Poland’s hot start too much for Eagles

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

HUBBARD — Poland senior Luke Wollet was sitting next to starting quarterback Colin Reardon on wing night at BW-3 on Tuesday when the sophomore admitted he gets nervous before games.

“I talked him down,” Wollet said, chuckling. “I said, ‘Listen, you better get those nerves out now if you want those five extra wings.’

“He does a great job. We trust him if he makes a mistake, and we’ve got other guys to pick him up.”

Reardon didn’t need the help on Thursday. He showed good athleticism and arm strength — no surprise there — but, even more, he showed tremendous poise for a sophomore, connecting with junior Darius Patton on several big plays in the first half and finishing with 163 yards and a TD.

Wollet, meanwhile, was typically strong as the Bulldogs jumped out to a big league en route to a 24-13 opening night victory at Hubbard.

“We have some potential,” said Poland coach Mark Brungard, whose team is trying to become the first in school history to make the playoffs three straight years. “Hubbard is a good team. They’re going to win some games.

“As the season goes on, I think we’ll feel better and better about this win.”

Poland, which has won three straight openers over the Eagles, raced out to a 24-0 lead due to a series of mistakes by Hubbard’s offense. Eagles starter Matt Shelton got off to a shaky start — due in large part to the pressure from Poland’s defensive line — and threw two first-quarter interceptions to Wollet.

“He didn’t look me off real well,” said Wollet, making his 24th start at free safety. “I was able to pick up some signals on Matt and when you don’t have any time back there, and you’re looking at one receiver, you have to throw it. I knew where it was going.”

Wollet picked up his third turnover later in the first quarter when he recovered a fumble. Poland scored 14 points off those turnovers — including a 1-yard TD run by Wollet — and added a third touchdown on a beautiful 75-yard pass play from Reardon to Patton that made it 21-0 with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

Patton, — who transferred this summer from Penn Hills, Pa., a Pittsburgh suburb — caught six passes for 148 yards and showed some dynamic playmaking ability.

“He’s a very intelligent player,” said Brungard of Patton. “He understands the game, he runs great routes and he’s got a lot of skills.

“The thing I like about him is he’s a team guy. He blocks hard on run plays, he helps guys get lined up in the secondary and he’s happy when the team does well. And when he gets his chance, he makes the most of it.”

Reardon completed 8 of 13 passes and made just one bad read — a Hubbard player dropped a interception — while Wollet finished with 138 yards on 28 carries.

Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman said he wasn’t disappointed with his team’s effort, just its execution.

“You never like to take a loss,” he said, “but the kids fought tonight. I thought they played very hard. We had a lot of sophomores in action and not taking away anything from what they were doing, we played pretty well with what we were dealing with.”

The Eagles were missing five players — several of them contributors — who were suspended for violating team rules, then lost their two starting inside linebackers (Dan Moffitt and Tim Schiraldi) to injuries in the first half.

Hoffman has refused to talk about the suspensions for weeks — he simply said, “It’s immaterial” when asked about it after the game — but the Eagles will undoubtedly improve when those players return.

Senior RB Andre Givens, a Pitt recruit, was bottled up for much of the game, finishing with 49 yards rushing on 18 carries and 50 yards on five catches. Shelton settled down after that first quarter and finished 11 of 23 for 125 yards and a TD.

“We’ll rebound, reload, refocus,” said Hoffman, “and try to get a win next week.”

scalzo@vindy.com