By Steve Ruman

sports@vindy.com

NILES

If Friday’s halftime show at Bo Rein Stadium were a competition, it’s safe to say that Poland and Niles played to a draw.

The Poland High marching band entertained the crowd with a dazzling show featuring music from the 1980s. The Niles band brought the crowd to its feet with their traditional Script Niles on what was the last home performance for retiring band director Carla Dean.

The show at intermission was sandwiched in between a more lopsided affair.

From start to finish, the Bulldogs performed in methodical, businessman-like fashion. The result was a 35-0 road win which lifted their record to 7-1

Niles falls to 1-7. For the first time in 12 years, the Red Dragons will go through a season without logging a home win. Poland now leads the series over its All-American Conference, American Division rival 21-4.

The combination of a balanced offensive attack and a stingy, opportunistic defense led the way for Poland. The Bulldogs scored three times on the ground and twice through the air. They also forced two fumbles and pulled in a pair of interceptions.

“The way we started was great, I thought we came out and hit on all cylinders early,” said Poland coach Mark Brungard. “I was especially pleased with our defense. It played on point all night, so even when our offense hit a few rough spots, the defense kept momentum on our side.”

Poland’s offense set the tone early with a pair of quick touchdowns. On their first possession, the Bulldogs needed just four plays to march 84 yards. Austin Wilson capped the quick drive with a 39-yard burst up the middle which gave Poland a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.

A shanked punt gave the Bulldogs their second possession at the Niles 30. From there they needed just one play to extend their lead. Quarterback Dom Petrony (5 of 12, 84 yards and two TDs) hooked up with Anthony Calcagni, who pulled in a pass in stride as he was crossing the goal line.

On the first play of the second quarter, Petrony connected with Tate Duarte for 25 yards to give Poland a three-touchdown lead.

“We try to take what the opponent gives us, and what Niles gave us in the first half was some play-action pass,” Brungard said. “That, in turn, opened up the run game. We did a good job of executing the plays. It was a solid effort.”

Poland turned to its ground game in the second half, eating up yards and the clock. Marlon Ramirez scored on runs of 3 and 7 yards. His second score with 3:54 left in the third quarter gave the Bulldogs a 35-0 lead, implementing the running clock for the remainder of the game.

Ramirez finished with 96 yards on 15 carries. Wilson gained 84 yards on just five carries.

“We’ve been totally focused since our loss to Hubbard,” Ramirez said. “We take everything one day at a time, one play at a time. We’re determined to finish strong and make a nice playoff run.”

Niles quarterbacks Corey Hayes and Tyler Srbinovich combined to complete 14 of 26 passes for 110 yards. Leonard Bryant pulled in nine passes for 85 yards. The Red Dragons’ running game mustered just 77 yards, led by Srbinovich’s 48 yards on 15 carries.