Poland 0

Cape Elizabeth 63

The Cape Elizabeth Capers put on a display of utter football domination at Hannaford Field Thursday night, as they rolled all over a winless and undermanned Poland squad 63-0.

On paper, the game didn’t look like it would be a close one as Poland has struggled all year, scoring just six points on the season, while Cape has rolled over opponents by scores of 39-0, 48-14 and 27-0.

Cape got on the board early in this one as sophomore running back Tom Foden got the first of his multiple first half touchdowns with a 13-yard run with just over nine minutes left in the first quarter.

Just over a minute later, after a Poland three-and-out, Foden struck again. He took a handoff from senior quarterback Jim Bump and dashed down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown run. Poland blocked the extra point kick, and with just under eight minutes to go in the first quarter, the score stood 13-0 in favor of the Capers.

The Cape defense made life miserable for Poland all night. With about 6:30 left to go in the first, Poland’s Tyrus Stienman was picked off by the Capers’ Tom Ray, who took the ball to the Poland 14 before being forced out of bounds.

Two plays later, Cape found the end zone once again. This time it was junior Matt Weiss taking a handoff from Bump and breaking through the line for a one-yard scoring run. Sophomore Branden Shields added a two-point conversion to put Cape on top 21-0 with just under six minutes to go in the quarter.

After forcing another Poland punt, the Cape offense went to work again, needing just five plays to go 46 yards for another score. Foden got his second touchdown of the night after Bump faked a reverse to senior Curtis Dulac and handed the ball to Foden, who ran down the sideline, shedding tacklers for the touchdown. Senior Ian Wallace added the extra point, and the score stood at 28-0 with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

After yet another three-and-out by the Knights, Cape took over at the Poland 34 after a nice 38-yard punt return by Foden.

One play later, Bump found Ray in the end zone for a 34-yard TD pass, and after Wallace added the extra point, the score stood at 35-0 in favor of Cape.

The second quarter was no kinder to the Knights. They mounted what was looking to be a solid offensive drive, moving the ball all the way to the Cape 34 before disaster struck.

Stienman dropped back to pass, but Foden tipped the ball and made a nice play to stay with it and pick it off. Foden then raced down the sideline for a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown that made it 42-0 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

On the Knight’s first play after the interception, Dulac picked off Stienman, giving the Capers the ball on Poland’s 38. But Poland caught a break as Kyle Piscopo fumbled on Cape’s first play, and Poland got the ball back.

Poland wasn’t able to do anything with the ball however, and Cape eventually tacked on another first-half touchdown when Shields broke off a 69-yard touchdown run to make the score 49-0 in favor of Cape at the half.

The scoring continued in the second half. With 7:28 left in the third quarter, Weiss got a 12-yard touchdown run to make the score 56-0. Cape closed out the scoring at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 38-yard touchdown run from Shields.

Cape’s next game is this Friday night at 7 p.m. against 0-4 Gray-New Gloucester. The struggling Patriots come into Hannaford Field fresh off a 46-8 loss to Fryeburg Academy.