POLAND — The fireworks were flying in Poland on Friday when the Bulldogs hosted Girard. The game was up for grabs the entire way and Poland was able to escape with a 21-19 victory.

“We faced a lot of adversity with some injuries tonight,” Poland coach Tom Pavlansky said. “I can’t say enough about our kids. I can’t say enough about our coaches. We had a really good week of practice. We had to change things on the fly.”

The Indians did as well after losing starting quarterback Nic Bengala for the rest of the season with a broken collarbone.

However, Girard pounded the ball on the ground and led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“It was a hard fought battle,” Girard coach Pat Pearson said. “It was a great Northeast Ohio football game. Credit to Poland. They made a few more plays in the end, and they caught us.”

Poland tied it up 7-7 on a 2-yard touchdown run by junior Danny Nittoli. The Bulldogs got it back on a interception by junior Paul Greco after the Indians had drove to the Poland 16 yard line.

Poland was forced to take a knee into halftime after a high snap led to a quarterback sack by Girard senior Muhammad Riaz.

The Indians (5-2) went back on top 14-7 at the end of the third quarter thanks to a 5-yard TD run by senior Michael Palmer, who finished with 150 yards on 24 carries.

Next, Poland (4-3) went for it on 4th and 2 from their own 35 yard line and were denied by the Girard defense.

Zack Morris nailed a 25-yard field goal and Girard led 17-7 with 6:17 left in the fourth.

Then, the sky started lighting up like the Fourth of July because the Bulldogs set off fireworks with every touchdown they scored.

Cole Fulton caught a screen pass from Poland’s fourth-team quarterback Andrew Todd, and took it the distance down the sideline, for a 73-yard touchdown.

The Bulldogs weren’t finished as they recovered an onside kick. Nittoli ran it in from 4 yards out to put Poland on top 21-17 with 4:46 left in regulation.

Girard had to punt and they got a tremendous kick down to the 1 yard line. Poland couldn’t move the ball and elected to take a safety instead of punting out of their own end zone.

“It was a tough call to take the safety,” Pavlansky said. “We felt like we were going to make them go the distance. Girard is a heck of a team. We earned this one. I trusted our defense to get it done.”

They got it done after they kicked off to junior Anthony Bengala, who was wearing his brother Nic’s number 8 jersey during the game.

Sophomore Stephen Sims stepped in at quarterback for the Indians and performed admirably by airing it out in his first career start.

“Stephen played his tail off,” Pearson said. “He’s a young kid. He’s a great athlete. He did a great job as a leader.

“Anthony starts on both sides of the ball for us. He wore his brother’s jersey tonight. I’m proud of these kids. We’re going to keep getting better and make our community proud.”