optimism at halftime Saturday.

Despite the dropped passes, the interceptions and its inability to stop the run, the Knights were still only down 8-0.

All the optimism gleaned from being within striking distance of Wells didn’t last long though.

The Warriors (4-0) came out in the second half and put the finishing touches on the offensive drives that had sputtered in the first half. The Warriors scored on all five possessions in the second half to route the Knights 43-6.

“The thing is when someone plans on beating you up in the third and fourth quarter and you’re not ready to get beat up in the third and fourth quarter, you’ve got problems,” said Poland coach Rick Kramer.

Wells finished the game with 425 yards, all on the ground. Nick Laude led the rushing game with 209 yards on 20 carries while Kirk Joned added 101 yards on 15 rushes.

“That’s what’s great,” said Wells coach Tim Roche. “We have three backs that can run the ball.”

After being hampered by turnovers and poor execution in the first half, the Warriors got back to its roots in the second half.

“We told the kids at halftime that we got out of doing some simple things we normally do,” said Roche. “We probably broke a record for Wells High for thrown balls. We started running the jet sweep and getting wide. I was like That’s stupid.’ We’re going to run sweep, belly, trap. We’re not going to run anything else. We’re going to run the three plays we like to run. The kids got all jacked up, and the kids came out and executed.”

Wells got a 25-yard run from Joned with 9:35 left in the third quarter. After a Poland punt, Laude capped off a short drive with a plunge from the 1. Laude added a 42-yard scoring run early in the fourth, making it 28-0.

“You certainly could see who had the better conditioning,” said Kramer. “Credit Coach Roche over there. Their boys lift weights. They know the third and fourth quarters are going to be theirs because of the shape that they’re in, and it showed today.”

Poland’s offense struggled to keep pace. The Knights (2-2) managed just 24 yards on the ground. Though Poland likes to throw the ball, the offense was hampered by dropped passes, interceptions and sacks that killed any momentum.

“We pride ourselves that we catch the ball pretty well,” said Kramer. “We didn’t catch the ball very well in the first half. I think it cost us at least 12 points.”

The Knights finished the first half completing seven of 18 passes for 53 yards while having three intercepted. By the time Poland got its passing game clicking, Wells has already built the 28-0 lead. Poland finished with 166 yards in the air.

“We knew they were going to throw the ball,” said Roche. “Our defense now wants to sack them. We need to put pressure on the quarterback.”

Poland’s only score came with 7:44 left in the game. Quarterback Alex Smith hit Stevie Ray with a five-yard pass play. The Knights tried an onsides kick to spark a comeback, but Ryan Gilpatric recovered. Wells added scores by Kyle Worthington and Nick Moulton in the closing minutes.

“The kids learned what it takes to be a better team,” said Kramer. “We missed opportunities in the first half that we should have capitalized on. The kids understood that they were upset with themselves at the half.”