POLAND — Plagued by injuries for most of the season, and slowed Saturday by a steady mist and a slick field, Lake Region did what it could under the circumstances: protect the ball and grind up the clock.

The Lakers backed up a Travis Linehan touchdown in the first quarter with Zach Simmons score early in the third and the team’s defense held Poland in check all afternoon, lifting Lake Region to a 14-0 win over the Knights to spoil their homecoming on a damp and dreary autumn afternoon.

“It’s nice to get off the schneid,” Lake Region coach Jason Simmons said. “We had our chances in the Falmouth game last week, and we’re playing under-manned right now. We’ve had 10 kids with concussions this year, and we’re still nowhere near full strength today. But it was good to get the win, and Poland played tough against us. we had to work for it.”

Junior Mike Shea took the snaps for the Lakers in his first game action at quarterback since pee-wee football. Using mostly the ground game, Shea engineered scoring drives of 63 and 58 yards, one each in the first and third quarters, to provide his team’s offense.

“He’s usually one of my wing backs,” Jason Simmons said. “He had to do the tosses and run the offense.”

Poland fell victim to a familiar foe Saturday: fumbles. The Knights put the ball on the ground seven times in the game, and though they lost just one of those, the other six amounted to wasted downs.

“We had a lot of fumbles, a lot of unforced errors,” Poland coach Mark Soerhen said. “They knocked us around a little bit, too, but we have to protect the ball better.”

 Zach Simmons did most of the heavy lifting on the Lakers’ first scoring drive. On second and 11 from the Poland 26, he broke off a 21-yard run off the left tackle to put the ball at the 15-yard line. He ran for another nine on the next play, setting up Linehan for the toss around the right end and an early lead.

“We keep pounding the ball inside, eventually, they’ll cheat there and it will open up the outside for us, and that’s what we go in that first quarter,” Jason Simmons said.

Neither team could gain any ground in the second quarter.

In the third, Lake Region came out and held onto the ball for what felt like an eternity to the Knights. Of the 12 minutes in the third frame, the Knights held possession for just 2:24.

The Lakers also converted their first drive of the half into another seven points, this time on a Zach Simmons 18-yard run up the middle, to stretch the lead to 14.

The teams combined for five first downs in the final quarter and a half.

Linehan led all rushers with 78 yards on 13 carries, highlighted by a 36-yard scamper in the third quarter, while Zach Simmons finished with 67 yards on 11 carries. Shea added 40 on the ground for Lake Region.

Poland back Conrad Labbe had a team-high 46 yards on 11 carries in the loss, and Josh Cooper was 3-of-11 for 53 yards at quarterback.