Correspondent file photo / Michael G. Taylor Poland’s Vito Komara throws a pass during a game against Girard on Oct. 11.

Last season ended in heartbreak for Poland.

After a magical year in which Tom Pavlansky led the Bulldogs to the regional championship game, a last-second touchdown by Northeast 8 Conference rival South Range sank Poland’s chances at a state title.

And while it is a new year with new faces and new obstacles, the memories of last November have not entirely faded.

“We’d be naive to think that we don’t think about that,” Pavlansky said of the 17-16 loss. “We are really proud of our effort. There’s certainly no shame in falling short against a tremendous South Range team. And it’s a regional title game, it’s always going to be challenging and difficult, and falling short, those things are going to happen sometimes.”

As a longtime coach who comes from a family of coaches, Pavlansky knows all too well that losses can, no matter how painful, be the greatest lessons. And he hopes that the Bulldogs can apply the lessons they learned last fall to achieve even greater success than they did last year.

“Bottom line is that we weren’t good enough,” Pavlansky said. “We weren’t good enough, obviously, to get a first down at the end of the game, and we weren’t good enough, special team-wise – we had some miscues – and we weren’t good enough defensively to get us off at the end. … Hopefully, they can learn that what we did last year in the foundation last year’s senior class helped reinforce and continue to build upon. They were on the right track, so hopefully now, this crew coming up here in 2025, can learn those lessons and reinforce those lessons.”

It will not be an easy task, and Pavlansky is well aware.

Poland has been unable, along with the other six members, to wrangle control of the NE8 away from South Range for the past half decade. The Raiders’ win streak against their conference foes is nearing 40 games and its sixth anniversary entering the 2025 season.

South Range is far from the only team to worry about that, though, as Pavlansky said he thinks the NE8 will only be better after a season in which all but one team made it to the postseason.

“You look at the league, and it is an extremely well-coached league. They all have a proud history of being successful on the football field on a Friday night. And if you don’t understand that, you’re going to have a tough, tough time being successful,” he said. “It’s tough enough as it is. … It’s going to be a battle every single Friday. But we’re trying to make it better today because if we keep on thinking about everybody else that we’re gonna be playing from Week 5 through Week 10, we’re gonna miss some sleep and we’re not gonna do very well. We know there’s gonna be battles, but if we just can’t take care of today, I mean, we’re not gonna have a chance.”

OFFENSE

Many of Poland’s main skill players are back this season, although there may be some changes in how they are used.

One of the biggest potential changes could be how Vito Komara is deployed. Pavlansky said that while Komara contributed heavily as a dual-threat quarterback while sharing time with David Xipolitas a year ago, the coach did not commit to Komara staying at quarterback in 2025.

“I can see him getting some snaps this year at quarterback,” Pavlansky said. “We’re still in the process of learning here, too. Vito is a dynamic player that’s going to be a part of the offense. We got to still figure out what’s best. But whether he shares reps at quarterback with David or if we’re better suited by moving him around and trying to hopefully create issues for the opponent and trying to understand, ‘Well, where exactly is Vito, where’s he lining up at?’ So it’s worth working through that. But anyway, it’s a very fluid situation right now.”

Either way, Pavlansky expressed confidence in both Komara and Xipolitas to make the throws the Bulldogs need from their quarterback in what has traditionally been a run-heavy offense, in which the tailbacks are expected to be relied upon heavily.

As the team’s leading returning rusher, Chase Jones will factor into the ground game for the Bulldogs, who will also lean on fullback Pano Xipolitas and Angelo Angelilli as part of a core trio that gained invaluable experience last season together. Joining them in some capacity will be Nick Nittoli and Ashton Sattarelle, Pavlansky said.

Three players competed with one another at tight end this offseason – Gavin Seifert, Pete Zoumis and 6-foot-5-inch freshman Maddox Purins – and could prove valuable in bridging the run and pass games, while Pavlansky signaled that Peyton Miller and Komara could do the same at either wide receiver or in the backfield. Meanwhile, leading passcatcher JJ Faunda is also expected to be a factor in the passing game, in addition to Carson Reda, Kelley Memo and Anthony Delluomo, the latter two of whom are seniors finally getting a crack at meaningful playing time.

“Those two guys, they’ve waited their turn, and I know they’re anxious to get out there and show what they can do. They’ve been working really hard,” Pavlansky said.

Among the young group of receivers that could see the field is Dominic Delluomo, Brody Gensler, Nick DiPasqua and Caleb Scott.

As far as the offensive line goes, Pavlansky readily admitted the departures hurt.

“We have like five starters back on both sides of the ball, so there is a good nucleus there, especially again, at our skilled positions,” Pavlansky said. “But we replaced six to eight seniors that played a ton of football for us last year, especially upfront. I mean, Dom Yurich, Tyler Canfield, Oliver McCully, those three guys were critical parts upfront, both on the O-line and D-line. Those are big, big shoes to fill.”

Those tasked with trying to do so are some returners, all of whom started some or all of the games last season: Greyson Shaffer, Kolt Arnold, Cameron Hackstedde and Jonathan Tonya. Pavlansky said several players were competing for a spot on the offensive line, including David Vlosich, Justin Zuzan, Braden Tovtin, Nate Sosnosky, Parker Papriska, Noah Minehart, Tre Gallagher, Andrew Babyak and Devin Lucas.

“[Those are] some guys there that just continue to work hard to get better, and I wouldn’t be shocked if any of those guys were playing a lot of football for us,” Pavlansky said.

DEFENSE

Defense proved to be a strength for Poland last season.

Amid their run to the regional championship, the Bulldogs allowed an opponent to score more than 18 points only once – vs. South Range on Sept. 27 – before course-correcting and holding the Raiders to 17 in their second meeting.

While depth on the defensive line and among the linebackers could be troublesome, Pavlansky said he felt “positive” with the direction the secondary was going in the summer.

Komara returns for his third year as a starter, and Faunda, who played regularly last year, will, the coach hopes, be an “anchor” for the Poland defensive backfield.

They will be joined by Nittoli, Memo, Sattarelle and Cooper Ankeles, who Pavlansky said can be “more interchangeable” to fit the specific needs of the Bulldogs’ defense in different situations.

The deep and flexible group that exists at the backend of the defense does not exist in the frontend.

“The depth is a concern there,” Pavlansky said of the defensive line. “We have to find – some guys got to step up. But there’s some competition.”

On the D-line will be many of the same names expected to make an impact on the O-line, including Arnold, Shaffer, Tonya and Hackstedde at either tackle or end, where he played last season. Minehart, Papriska and Noah Huber could also rotate in on the defensive line.

While Poland’s three starting linebackers return – leading tackler Pano Xipolitas, Miller and Angelilli – there is not much experience in support. Zoumis, Danny Lamping and Ethan Smith competed for spots over the summer.

“We expect their senior year to be their career-best year,” Pavlansky said of his linebacking corps. “Those guys have been working really hard. So we have to find some depth now for behind them.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

It was not a complete overhaul of the special teams for Poland this offseason. In fact, Pavlansky touted the comfortability of having Angelilli and Komara returning once again as the long snapper and holder, respectively.

However, Pavlansky had the unenviable task of replacing Jas Stefancin, one of the best kickers and punters in the area, this summer.

The coach indicated that the summer sessions had not yielded a definitive leader, and August practices and scrimmages leading up to Week 1 could potentially bring an answer to the Bulldogs’ problem.

“It’s just safe to say right now that at punter and kicker, the auditions are continuing,” Pavlansky said. “Replacing Jas, it does not allow us to sleep too well. That’s a big concern there. So there’s some guys there that are getting better at it, but like I just said, the auditions are continuing.”