Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Canfield’s Max Billak evades Poland’s Dominic Schwartz during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game at Dave Pavlansky Field.

POLAND — With such a limited number of local schools sponsoring lacrosse, the few opportunities to play against fellow Mahoning Valley natives always make for an exciting match on the field.

The boys lacrosse iteration of the Battle of 224 started off as a low-scoring contest, but the visiting Cardinals found their scoring groove as the match progressed, earning an 11-2 win at Poland’s Dave Pavlansky Field.

Canfield has now won eight straight against their crosstown rival.

“That’s a big part of our season, is getting these early wins, especially against a crosstown rival. We were talking all week, ‘Hey it’s Poland week, so the boys were excited. We did get off to a bit of a slow start in the game, but some conversation led up front by our captains really made a difference in the second half,” Cardinals coach Dylan Ciolino said. “One of my favorite things about the sport of lacrosse is that the more fast paced, the more free and open it is, and I think our teams does a very good job of playing in transition and playing in those fast free moments.”

Poland (0-2) did find the back of the net first, as junior Connor Mould launched a shot from distance to earn an early 1-0 lead for the host Bulldogs, but Canfield (3-1) was quick to reply.

Off an inbounds play, Cardinals senior Max Billak netted the ball directly in front of the crease to tie the match, which was followed by a score from junior Parker Ahlquist with two seconds remaining in the quarter to take a 2-1 edge.

Later down 4-1, Bulldogs sophomore Wesley Cowles broke a four goal run for the Cardinals at the 6:17 mark in the second quarter, representing the final Poland score of the match. Canfield managed to earn draw controls and defend the midfield well as the match sped up. A defensive effort spearheaded by sophomore goalie JJ Boris fended off any Poland offensive possessions.

Billak and Ahlquist shared game-high honores with four goals a piece during the winning effort.

“We kind of started slow in the first quarter, which is kind of an issue we’ve had in previous years, so we’re trying to build on that a lot. That put us down, but we picked it up in the second quarter, picked up our energy a bit,” Billak said. “In that first quarter, Poland held it, they had a lot of time on offense. Once we got it down to our side, we slowed it down. We like playing a bit of a slower game. Once we went through our progressions, that kind of speeds it up for us, helps us move the ball around and score a lot more.”

“Poland is always a big game for us, almost like a Super Bowl for us just because of the local rivalry. Picking up a win like that, especially 11-2, definitely brings up our confidence for a big game on Saturday against Boardman.”

Ahlquist felt that he was able to feed off a Billak, a connection that thrived both ways.

“Me and Max have good chemistry, we’ve been playing for awhile, so we have pretty good ball movement. Our team can see the field pretty well, find who we need to and we just feed pretty well off each other,” Ahlquist said. “We thrive off of energy, so any way we can end [the quarter] with a little bit can help us push through the entire game. [The first-quarter goal with two seconds left] helped us get the win tonight.”

Ciolino added, “They’re the two hardest workers we have on the team, and it shows on the field. When they get going, it opens up opportunities for our younger kids on the team, so I’m just very lucky to have those two boys in my program.”

Rounding out scoring with a goal a piece was Canfield junior Charlie Boris and sophomore Tyler Reed.

Despite the result, Bulldogs coach Kincaid Mrakovich was proud of the way his team kept fighting.

“[This game] does mean a lot. Both teams are super gritty, that’s what I’m trying to teach my guys. We have to stay gritty, we have to stay focused, we have to be hard-nosed, but stay organized, go back to our roots and just do the fundamentals,” Mrakovich said. “I think that’s what we lacked tonight. We knew Canfield was going to have everybody locked in. They showed tonight that they were the better team tonight and that we have a lot of work that we still have to continue doing.

“I will give Canfield credit, they sped up and saw our lack of discipline, and that’s definitely what they capitalized on. We need to learn from Canfield, we need to pick up our pace. We knew they were going to play like this, it’s no surprise to us, but we have to pick up our pace to match their pace. We can’t play down to a smaller level.”