POLAND — It didn’t take long after Poland Regional High School turned on their new lights for Maranacook to make it a dark night for the big partisan crowd.

Maranacook’s defense smothered Poland for -20 yards in the first half and its offense feasted on the excellent field position in a 40-0 victory Friday night in Poland’s first game under the lights.

Kyle Evans scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) and Luke Emery rushed for 101 yards and a pair of scores to improve the Black Bears to 2-0.

For Maranacook coach Joe Emery, it was about the adjustments he didn’t make that allowed the Bears to have such a dominating defensive effort.

“I had a defense all set up to stop their triple-option, but we just stayed in a 5-3,”  Joe Emery said. “I changed a few things, but we were quick enough on the outside. I’ve never coached this speedy a team. It’s nice.”

Ian Palmer, a senior linebacker, led a fast and physical Maranacook defense that limited Poland to 25 total yards and five first downs, two of those coming via penalty.

“The key was watching their wing counters, watching the sweeps and pretty much beating them up,” Palmer said.

The Black Bears forced a three-and-out on the Knights’ opening possession, then flustered a Poland defense that was keying on Luke Emery, who rushed for 198 yards last week against Traip. Evans ran 42 yards to pay dirt on a counter play that made it 6-0 4:03 into the game.

“We had that pulling guard coming and I just got an opening,” Evans said. “The hole just opened right up and I went.”

Maranacook continued to utilize counters and misdirections to move the ball, but also had success with the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Emery running to the outside. Runs of 23 and nine yards by Emery set up the second score, a 3-yard TD run by Evans.

“They came out aggressive and I did not do a good job of adjusting to the things they were doing,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said. “(Luke Emery) is certainly the heart and soul of their offense. You practice it (stopping him) and practice it and think you’ve got it and then you get to a game and it’s a different story. They played at a faster speed. I’ve got to figure out a way to get us to play faster.”

Emery added a 10-yard score early in the second quarter. A bad snap on a Poland punt attempt rolled out off the back of the end zone for a safety to make it 20-0.

“Luke wasn’t feeling very good. He had a bad flu. So I was trying to mix it up,” said Joe Emery, who is Luke’s father. “At the beginning, the counters were wide open because they were running right at Luke. Then they started keying on it and I started passing.”

Junior QB Caleb Castonguay completed five of 12 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, but it was Luke Emery who threw the Bears’ first TD pass. He found Jesse Evans on a halfback option from a yard out with 1:20 left in the first half.

Poland (1-1) hurt itself with penalties and six first half fumbles. Other than the safety, the Knights recovered all of the fumbles but put themselves in long-yardage situations and tilted field position. The average starting spot for Maranacook’s offense in the first half was Poland’s 47.

Emery’s 1-yard run and Kyle Evans’ 16-yard TD reception capped the scoring in the second half.

“We’re just looking forward to the next game,” Palmer said. “Forget this one and go on to the next one.”

Copy the Story Link