By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

POLAND

Making the playoffs is a recurring theme for Poland High.

The Bulldogs will make their seventh consecutive postseason appearance under head coach Mark Brungard tonight when they meet West Geauga (7-3) in a Division III Region 7 quarterfinal.

Fifth-seeded Poland (9-1) enters first-round play having posted new milestones in victories and interceptions (18) while beating rivals Canfield and Howland in the same season for the first time during the former Youngstown State quarterback’s watch.

“It really is fun to be playing in November once again and the fact that we are on the road speaks volumes as to the quality of our region,” Brungard said. “Being on the road gives us a chance to create that ‘team versus world’ attitude so we have to be ready for everything thrown at us on both sides of the football.”

Wolverines quarterback Connor Krouse has passed and rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

“We’d love for our defense to watch the game from the sidelines. That would mean we remain in control of the ball offensively,” Brungard said. “We’ll be playing on a grass surface and they are a shotgun team, so that might give us a slight edge.”

Poland’s loss came in Week 8 when the Bulldogs fell 30-24 in overtime at Hubbard. They also lost quarterback Jake Wolfe to a broken hand that night.

But Dom Petrony guided Poland to wins over East (62-22) and Beaver Local (37-0) to finish the regular season.

“We’ve been fortunate in that we have two quarterbacks with tremendous leadership and excellent play-calling ability,” Brungard said. “Until Jake’s injury, Dom was our sacks leader from his defensive end position.”

Petrony is more than prepared for his first playoff snap.

“Shifting to quarterback has been a fun transition as I have fewer headaches after practice than when I was playing defense,” Petrony said. “I feel the team looks to me more now as a leader as the mental preparation for a quarterback is far greater than that of a defensive end and there is much more responsibility.

“I just have to take care of the football. “

Offensively, Petrony relies on running back Ross Gould, who rushed for 1,275 yards and scored a team-high 12 touchdowns while receivers George Chammas (35 catches; 545 yards; 6 TDs), Art Duran (23 catches; 300 yards; 4 TDs) and Tyler Evan (10 catches; 233 yards; 2 TDs) remain favorite targets.

The Bulldogs are plus-16 in turnover margin, including 18 interceptions. Tyler Smith and Marty Malenic each have four.

“We led the All-American Conference in run defense and were second in pass defense. You need to credit coordinator Ryan Williams and our entire defensive staff for that great preparation all season long,” Brungard said.

Wolverines coach Lou Cirino was a member of the West Geauga team that lost to Poland in the 2001 playoffs, the only other time the two schools have met on the gridiron.