The question on everyone’s mind had to be could Polk County pull off the “four-peat” against Tuscola with one of its youngest teams in the last 10 years. No easy task going into Tuscola’s home field against a team determined to stop the streak at three. Certainly not a pretty win – a game marred with multiple penalties – but Polk came away with the win 25 -20.
Led by their quarterback, Alex Philpott, along with the “bend but don’t break” defense, Polk used a variety of weapons. Philpott was 18 of 22 passing for 240 yards with 75 yards rushing on 22 attempts. His primary targets were Anthony Carson (1 touchdown, 117 yards) and Reese Schlabach, as expected. Jordan Smith also had a big night; he had only two receptions but accounted for 35 yards and one touchdown and set up the first touchdown, a one-yard plunge by Philpott. Smith also had an interception. The Wolverines had 352 yards of total offense on the night.
However, it looked like it might be a long night based on Tuscola’s first series of plays. They came out throwing the ball with the first play, a 35-yard reception, and the second play resulted in a pass interference call. They appeared headed to the end zone, but an interception on the five yard line by Philpott stopped the drive. After Polk gave the ball back on a fumble, Tuscola scored first with 4:08 left to go in the first quarter.
Polk scored its first touchdown at the 9:31 mark of the second quarter but missed the extra point. The half ended with Tuscola up 7-6.
The second half was controlled by Polk. Tuscola tried an on-side kick, giving Polk the ball on the 44. Polk took full advantage, marching down the field and finally scoring on a 25-yard pass play to Anthony Carson. Polk led 12 -7 after missing the 2-point attempt.
Polk later added another score via Philpott’s long quarterback “sneak,” making the score 18-7. Tuscola came back with another score to close the gap to 18-14 Polk. Jordan Smith then scored on the pass from Philpott and with Gage Stone’s extra point made it 25–14 Polk.
Tuscola put together another drive late scoring with 3:05 left in the game, making it 25-20. But Polk was able to maintain possession, aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Tuscola, and ran out the clock for the win.
Ollis commented, “We grew a lot as a football team (tonight). It was two young football teams; both made a lot of mistakes. Down at the end we made fewer. We were down 7-6 at half but we did not panic. My concern coming in was the fact they did not have anybody playing both ways and they ran hurry up offense.
“I thought our kids responded well. Coach Jamie Thompson did a great job getting signals in and we were able to get set every time and make some plays. This was a big win for this football program. I’m very proud of our boys.”
Polk plays Brevard Friday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at home.