POLAND

All Ted Tibbetts could do was smile after watching his Poland Knights vanquish a scrappy Freeport team on a chilly Friday night.

The Knights made quick work of the Falcons on an opening-night football game as Poland marched off with a 49-12 victory.

Freeport was a handful in the first half, but time was on the Knights’ side when they cashed in on three touchdowns in a lopsided third quarter and gave themselves some breathing room.

John Fossett scored back-to-back touchdowns on a 75-yard rush and came across with another when he hooked up with on a 40-yard pass from Patrick Jacques in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Yvon Desmarias scooped up a 17-yard pass from Jacques that gave Poland a 20-6 lead going into the first half.

Freeport scored when quarterback Eli Fox hit Mike Foss with a touchdown pass to keep within striking distance of the Knights.

“Obviously, the kids were amazing,” Poland coach Ted Tibbetts said. “They just stepped up the intensity more than anything else.

“This group of guys is really committed to turn the corner.”

The Knights didn’t waste much timed getting on the board in the third quarter on the first set of downs. Fossett provided a 40-yard rush and the Knights pushed and shoved their way to the 1 when Jacques came across with a touchdown and later connected with Aaron Paradis for the two-point conversion pass.

Jacques scored on another keeper in that same quarter.

“(Fossett) is an athlete,” Tibbetts said. “He is fun to watch on the basketball court. He just makes plays and he loves the physical aspect of the game.”

But Tibbetts was impressed with the Falcons, who kept up the good fight until the end of the game.

“They threw the ball really well,” Tibbetts said. “They hit us a couple of times with some big passes. You know the quarterback scrambles; he is hard to contain. They caught the ball pretty well.”

“We are trying,” Freeport coach Paul St. Pierre said. “We prepared really hard this week. We are just trying to move forward. We just try to win every play. We know they are going to get their plays. We are going to get ours.”

Kaleb Irizarry also scored a pair of touchdowns for the Knights.

Josh Burke stood out defensively for Freeport, and Fox threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to tight end Bryan Lee.