By Chuck Housteau

POLAND — It’s not often that the kicker on a high school football team has the entire team listen in to his post-game interview.

But when Ryan Rovnak booted a game-winning 30-yard field goal with 1:28 left in the game to give Poland High a 27-24 win over Granville in Saturday’s Division III Region 11 opening-round playoff game the entire Bulldogs team gathered round to show their support.

“Isn’t that great?” Poland coach Mark Brungard said. “What a great ending.”

Rovnak kicked the game-winning field goal after Poland drove from it’s own 1-yard line to the Blue Aces’ 14, mostly behind the determined runs of tailback Luke Wollet who accounted for all but two of the yards in the drive.

Poland ate up more than five critical minutes in the drive and Rovnak’s kick was ruled good after the referees hesitated a second before throwing up their arms.

“I thought I missed it,” Rovnak said. “But the wind pushed it just inside the goal posts.

“It was great to be able to help the team win. It’s something you dream about.”

Rovnak kicked the ensuing kick out of the end zone to give the ball to Granville at its own 20.

The Blue Aces coughed up the ball after a pass completion from quarterback Cory Becher to Adam Alderman that was recovered by Poland’s Tanner Schultheis and the Bulldogs advanced to the second round.

The Bulldogs (9-2) will play Newark Licking Valley (10-1) at a site to be determined today.

Poland struggled to contain Becher, Alderman and a host of Granville receivers and the Blue Aces spread offense.

Becher threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns but Poland’s defense was able to make several big plays on defense to halt the Aces attack.

The Bulldogs intercepted Becher twice, once to prevent a score and once to set up their own touchdown. The Poland defense also blocked a Granville punt to set up another score.

“We’re a pretty good team and a good program,” Granville coach Mike Hensley said. “Poland’s an established, well-run program and you can’t let a team block punts and make interceptions and expect to win the ballgame.”

With the score tied at 3-3, Granville drove to the Poland 5, but Wollet stepped in front of a pass in the endzone and returned it to the five-yard line to stop a scoring threat.

In the second quarter, Greg Sabol blocked a Granville punt and recovered it at the 2 yard line. Sabol, who rushed for 110 yards on 14 carries then ran in from the two to give Poland a 10-3 lead.

Becher and Alderman then connected on an 18-yard scoring play for the Aces to tie the score at 10-10 right before halftime.

The Bulldogs defense came through again early in the third quarter when Brett Modic intercepted Becher and returned it 45 yards to the 11.

Three plays later, Wollet scored on a 5-yard run to give Poland a 17-10 lead.

The two teams went on a late scoring spree at the end of the third quarter when three touchdowns were scored in a 34 second span.