Poland crushes Garfield 10-0 in sectional match

Staff photo / Preston Byers. Poland’s Dominic Domico and Garfield’s Camron Lewicki battle for position near the G-Men’s net during the Bulldogs’ 10-0 win Wednesday in Poland.

POLAND — The Poland boys soccer team efficiently defeated an outmanned and overmatched Garrettsville Garfield team to advance to the Division IV, Northeast 3 district tournament.

Led by hat tricks from AJ Lisko and Colin McBride, the Bulldogs won 10-0 on Wednesday in just 40 minutes, with their lead activating the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s eight-goal halftime playoff mercy rule.

Poland head coach Brian Garcar, whose team now awaits its district semifinal opponent, said the Bulldogs accomplished many of the goals they set out for themselves Wednesday.

“We wanted to move the ball around,” Garcar said. “We haven’t played for a week, so we wanted to try to move the ball as much as we could, get touches, try to play as clean as we could overall, try to be clinical in the offensive third. So I thought we did a pretty good job early of being able to control the tempo and being able to create opportunities.”

The opportunities came early and often.

Not even 90 seconds after kickoff, McBride scored the first of his three goals. Eight minutes later, McBride netted his second and was quickly followed by many of his teammates.

In total, six Poland players scored a goal Wednesday — in addition to McBride and Lisko each scoring three, Andreas Tsikouris, Jacob Hayes, Carson DeCore and Gabriel Dearing contributed to the Bulldogs’ double-digit victory.

When Poland’s lead reached eight with 18:15 remaining in the first half, Garcar sent in numerous substitutions.

“We pride ourselves on having a lot of depth,” Garcar said. “You never know when somebody goes down. You never know when somebody tweaks an ankle or gets sick. So we’ve had that throughout the season. We’ve been fortunate that we have enough bodies that are getting good reps so that if something were to happen, we feel like we have a guy who could step in.”

Garfield did not have that luxury. In fact, the G-Men played Wednesday’s match with only one person on the visitor’s touchline: coach Theo Cebulla.

“The problem is, [there’s] just no feeder program,” Cebulla said of the lack of subs. “There’s really no soccer program. So I have kids that are starting that have never played the sport before, so considering that, they did their best, they’ve improved throughout the year. That’s all I can ask. Obviously, it’s a big challenge. We knew coming in, we were just wondering how long it would take to get to eight.”

Cebulla said that before Wednesday’s match, he watched Poland’s team warm up and noticed how every player was relatively skilled.

Getting to that level, if it is possible, will not be a quick or easy process for Garfield.

“[We] just got to get into the younger grades and let them know that soccer is a sport,” Cebulla said. “Football is king. If you know anything about Garfield, you might know that we’re pretty good at that. So that’s the king, and you got to, hopefully, get some kids interested in the game. And hopefully, they’re a little athletic, and then you coach them up and get some skills.”

While Wednesday represented the end of the season for the G-Men, who finished the year with a 1-15-1 record, it is the beginning of what Garcar surely hopes is a long playoff run.

Next up for the Bulldogs is either Northeast-8 foe Niles or Bay Village Bay. The teams are set to play Saturday evening in Bay Village, and the winner of the match will meet Poland next Wednesday.

But for Garcar, the opponent, while important, is not nearly as crucial as his own team playing to its potential when kickoff arrives.

“A big message with this group this year was focusing on ourselves, controlling what we can control and being the best possible Poland team we can be,” Garcar said. “We played Niles twice, we were fortunate to get two results throughout the season, but it’s always hard to beat a team a third time. If it’s Bay, obviously Bay has a pedigree of having a very winning program, and their coach does a fantastic job with those kids.

“But at the end of the day, our tournament fate’s going to be based on how well we play. We continue to preach the little details that make us good, and hopefully, that’s enough to keep us moving forward.”