There was already a strong military thread tying together the Poland football team.

The Knights employ the flexbone or triple option offense, an attack also long popularized by the service academy football teams.

Poland even attended a camp hosted by Navy coaches, in hopes of honing their craft.

So when the Knights were in dire need of a late-season pep talk, their coaching staff didn’t veer from that theme.

Thursday evening, after the final scheduled practice in advance of Saturday’s game at Winthrop, Poland senior two-way lineman Matt Russell brought in his father, Frank, to address the team.

“The mental game was killing us,” Russell said. “My dad is a Navy SEAL. He came out to talk to us and the whole team seemed to bring it together.”

Poland, which owned only victories over winless Sacopee Valley and Telstar, sank to 2-4 after a disheartening road loss to Old Orchard Beach.

His team’s playoff hopes fading but his first-year mission to help Poland’s program set aside a decade of struggles intact, coach Ted Tibbetts was quick to welcome the voice of real-world experience into his camp.

“He came in and talked about the importance of team and how you can’t let any drops in intensity affect your team,” Tibbetts said. “It’s a point of emphasis. We talk about it every single day.”

Consider it a lesson learned. After committing two early turnovers and falling into an 8-0 hole, Poland produced seven defensive takeaways and scored four unanswered touchdowns in a 27-8 triumph over Winthrop.

Poland’s third win marks the most since its inaugural season of 2003.

“It got us all pumped up and ready to go,” Russell said of his father’s visit. “A lot of our underclassmen were like, we’ve got to do it for the seniors. We played a tough mental game all day long.”

Trimming the fat

Four teams. Two spots.

That’s the scenario heading into the final weekend of the Western Class C regular season.

Eight of the 14 Campbell Conference clubs will qualify for the playoffs. Yarmouth, Winslow, Maranacook, Traip, Lisbon and Freeport are locked in, leaving Oak Hill, Dirigo, Winthrop and Poland, all 3-4, to fight for the last two bids.

“We have to beat Lisbon to even have a chance to be in,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said.

He’s right, and it isn’t even a guaranteed win-and-they’re-in scenario for the Ramblers.

Oak Hill faces Maranacook and Dirigo meets Telstar. Either team would likely clinch a berth with a victory due to the hike in their winning percentage, which represents half the Crabtree formula.

Even with a loss, Oak Hill could have the inside track to the final spot based on the other half of that equation: strength of schedule. Oak Hill’s crossover games against the south division were Yarmouth and Lisbon, teams with a combined record of 12-2.

Poland hosts Winslow, giving the Knights hope that perhaps a win and losses by two of the other three teams would be enough to put them in the tournament.

“That requires math skills beyond my abilities,” Tibbetts said. “It doesn’t matter. That’s beyond my control. I just prepare to win the game. That’s all I can do.”

Both Western and Eastern Class B also wrap up the regular-season and set the grid for their eight-team playoffs this Friday and Saturday.

Leavitt would wrap up home field for the East playoffs with a win over Gardiner. Despite its loss to undefeated Wells, Mountain Valley might earn enough points to secure the West’s top seed with a win at Cape Elizabeth.

Although probably assured of the seventh or eighth seed in Western B, Spruce Mountain (3-4) would eliminate the guesswork with a victory at home over Fryeburg.

A lineman’s dream

Mountain Valley guard Ryan Glover lived every lineman’s dream in Saturday night’s 35-7 victory over Greely. He got to line up in the backfield and take a few handoffs, four to be exact.

Glover rumbled off runs of 13, five, one and four yards, leading coach Jim Aylward to remark “We’ve unveiled our new secret weapon” on the sidelines.

“It’s ‘Senior Night.’ You know how that goes,” Aylward said after the game. “Yeah, he’s a great kid. I love that boy.”

Glover looked at the position change as an opportunity to hit the opposition even harder than he does in the trenches.

“I love it. It gives me that couple of extra yards of momentum,” Glover said. “I carried one by accident against Gray on the extra point, but this was the first time they put me in at fullback. I was just joking with Coach, telling him to put a real back in the backfield.”

Perhaps Glover will get a few reps at fullback during practice this week to help the Falcons prepare for Cape Elizabeth’s 300-pound fullback, Andrew Lavallee.

“We’ll go down to Cape next week and try to tackle the Lavallee kid 25 times, see how that goes,” Aylward said. “We’re going to have some sore kids on Saturday.”

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