WINTHROP — A well-intentioned option pitch stripped from the quarterback’s hands before he could deliver it. A punt, nearly dead, unwittingly bouncing off a player’s cleat and becoming live again.

Four minutes and two turnovers into Saturday afternoon, Poland football seemed stymied by the same mishmash of miscues and rotten luck that have plagued the program throughout its history.

Then it all changed. Suddenly and shockingly, on both sides of the line of scrimmage, as Poland pummeled Winthrop, 27-8, shaking up the Western Class C playoff race at Maxwell Field.

Poland trumped its own five turnovers with seven takeaways, taking advantage of the seismic shift in field position to score a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter and two more in the third.

“No adjustments really. We smartened up,” Poland junior quarterback and defensive back Tony Whalen said. “The coaches said we needed to smarten up, and we did it.”

Whalen passed for 119 yards and rushed for 107, accounting for a touchdown each way.

Christian Hanscom grabbed a 45-yard TD from Whalen and rushed for a 6-yard score to give the Knights a 14-8 halftime lead.

Whalen, Hanscom, Tanner Marston and Adam Mocciola each picked off Winthrop quarterback Jared Hanson. Matt Russell, Jake Rivard and Brandon Drottar pounced on the fumbles for Poland.

Six of Winthrop’s seven turnovers came in the second half, leading to touchdowns by Whalen and Tyler Sturtevant from close range.

“We didn’t show up to play today,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said. “They assumed that if we beat Poland we’d be in the playoffs, and all they could think about was the end goal and not how to get there.”

Both teams are 3-4 and tied with Dirigo and Oak Hill in a four-team logjam for the final two playoff spots with one game to go.

Poland’s defense answered the bell after the Knights’ second first-quarter turnover with a goal-line stand.

The Ramblers pushed all the way to the Poland 2 before Hanscom threw Danny Moody (29 carries, 90 yards) for a slight loss on third down.

On fourth down, Hanson took the snap, turned around and collided with another member of the Winthrop backfield. J.J. Power silenced the broken play by wrapping his arms around Hanson for the easy sack and a change of possession.

It was a sign of perseverance Poland lacked in a surprise shutout loss to previously winless Old Orchard Beach last Saturday.

“I have to do a better job of teaching that mental and physical toughness and overcoming those things, and they did it. They responded,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said.

Winthrop eventually struck first on Moody’s 12-yard run to open the second quarter. Moody, getting the lion’s share of Winthrop carries after Zach Glazier was injured in the opening period, also rushed for the two-point conversion.

Whalen engineered Poland’s rapid response. He was helped by a roughing-the-passer call that moved the chains after an incomplete pass on third down.

Later, Whalen gained five yards on a fourth-and-1 keeper near midfield, setting up his long touchdown strike to Hanscom. Both Hanscom and Sturtevant were wide open in the same area at the expense of a napping Ramblers secondary.

At OOB, Whalen was knocked out of the game for the second time this season. Hanscom also sat out two contests after getting banged up in September.

“I knew I was coming back,” Whalen said. “I wasn’t going to miss the rest of the season, not for my seniors.”

Russell’s fumble recovery at the Winthrop 42 put Poland in position for its go-ahead drive.

Sturtevant ripped through the defense for 24 yards as the prelude to Hanscom’s TD rush with 3:45 left.

“He’s just so tough. So fast and tough and he doesn’t quit,” Tibbetts said of Hanscom. “Watching him play, he’s still banged up, but he’ll never tell you.”

Brandon McClure intercepted a Whalen pass in the end zone on the final play of the half to preserve the six-point deficit.

Poland’s corners and safeties made all the noise after that.

“The secondary really stepped up,” Tibbetts said. “I think we’d only had one or two picks all year.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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