By Steve ruman

sports@vindy.com

NILES

Small ball is a term often used in baseball, but the Poland Bulldogs displayed the football version of small ball Friday night at Niles’ Bo Rein Stadium.

Poland kept chipping away at the Red Dragons. The tactic worked to perfection, and led to a 26-23 come-from-behind road win for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs (1-1) trailed Niles 17-6 at intermission, and were dominated in the first half in terms of time of possession and total yardage (320 to 87). However, Poland scored on all of its second-half possessions, with the exception of the final series of the game when it ran out the clock.

“You know, [former Poland coach] Mark Brungard and I spent our time at YSU and we learned a lot from Jim Tressel about ball control and matching your kids with what they can do,” said Poland coach Ryan Williams. “I was real proud of the way we executed in the second half.”

Williams, who spend 11 years as the Poland defensive coordinator under Brungard, picked up his first win as a head coach.

Niles (1-1) had all the momentum in the first half, and had it from the start. On the game’s first play from scrimmage, Tre Martin pulled in a pass from Tyler Srbinovich and raced 80 yards to give the Red Dragons an immediate 7-0 lead.

Poland’s first possession resulted in a punt, and Niles grabbed a 14-0 lead with a 12-play, 81-yard drive which was capped with a Srbinovich 2-yard run.

Srbinovich finished the game with 136 rushing yards and passed for 270 yards.

Poland’s first three scores came by the foot of kicker Colt McFadden, who booted field goals of 18, 42 and 21 yards. The first field goal came after Poland recovered a fumble on the Niles 4, and gained three yards on three plays before electing to try for three points from the 1.

The conservative play calling continued, as McFadden kicked field goals of 21 and 30 yards in the second half. Poland also received second-half rushing touchdowns from Jonah Spencer (17 carries, 90 yards) and Dante Romano (10 carries, 90 yards).

McFadden also booted six of his seven kickoffs into the end zone.

“I got Colt McFadden, and we’re going to send him out whenever we can,” Williams said. “We’re going to trust our kicking and defense.”

Williams felt as though the Poland offensive line proved to be the difference maker in the second half.

“We felt as though the tide was turning in the second half,” Williams said. “We’re real young up front. We only have one kid that has any type of experience. We just kept doing what we do and they got their experience on the fly [with] on-the-job training tonight.”

Niles coach Brian Shaner agreed.

“They wore us down in the second half,” Shaner said. “They came out and they played Poland-style of football. They lined up and they came right at us. We had to find an answer. We got them in some third-and-longs, but we couldn’t make stops.

“It was just a great football game on both sides.”

As for Williams’ plans on celebrating his first career win?

“I’ll celebrate by getting ready for Week 3,” Williams said.

Poland now owns an all-time 23-4 record against Niles.