POLAND — Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale used the passing game to open up the running game in Saturday’s 43-20 win over Poland in a Class D South football matchup that improved the Ramblers’ record to 5-0

Quarterback Braden Branagan went 6 for 9 for 52 yards and ran for a touchdown, while Carter Rivers had 13 carries for 120 yards and Cody Cobb had 14 carries for 96 yards. Cobb scored three touchdowns and Rivers two.

“I feel like we knew that we could come into the game running the ball and then passing as well because we in the past we’ve been a really heavy run team,” Branagan said, “so when we incorporated a lot of passing to this game, I feel like it opened a lot of spaces up for running to get left gaps open. And then if we ran then we pass it next, it left a lot of holes open in the defense, which we just converted.”

Poland (0-5) game-planned for the run and coach Seth Johnson was happy with the Knights’ efforts.

“Our defense just played from the get-go,” Johnson said. “We’ve been having to let up the first two or three drives and then figuring it out. And in this game, we figured it out right away. It was a great effort by the guys. They put in that work this week. We had an extra day, and they just played with heart and effort.”

Winthrop opened the scoring on its second possession, as Rivers picked up 44 yards, including a 26-yard TD run with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter.

“I can hit a hole, and I’m open for 10, 11 yards because our line’s just so dominant,” Rivers said. “Then I just got to get what I can from there and I was able to get quite a bit.”

After the Ramblers forced the Knights to punt, it was Cody Cobb’s turn to do the heavy lifting for Winthrop. He had runs of 12 and 14 yards and his TD with 9:38 left in the second boosted the Ramblers’ lead to 14-0.

After Poland took over at its own 20 on a touchback, quarterback Damon Martin ran 80 yards for a TD on the first play of the drive to cut the deficit in half.

Martin finished with 14 carries and 160 yards and one touchdown. He threw for 93 yards, going 11 for 22 with two TDs.

Winthrop’s Branagan responded with a 2-yard TD run on a 13-play drive to give the visitors 21-7 lead.

Cobb stretched Winthrop’s lead with a 21-yard scoring run with under three minutes remaining in the second quarter, and Gabe Robinson added the extra point for a 28-7 advantage.

Martin marched Poland down the field and his 14-yard pass to the corner of the end zone to Landen Cooper pulled the Knights to within 28-14 with 49 seconds remaining in the first half after Lucas Verrill’s extra point.

“He’s just a supreme athlete right now, and having him on our team just gives us the availability to do things,” Johnson said of Martin. “His throw to Landon Cooper in the end zone there was silly. It was perfect. Landon was the only one who could get it, and he threw a great ball. He threw a couple of other nice ones that got dropped.”

Cobb and Rivers split the carries on Winthrop’s first drive of the second half, and Rivers ran the ball in for his second touchdown with 6:57 remaining in the third quarter. A botched snap on the extra point led Branagan to find Trevor Buck for the 2-point conversion and a 36-14 Ramblers lead.

On Winthrop’s next possession, Poland forced a fumble and recovered. Martin led the Knights on 16-play drive where he threw for his second touchdown, finding tight end Liam Fifield with a 3-yard toss to cut the deficit to 36-20 with 9:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Winthrop chewed up the clock on a 12-play drive that featured only one throw. Cobb punched the ball in from 1 yard out with 1:55 remaining and Robinson’s extra point capped the scoring.

Martin had one more big play in his bag, with a 73-yard scamper on the first play on Poland’s first play of its following drive. Two sacks on the following three plays brought the Knights back to Winthrop’s 32 and a 22-yard pass to Fifield on fourth down couldn’t move the chains and Winthrop took a knee to end the game.

“I mean, their quarterback, number five (Martin), is an amazing athlete,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said. “We saw that in the summer. We knew it was going to be an issue, but just a lot of missed tackles and, you know, things to work on for us.”