By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Mike Shea had a good feeling about his club’s chances Friday night against Poland.

He felt electricity amongst his players, unlike a week ago when the Lakers were flat and were pummeled by Freeport.

“For me, pregame is a big thing. Our pregame against Freeport was terrible. We were lethargic, not ready to play football. There was no energy, zip,” Coach Shea said. “Tonight, we had a great pregame. There was energy. We were ready to play football.”

Or, so he thought.

Poland senior quarterback Brady Downing carved up the Laker defense throwing for 257 yards and five touchdown passes as the Knights crashed the Homecoming party with a 41-14 victory.

Junior running back Joe Ringuette rushed for 118 yards on 15 carries and scored twice.

This was an important “swing” game for the Lakers, which had a chance to correct the ship and improve to 3-1, but instead failed the test and fell to 2-2.

“We just can’t overcome making so many big mistakes and let the game get away from us,” a dejected Coach Shea said. “Once we figure that out, we’ll be an okay football team.”

The Lakers withstood an early miscue when Downing, who was back to punt after lineman Colby Chaplin brought pressure to force an early throw on third down, faked a kick and found wide receiver Levi Lawrence open over the middle for 31 yards. The drive stalled at the LR-29 as linebacker Brandon Sargent perfectly read a quick pass to the outside to Poland receiver Isaac Field for a short gain.

But, a Laker fumble set up the game’s first score as linebacker Sam Boles recovered the loose ball at the LR-24. The LR defense nearly held off the Knights, but on fourth down, Downing connected with junior Isaiah Hill for a 18-yard TD with 3:22 left in the first.

That combination would prove to be lethal. Hill hauled in five more passes on the night for 106 yards and four touchdowns.

“Defensively, we had undersize guys going up against a big front line. We can’t stop everything so we have to choose — stop the run and go man-to-man pass coverage,” Coach Shea said. “And, they beat that coverage.”

A squib kick bounced off a Laker and Poland recovered at the LR-38. Again, the LR defense was stingy, stopping the Knights as Michael Ross brought pressure forcing an errant throw and a big rush on third down resulted in Downing being whistled for intentional grounding.

LR, however, was unable to dig out of a deep hole as the Knights punted and placed the ball at the LR-3.

Punter Isaac Holland hoped to flip field position, but his quick boot out of the end zone sailed down the middle of the field. Poland returner Hill scooted 34 yards, nearly reaching the end zone before being knocked out of bounds at the LR-2. Ringuette finished it off with a bull rush. Gage Bachelder added the extra point for a 14-0 lead with 1 minute left in the opening quarter.

The Lakers got on the board on an 8-yard Ethan McMurray run. The LR senior quarterback was the team’s most consistent weapon all night, rushing for 102 yards on 21 carries. McMurray set up the score with a 30-yard completion to Michael Ross. It was a highlight worthy catch as Ross leaped and took the ball out of a Poland defender’s hands, and then bolted down the left sideline. The Knight cornerback brought Ross down, but was whistled for a facemask penalty, setting the Lakers up at the P-15.

LR went for the two-point conversion, but McMurray’s pass was behind intended target River Hoeflich.

Poland answered with a six play, 71-yard drive with Ringuette rushing three times for 46 yards and Downing lofting a 29-yard TD pass to Hill. Downing added a two-point conversion on a pass to Sam Luce.

Ross gave the Lakers good field position when he scooped up a low kickoff and reached the LR-43. The Lakers moved into Knight territory, but the drive ended when McMurray was unable to hook up with Isaac Rawson on a fourth down pass.

Downing launched a deep strike from the LR-49, and found Hill, who got behind two defenders for a touchdown with 5:21 left until the half. Ringuette rushed for the two-point try as the Knights pulled away, 28-6.

Despite gaining good field position, the LR passing game found few cracks in the Poland secondary.

Taking over at the LR-48, Poland tacked on another score as Downing went to Hill once again, this time for a 10-yard TD on a third down play with 1:20 left until halftime.

For a little icing, Poland score on its opening drive to start the second half with a 47-yard bomb from Downing to Levi Lawrence.

Lake Region kept fighting and found pay dirt to start the final quarter with Brandon Sargent bulling ahead from a yard out to cap a 16-play, 64-yard drive. Key plays were two big diving catches back to the ball by receiver Isaac Holland, one good for 16 yards on a fourth down play, right at the first down marker to keep the drive alive. Sargent rushed for the two-point conversion.

Poland closed out the scoring with a time consuming 13-play, 80-yard drive with Ringuette breaking loose for a 25-yard gain and Downing scrambling for 14 yards before being dumped by River Hoeflich. Ringuette scored off a quick toss from 11 yards out. After two LR penalties inching the ball close to the goal line, the Knights added the two-point conversion.

49-14.

To punctuate just how rough a night the LR secondary had, facing a 3rd-and-13 at the P-2, Downing zipped a pass to reserve Brady Martin, who raced for 50 yards before McMurray made a saving tackle.

After the big gainer, Downing closed out the night with two kneel downs.

While the final score was tough to swallow, especially on Homecoming, what seemed to irk Coach Shea was his club’s mental approach to this big game.

“Believing in ourselves has been a big problem with this football program. We have athletes here. We have football players here. But, we can’t go out and play a team that is just as good as we are. They are a good football team, but so are we if we don’t go out and make mistakes and do stupid things,” he said. “We believe in ourselves after the fact — after we figure out that we can play with these guys. Now, it’s too late. We have made all of these mistakes because we are so scared, so nervous and can’t control ourselves. We have to figure out how to get over that hump.”

The next test will be a tough one — on the road against York (3-1). The Cats beat up Poland 47-16, while also logging wins over Oak Hill (29-0) and Cape Elizabeth (42-12). Their lone loss was to Leavitt in the opener, 36-12.

“We just need to keep going, try to get better. We have to figure a way to try to get them to believe in themselves,” Coach Shea said.