Correspondent photo / David Dermer Poland’s Chase Jones runs away from South Range’s Jacob Emch during the second half of their game, Friday night at Poland Seminary High School.

POLAND — More than 2,000 days had passed since South Range last lost to a Northeast 8 Conference opponent. The Raiders, since a one-point overtime loss in October 2019, had bested every league foe, no matter the venue or stakes — until Friday.

In a rematch of last season’s regional championship thriller, Poland became the first NE8 team to hand South Range a loss in 2,184 days. The Bulldogs did so in convincing fashion as well, trouncing the Raiders 34-0 at Dave Pavlansky Field.

“Really proud of the kids, the coaching staff. We had a great week of preparation, and when you do that, and your seniors lead and your best players practice as well as they do, you got a chance on a Friday, probably,” said Poland head coach Tom Pavlansky, who downplayed the significance of beating the Raiders.

“Our guys want to be the best Poland Bulldogs they can be. That’s what motivates them.”

South Range, unlike its outings over the past month in which the Raiders scored no fewer than 42 points, struggled to finish drives Friday.

During their first possession of the game, the Raiders methodically advanced toward midfield until a false start derailed the drive, necessitating the first South Range punt of the evening.

Poland had no such issue.

Following two ineffective plays to start, Bulldogs quarterback David Xipolitas rolled to his right and found Vito Komara for the first down. Komara soon picked up another first down, this time on the ground.

It was Xipolitas’ legs, however, that earned Poland the lead; after taking the shotgun snap, the sophomore quarterback pulled the handoff, found a crease and zipped down the Bulldogs’ sideline for a 36-yard rushing touchdown nearly seven minutes into the game.

After being pinned down at its own 6-yard line, Poland quickly transformed the unfavorable field position into a source of pain for the Raiders.

On third-and-5 from their 11, Xipolitas opened the second quarter by rolling out of the pocket and completing a pass to Komara, who turned, evaded a defensive back and raced to the end zone for the 89-yard touchdown, which was announced as a new record for the longest touchdown pass and reception in school history.

The Raiders, after stalling in the middle of the field each of the first two times with the ball, seemed to be on their way to a score on their next drive, with Toy leading his team down inside the Poland 3-yards line.

But a pair of penalties backed the ball up to the 10. Then Drew Starkey missed a 27-yard field goal wide right.

Taking over at its own 20, Poland proceeded to orchestrate a nearly six-minute, 80-yard drive.

With 16 seconds and no timeouts remaining, Xipolitas dropped back to pass, escaped the pocket to his left and dumped the ball off to an open Chase Jones, who sprinted to the end zone for the 31-yard touchdown reception, which left four seconds on the clock.

The subsequent extra-point attempt was blocked, sending the game to halftime with Poland leading 20-0.

The second half proved to be almost as disappointing for South Range as the first.

Sensing the need for a score early in the third quarter, Raiders head coach Dave Rach decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 25. The decision did not pay off, though, as a swing pass bounced off the fingertips of Jason Vorshak for the incompletion.

Poland quickly capitalized on the turnover on downs, with Komara taking an outside handoff and making a group of defenders miss on the tackle before he ran 15 yards and into the end zone.

Komara earned his third touchdown of the game to close the third quarter; after catching a pass from Xipolitas, he kept his balance while turning upfield, losing his defender in the process, which allowed him to cruise to the 39-yard score.

The touchdown and extra point gave the Bulldogs 34-0 lead and triggered a running clock, which remained for the entire fourth quarter.

“That’s a great football team, and we didn’t play like a good football team,” Rach said. “We made a lot of mistakes. I made a lot of bad decisions. And generally speaking, I think we played cautious. And you can’t play like that against a great team.

“We gotta learn from it. They’re disappointed about the result, we all are. But we also understand we don’t have time to lick our wounds. We have to get back to work.”

Poland (5-1, 2-0 in NE8) visits Niles for a meeting with the winless Red Dragons next Friday.

South Range (4-2, 2-1 in NE8) is set to play its first home game since Aug. 22 when the Raiders host Girard and attempt to begin a new win streak.