Hubbard @ Poland

Gallery

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

POLAND

With 25 seconds left in Thursday’s game and Poland’s once-certain victory looking decidedly uncertain, the Bulldog coaches turned to senior linebacker Clay Cooper with this message, “The next play is coming to you.”

Hubbard, which had cut its 10-point deficit to a field goal, had just driven 60 yards in 12 plays and had a first down at Poland’s 37. Cooper shadowed Hubbard senior RB Cory Rushwin out in the flat, followed QB Cory Lopuchovsky’s eyes and stepped in front of the throw.

“Next thing I knew, the ball was in my hands,” Cooper said.

What was he thinking?

I was thinking, ‘We got what, 20 seconds to go?’” he said. “Don’t fumble. Hang on to the ball. Hopefully get it in.”

Cooper rumbled 63 yards — the last 10 came after a nifty cut inside — to propel Poland to a 16-7 victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Dave Pavlansky Field.

“We had 70 [yards] up in the booth,” Poland assistant Paul Hulea cracked. “By the time he’s my age, it’ll be 107.”

It was a redemptive moment for Cooper, who was academically ineligible last fall and spent the season working on the practice squad.

“It was great tonight,” he said. “Best feeling ever.”

Poland had taken a 10-0 lead with six minutes left on a 23-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Connor McFadden, the son of former YSU standout and NFL kicker Paul McFadden. But the Eagles responded with an eight-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 14-yard TD pass from Lopuchovsky to Tyler Duez with 3:14 left. After forcing a Bulldog three-and-out, Hubbard got the ball back with more than two minutes left. Alas, it was on the 3-yard-line thanks to the final terrific punt in a night full of them for Bulldog senior Chris Walla.

(After the game, Walla ran up to Hulea and bragged about being named the WKBN player of the game. “You deserve it,” Hulea said.)

Hubbard converted two third downs and a fourth down to set up the final suspense.

After Cooper’s pick, Poland defensive coordinator Ryan Williams was asked whether he was nervous, which prompted him to laugh out loud.

“Heck no,” he said. “Just like we drew it up.”

Poland has won four straight openers against the Eagles. This year’s game matched up two teams who were knocked out by Cardinal Mooney in last year’s playoffs: Hubbard in the regional semis, Poland in the regional final. Both lost Division I players to graduation (Luke Wollet for Poland, Andre Givens and Kurtis Drummond for Hubbard) and both looked like promising teams that might need a few more weeks to jell.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” said Poland coach Mark Brungard. “I would have loved to have won 35-0 but being that we won that way, that’s a great experience that I believe we’ll use in the future.”

Poland junior Colin Reardon was 10 of 18 for 73 yards and a TD, which came on a beautiful fade route to senior WR Darius Patton four minutes before halftime. Patton caught four passes for 45 yards and senior John Medina carried 11 times for a team-best 62 yards.

Lopuchovsky was 11 of 23 for 136 yards, with Daniel Duvall recording team-highs of five catches for 53 yards. Duvall also rushed for a team-high 43 yards on 10 carries.

“It’s difficult to swallow,” said Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman. “We feel like we had some opportunities that slipped away from us.

“I’m very pleased with the way the kids performed. We’re a good football team and we’re going to get it together.”