POLAND — The Campbell Conference opener between Winslow and Poland came down to big boys and bad habits.

Winslow dominated the line of scrimmage and took advantage of three Poland fumbles in the second half to rally from an eight-point halftime deficit and pull out a 27-26 win between rain showers Friday night.

Despite the turnovers and being outgained, 190-58, in the second half, Poland still had a chance to pull out its second win over Winslow in as many years with 1:38 remaining. After Tyler Sturtevant’s 49-yard touchdown run got the Knights within one, they called a timeout and elected to go for the lead with a two-point conversion.

Austin Davis took a pitch from QB Tony Whalen wide to the left and was stopped about a yard short of the goal line by Evan Gammon and Dylan Hapworth. Ricky Clayton recovered the ensuing onside kick for the Black Raiders, who then ran out the clock.

“Our kicking game is better, but we felt good about the way we could move the ball,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said. “We punched in the last two-point conversion. We thought we could find a seam there. They just played with more energy than we did in the second half.”

Winslow held the ball for all but about five minutes of the second half, with Hapworth (20 carries, 113 yards, TD) and Zach Guptill (20 carries, 77 yards, TD) chewing up yardage and clock against Poland’s smaller defense.

“We just wanted to come out, be physical and show them who owns the line,” said Winslow senior tackle/linebacker Brock Deschaine.

“We controlled the ball very well. We were using our big tackle here (Deschaine), flipping him around and he did a fantastic job,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said.

Whalen (14 carries, 73 yards, TD) led a Poland option offense that ripped off big plays in the first half, including a 29-yard TD run by the senior quarterback on the Knights’ third play from scrimmage.

After Poland fumbled a punt fair catch, Winslow tied it on a 1-yard QB sneak by Bobby Chenard. But a 12-yard run by Everett Bertrand on the final play of the first quarter gave the Knights a 14-6 lead.

“Those backs are quick, I will give them that,” Deschaine said. “They’re a good team. We got lucky to pull this off tonight. We just played a little bit harder.”

The Black Raiders threatened to tie the game late in the first half until Guptill was stacked up by the Knights less than a foot shy of the goal line on 4th-and-goal with six seconds remaining.

Undeterred, Winslow took the kickoff in the second half and marched 65 yards in nine plays to knot it up on Chenard’s 23-yard TD pass to Hapworth over the middle. Chenard’s two-point pass to Owen Dutil made it 14-14.

“Our linemen just did a great job of holding blocks and controlling the line of scrimmage,” said Chenard, who was 8 for 17 for 98 yards passing. “We just kept chugging. Justin Martin did a great job coming in and catching some pretty key passes with Ricky Clayton. I think the mix just kept them off guard.”

Bertrand grabbed the lead right back for Poland on the ensuing kickoff with an 85-yard return for a touchdown.

After the quick strike, the Knights would run only four offensive plays on their next three possessions due to three fumbles.

“I think the (running) lanes were there, we just dropped the ball three times,” Tibbetts said. “We don’t fumble the ball in practice. Maybe a couple of times here and there. But we get to a game and…”

Winslow recovered all three fumbles in Poland territory. It converted the first into 4-yard TD run by Joe Hopkins to tie the game at 20-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter. 

The third turnover ultimately led to what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, a 1-yard plunge by Guptill, with 6:48 remaining.

Poland’s only punt of the game came on its next possession, and Winslow’s only turnover, a fumble recovered by Nelson Goyette, gave the Knights the ball back with 2:15 to go. Sturtevant scored two plays later on a quick give up the middle to make it 27-26.

The opening kickoff was delayed about 20 minutes due to storms that passed through before the start.

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