The Knights ended their season on a high note and had this showdown wrapped by halftime. All Poland had to do was hang around for the second half to collect a 37-0 victory over Gray-New Gloucester on a cold Friday night.
“Three years in a row we’ve won the last the game,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said. “We stuck together, a lot of high energy, real positives and they did a great job. Today, we made minor mistakes, but they weren’t catastrophic mistakes. We rallied after that, kept it together and the kids really believed in each other.”
Quaterback Adam Mocciola had quite a night for himself, throwing two touchdown passes and scoring one on his own.
The Knights put their first touchdown on the board in the opening quarter after the Patriots fumbled on their 5-yard line. Poland took over from there and Mocciola rushed from the 2 for the first touchdown. Robbie Porter came across on the two-point conversion to give the Knights an 8-0 lead.
Poland quickly got the ball back, but fumbled on Gray-NG’s 10-yard line. But the Patriots hurt themselves with a holding penalty that pushed them back to 2. The Knights’ defense ended driving the Patriots into the end zone for a safety, giving the Poland a 10-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Poland scored back-to-back touchdowns. Williams Adams delivered a TD on a 2-yard rush, with Mocciola making good on the conversion. After the Patriots fumbled again on the 48, Poland got the ball back and ended up on the 23-yard line when Mocciola zipped off touchdown pass to wide receiver John Fossett. The kick failed, but the Knights held a 24-0 advantage at halftime.
The Patriots didn’t have much luck in the second half, either. But Poland’s impending victory did not diminish Gray-NG coach Jim Hersom’s pride in the Patriots, who had the temerity to endure an up-and-down season.
“Credit goes to these guys — these 19 guys that stuck it out,” Hersom said. “For four weeks, it looked pretty dim out here, and the guys hung in there, came to practice every day, continued to fight and work hard. I am really proud of them.”
In the second half, Poland added two more touchdowns. Will Bernier scored on a 2-yard pass from Mocciola and Everett Bertrand scored on a 2-yard rush to top off Poland’s 37-0 victory.
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