HUBBARD — After letting a huge halftime lead slip away, Poland still had a chance to walk away victorious on Friday when they visited Hubbard.

Poland quarterback Jack Fulton converted a pair of 4th downs as the final seconds ticked away.

Then, an interception was overturned because of a roughing the passer penalty against Hubbard. With one last chance, Fulton found Ross Dedo near the sidelines but he was ruled out of bounds and the Eagles escaped with a 27-23 triumph.

“I’m so proud of the way we battled back,” Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman said. “Poland really controlled the tempo in the first half. We had a pretty good halftime locker room.They kept their poise. We told them we can get back in this football game. They bought in. We imposed our will in the second half. Particularly, running the football.”

Hubbard’s running game begins and ends with senior T.C. Caffey who continued his brilliant season with 29 carries for 193 yards and three touchdowns.

“T.C. is pretty good,” Hoffman said. “More than that, he’s a great kid. He’s worked so hard to get to this point. He deserves everything he gets. Everyone was blocking for him. It takes a team to win a game like this.”

The game had all the makings of a blowout early on. Cole Fulton took an end around 8 yards to get the scoring started as the Bulldogs led 7-0 after one quarter of play.

Things went from bad to worse for the Eagles as the second quarter began. Hubbard was forced to punt from their own 40 yard line and a bad snap went sailing over the punter’s head and all the way into the end zone for a safety.

The Bulldogs followed with another touchdown. This time, Jack Fulton found Dedo from 17-yards out and Poland went ahead 16-0.

Hubbard answered when junior quarterback Nikolas Hendrix tossed a perfect pass to senior Don Cheffo who hauled it in over his shoulders as he crossed the goal line. Hendrix tried going back to Cheffo on the 2-point attempt but the try failed and Poland held a 10 point lead.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Bulldogs weren’t finished lighting up the scoreboard in the first half. With 31 seconds left until halftime, Jack Fulton found Dedo again. A beautiful 19-yard touchdown pass made it 23-6 at halftime.

“Give all the credit to coach Hoffman, and his staff and his players,” Poland coach Tom Pavlansky said. “They played a whale of a second half. I’m proud of our kids. They battled, but the game is 48 minutes.”

Hubbard got the ball first to start the third quarter. The Eagles pounded the ball down the field. First, Royal McConahy ran for a 30 yard gain. Then, Caffey rushed 25 yards for a touchdown. Caffey converted the 2-pointer to make it 23-14.

Poland drove the length of the field, but Hubbard senior Mike Zapka made a big play with a quarterback sack. Jack Fulton couldn’t connect with Dedo on fourth down and Hubbard got the ball back trailing 23-14 heading to the fourth.

Caffey worked his way in from 4 yards out to make it 23-21. Then, after Hubbard forced another punt, Caffey got his hands on the ball again. He shook off one tackle after another for the go-ahead score with 3:56 left to play.

“We’ve all been together since the fifth grade,” Caffey said. “We play for each other. We are a brotherhood at Hubbard. I knew we had a special team this season.”

The Eagles continue their season at Struthers next Friday. Poland hosts South Range.