The Poland Knights’ team motto in their first year of existence is “Go reckless, stay loose and score.”

The Knights kicked off their program with a win last week that followed that motto pretty well.

“We had something to prove, we hit hard and we played our game,” said quarterback Alex Smith.

The nubile Knights were certainly the better prepared team last Friday night against Lake Region. That’s no mistake, according to Smith, who credited his team’s coaching staff, head coach Rick Kramer and assistants Ted Tibbetts, Mark Soehren and Dave Hodgkiss.

“Our coaches did extensive research on Lake Region,” said Smith, who threw for three TDs and ran for another in last week’s 26-14 win. “They handed out sheets to us on things we could expect. Coach Tibbetts watched hours and hours of video so we came out knowing what to expect.”

This week, it was on to Fryeburg and knowing what to expect from them. It’s highly unlikely the Knights will suffer a letdown in their home opener, but Kramer and his staff don’t want them to get too up before Saturday’s game. Yesterday’s gloomy weather helped dampen the mood just a little bit.

“We’re trying to bring them back down to Earth,” said Kramer. “Today we had a great day of practice.”

Week 2 whammy

A few teams are already licking their wounds after just one game. Jay goes into its big Campbell Conference game with defending league champion Lisbon minus fullback Steve Nelson and offensive lineman Nick Gulliver, who both suffered knee injuries last week, and could very likely be without both next week at Boothbay.

Oxford Hills confronts Biddeford, No. 1 in this week’s Sun Journal Top 10, with running back Jim Bower nursing a sore ankle that held him out of much of last week’s loss to Mt. Ararat. Senior Mason Olmstead is the backup. The Vikes will also be without offensive lineman Justin Desrosier (knee).

“We had kind of low numbers this year, so every injury is magnified,” said coach Paul Bickford.

Awarded and rewarded

Leavitt’s Broc Hardacker was named the PTC Player of the Week after playing an outstanding two-way game in the Hornets’ 18-16 win over Hampden Academy. Hardacker rushed for 116 yards, caught two passes and scored a touchdown on offense and defensively recorded six tackles and two assists, forced a fumble and deflected a pass in the end zone on the last play of the game…Mt. Blue fullback Hazen Pingree can probably expect to be a little busier in tonight’s game at Westbrook after torching Waterville for 100 yards and two TD’s on just five carries last week. Pingree was pegged for a prominent blocking role in the Cougars’ running attack. “Maybe his coach needs to give him a few more carries,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said.