Correspondent photo / David Dermer Poland’s Chase Jones runs the ball away from East’s Tyris Davis during the first half of their game Friday night at Poland High School.

POLAND — Right from the opening kickoff, it seemed as though Poland could do no wrong on Friday night.

The Bulldogs capitalized on a myriad of miscues throughout the night in a 42-6 victory over Youngstown East at Dave Pavlansky Field.

“We just kept playing, one play at a time,” Poland head coach Tom Pavlansky said. “Really proud of our defense. Our defense got the ball back for us, and one play at a time, things started to shake out for us. I think our guys were excited about being at home, having our home opener. So I’m really proud of our effort.”

The Golden Bears struggled to get out of their own way for most of the evening. East racked up 17 penalties for well over 100 yards, while also turning the ball over three times.

“It’s part of the game. We just gotta adjust,” East head coach Mark Greene said. “At the same time, we need to make sure we’re doing our job and be consistent, pay attention to our assignments and make sure we’re accountable. And we didn’t do that. We didn’t do a good job, but we’ll clean it up and come back next week.”

East received the opening kickoff and fumbled the ball on the return. Poland recovered near the opposing 20-yard line and scored the game’s first touchdown just a few plays later on a 1-yard run by Angelo Angelilli.

On its first offensive possession, East made some magic happen.

With the Golden Bears in Bulldogs territory, quarterback Jaden Erving attempted a deep pass but was picked off by Poland’s Chase Jones near the 5-yard line. Jones returned the interception about 20 yards, before he had it ripped away.

East’s Tyris Davis yanked the loose ball out of the air and took it about 25 yards to the end zone for the Golden Bears’ only points of the night. It was the lone bright spot for the Golden Bears on an unseasonably brisk August evening.

“Going against a team that has a lot of athletes and that’s well-coached, we gotta play,” Pavlansky said. “We had a tough break there with the pick and then we cough it up and they score. But hey, those happen in football.”

After leading by a slim 7-6 margin after the first quarter, Poland blew things open in the second quarter, scoring 28 points to take a 35-6 lead at halftime.

Pano Xipolitas scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to begin the quarter. Then Erving threw his second interception when Cameron Hackstedde jumped a short screen near the line of scrimmage.

One play later, David Xipolitas found Pano on a play-action rollout for a 38-yard touchdown strike.

“When the defense is able to create turnovers, offensively, you gotta take advantage of it the best you can because you know those are big momentum shifts,” Pavlansky said. “We all want to take advantage of that. So really proud of the defense for creating turnovers and offensively, especially in that second quarter, getting the ball in the end zone.”

After a snap went over Erving’s head on a punt attempt, the Bulldogs capitalized again on a short field, as David Xipolitas had his first rushing touchdown on a 12-yard keeper.

Just before halftime, David Xipolitas ran in his second rushing touchdown, this time from 10 yards out to close out a dominant first half by Poland.

After an uneventful third quarter in which both teams struggled to move the ball, Poland’s final score came at the start of the fourth quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by Thanasi DiRienzo.

“We just gotta get better and keep working. That’s all we can do,” Greene said. “Don’t give up, keep working and stay solid. We’ll be fine.”