Fourth-quarter touchdown was the difference

By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

POLAND

Another Poland win meant another victory flag was raised to the top of the flag pole beyond the north end zone of Dave Pavlansky Field Friday night.

It was the Bulldogs' sixth win in seven tries this season, but a formidable Struthers squad made them earn every yard.

The Wildcats tied the game late in the third quarter before quarterback Dom Petrony and the Bulldogs responded with a score of their own in the fourth. In the end the Poland defense prevailed in their 14-7 win.

“Struthers, man, credit to them,” said Poland coach Mark Brungard. “They brought it for four quarters with all-out passion and guts and our kids brought it too and it was a classic Poland-Struthers game: defensive struggle, low-scoring.

“I credit both teams for the hard-hitting and hustle and giving the fans a great four-quarter effort.”

The Wildcats (3-4) tied the game at seven on a perfectly-executed 18-yard draw play as quarterback AJ Musolino handed the ball to bulldozing running back Auz Seifert.

Seifert, inserted at running back in the second half after the Wildcats had little yardage produced through the first two quarters, slipped untouched through the line before charging past the Poland secondary with 2:29 left in the third quarter.

The 10-play drive, nearly derailed by a Nick Buccieri sack of Musolino on second-and-11, was the Wildcats’ longest and obviously most effective of the evening.

“He’s been playing all year at different times, so we gave him a shot to see if we could get something going with him,” Struthers coach Curt Kuntz said.

Both teams traded punts and Poland took over with great field position at its own 46 with 9:55 left in the game.

Petrony hit Tate Duarte for a short gain and, after one of Poland’s nine penalties, Marlon Ramirez busted loose for a 14-yard gain to the Struthers 20-yard line

The Bulldogs — perhaps by accident — had Struthers right where they wanted them. Petrony faked the handoff and broke around the right end on a naked bootleg, evaded one defender’s unfavorable angle on the edge and raced down the sideline for the go-ahead touchdown with 7:13 remaining.

“We got in the rhythm of just running the two tight-end power runs and we ran it like four or five times in a row,” said Brungard. “[Petrony] actually had the option to throw the ball but the tight end who was supposed to run to the flat [nearest Petrony] ran the wrong route so we only had the option of running.

“It turned out they didn’t have containment on the play. So by a little bit of an accident and a little luck and with the way the game was going, we’ll gladly take that.”

Struthers’ responding drive ended abruptly at its own 36 when Jake Hawkins fell on a Seifert fumble at the 4:27 mark.

Three clock-burning Ramirez runs and a soft punt left the Wildcats with 91 yards and only 2:27 left to work with to tie it or take the lead.

Hawkins made another momentous play when he dropped Musolino at the Struthers 25. After a facemask penalty and big hit sent Musolino to the sidelines, Poland forced an incomplete pass on third-and-16 and an interception by safety Tyler Smith one play later sealed the victory.

“Our defense played pretty much as well as we possibly could all night,” Kuntz said. “We put them in bad field position, but couldn’t get anything going and our defense was on the field a lot.

“They made more plays than we did when it counted.”