By STEVE WILAJ

scalzo@vindy.com

POLAND

Poland wasted no time disposing of St. Thomas More, scoring 41 first-half points on its way to a 48-21 victory Friday night at Dave Pavlansky Field.

“We played a nice game,” Poland coach Mark Brungard said. “We started well and it was kind of downhill from there.”

The first-half scoring barrage began when Jake Wolfe connected with Anthony Marchionda on a 62-yard touchdown pass less than a minute into the game. Marchionda and Wolfe were at it again only minutes later, hooking-up for a 51-yard TD pass. for Poland (2-1).

Wolfe finished with 142 passing yards, completing 4 of 5 attempts, while Marchionda had 62 receiving yards.

“Anthony and Jake have worked hard to time each other up,” Brungard said. “Those two have worked hard together and it showed tonight.”

Marlon Ramirez made it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run, while Ross Gould found the end zone moments later with a 15-yard run.

The merciless first half for the Knights finally came to an end after an Austin Wilson 5-yard TD run, followed by an Adam Wollet 38-yard interception return of a C.J. Paduano pass.

“The passing game made some big plays and our running game got going after that,” Brungard said. “Our gap schemes were good against their front and our defense, as usual, was really tough.”

The Bulldogs made life difficult for Paduano all night, limiting him to 5-of-18 passing for 83 yards.

“We reacted on the fly to what they do,” Brungard said. “I thought we adjusted well and we tackled good enough.”

Gould added his second TD of the game when he scored from 55 yards to begin the third quarter. Poland finished with 260 rushing yards on 35 attempts, Gould leading the Bulldogs with 97 yards.

“We’ve got a number of options in the backfield and they give us some different looks,” Brungard said. “We’re going to continue to use them all.”

St. Thomas More (0-1), out of Canada, managed to find the end zone in the second half. Mike Brown scored on a 4-yard run, Mike Hewak had a 2-yard TD run and Jim Libasik added a 6-yard TD. Brown finished with 150 yards on 19 attempts.

But this night was dominated by the boys in blue. While Brungard was happy with his team’s performance against the Knights, he said next week’s game against unbeaten Niles (3-0) will be “a great challenge.”

“Niles has a new staff over there and they’ll be excited and anxious to come here and get a win,” Brungard said. “We’ve got to be ready for the challenge.”

Niles beat Salem, 41-23, on Friday night.