POLAND – Ben Piper had the Poland faithful roaring early Saturday afternoon, despite the driving rain and sopping wet bleachers.

Piper took the opening kickoff, juked a couple of times and streaked down field for a 93-yard touchdown, giving the Knights their first lead of the season.

It wouldn’t last long.

Just as quickly as the Knights’ spirits had risen, they came crashing back down when Wells sophomore Kevin Banks returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards, also for a touchdown.

The Warriors followed those fireworks with four methodical quarters of turf-pounding, ball-controlling football to upend the hopeful Knights 34-6.

“We responded poorly,” said Poland coach Rick Kramer. “When the unknown happens, sometimes kids get happy, and it’s not time to be happy. A little bit, sure, but they did the same thing right back the next play.”

Banks, playing at the varsity level for the first time this season, also returned the opening kickoff of the second half 85 yards for a score, and caught a 25-yard pass from quarterback Jamie Holland in the second quarter. He may have had a fourth touchdown after a 40-yard catch-and-run earlier in the second frame, but fumbled the ball at the goal line and watched as Poland recovered.

“This is only the first time I’ve ever been with the varsity,” said Banks. “The first run, the wedge was all there, and the second one, after I got hit once, it opened up for me. This quarterback, Jamie Holland, he has a great arm, too, compared to what I’m used to in J.V.”

“To come right back to have Kevin right in it, that was huge,” said Wells coach Tim Roach. “We set up a middle wedge and he just went, same thing in the second half. He’s just a sophomore, and he’s going to be good for us.”

Roach also had reason to be pleased with his offense. Nine different Warriors carried the ball for positive yards Saturday.

“Everybody’s going to say, when it comes time, that we don’t really have a feature running back,” said Roach. “But, it’s not that we don’t have one good running back. It’s that we have a few of them that can do it.”

After the teams traded returns in the first quarter, Poland ground to a halt. Including sacks, yards lost to scrimmage on broken plays and penalties, the Knights lost 73 yards in the game.

“The kids played good defense, but that’s only half the battle,” said Kramer.

Wells, meanwhile, racked up 262 yards while taking just 40 yards worth of penalties. Leading that charge was running back Mike Cooledge, who toughed out 83 yards on 18 carries.

“They were tough yards, I had to run it hard,” said Cooledge. “I was getting good blocks, though. The pull was there.”