Below is the Vindicator's article on Tuesday night's game between Poland and Springfield at the Chevy Center.....Any thoughts?

Wed, January 20, 2010 @ 12:00 a.m.

Unbeaten Poland defeats Springfield

By GREG GULAS

VINDIcator correspondent

YOUNGSTOWN — The Poland High boys basketball team had no trouble remaining unbeaten on Tuesday as the Bulldogs defeated Springfield, 85-49, for their ninth consecutive win of the campaign.

David Baker, Ben Donlow and Dom DeFelice each scored 14 points as the Bulldogs scored early and often.

It was teacher (Coach Ken Grisdale of Poland) going up against his star pupil (Eric Fender, coach of the Tigers), a game that Grisdale said he hated every minute of playing.

“I did not enjoy this at all,” Grisdale said. “Eric [Fender] is building something from the ground up at Springfield and they are going to be fine down the road.

“His dad and assistant, Tom, has been an important influence on me and I really learned a lot from him over the years so you can see why I didn’t enjoy this game one bit,” Grisdale said.

“We were out of sync the first three or four minutes of the game but then started to move the ball,” Grisdale said.

“We haven’t seen a zone yet this season so it was good for us to go up against that tonight,” Grisdale said. “We were able to find the open man and knock down some shots and that’s when we got going offensively.”

The Bulldogs scored the first nine points of the game, raced to a 17-2 lead and increased the margin to 23-6 after the first eight minutes of play.

They never trailed in the game.

DeFelice then hit three straight triples and Baker added eight points in the period as the Bulldogs outscored the Tigers, 28-13 in the second frame to forge a 51-19 halftime advantage.

“Poland has been phenomenal the past five or six years,” Eric Fender said. “Give them credit because they have a great senior group and will be very successful this year.

“Give our kids credit though because they never quit,” Fender said. “The one thing I would like for our program to model after Poland’s is their intensity.

“They might not always hit the shot, but they keep coming after you and never quit,” Fender said.

The Bulldogs increased their lead to 68-34 after three periods of play and with Jerry Lawman and DeFelice combining for three “treys” in the final frame, sealed the 36-point victory.

Ron Rogers, who canned four triples of his own, had a team-high 14 points for the Clippers, who fell to 4-6 on the season.

Really Dog is this worth talking about. The only thing I can think of to talk about is why a near division 4 team plays a pwerful grwoing D2 school every year and can take the butt whooping. Kudos to them but the AD or somebody from Springfield is living in a land of dilusions.

Just providing the information sports talk...if you don't want to talk about it, then the answer is simple....don't talk about it. My goal wasn't to come on here and belittle Poland's opponent, but I figured some people might appreciate reading the article. Unfortunately, Poland doesn't play any huge games during the regular season so I am doing my best to keep others updated on this team because I feel that they have a very good team this year and can make a deep run. However, with a weaker schedule, people don't hear much about the Dogs.

Not rubbing it in Bull. I know you are a true fan. My point is not Poland although your coach knew well in a few years advance he could compete with better talent and should have adjusted the schedule 3 years ago. Sham on him for that. It is always nice
to have a cupcake or 2 but the league provides no comp this Year. I reiterate this year. Your team is solid and will put a run up to running into Akron area. Sorry but you can't play at an upper level unless you are regularly there. Just my humble opinioin.

^^Very true. This was evident Friday night when the Dogs ran into Canfield. Nothing against Canfield, but this is no where near the level of talent Poland would face in regionals and/or states. In order to be the best, you have to play the best. Poland has way too soft of a schedule to properly prepare themselves for a run in the playoffs. I would have preferred last year's schedule with games against Canton Glenoak and Detroit Country Day over this year's cupcake schedule. Once again, no disrespect to those on Poland's schedule, especially Canfield because they are a solid program and proved that by beating the Dogs. However, I totally agree that Poland's coaches and administration should have recognized the talent they would have in place this season and bulked up the schedule in order to get them ready. A prime example is ASVSM. Their record is currently 6-4, but look at the caliber of teams they are playing. I am almost certain that this team will be more prepared come tourney time than Poland.