This story was written and the photo was taken by Sports Editor Mark Buffalo. Photo caption: Carlisle quarterback Michael Spingola scores a two-point conversion during the Bison’s 47-14 win over Poyen on Thursday at Fred C. Hardke Field.

The Carlisle Bison are headed to the Class 2A state playoffs.

The Bison pulled away from the Poyen Indians for a 47-14 win Thursday at Fred C. Hardke Field. With the win, Carlisle improves to 6-4 overall and 5-2 in 2A-4 conference play.

The Bison earned the conference’s No. 3 seed in the Class 2A state playoffs, which begin Friday.

Carlisle opens the playoffs at 2A-2 co-champion Des Arc, which earned the second seed. Des Arc previously beat the Bison 32-24 on Sept. 11 at Hinson-Rollins Field.

In Thursday’s win over Poyen, Carlisle trailed 8-0 before quarterback Michael Spingola scored on a six-yard run with 3:46 left in the first quarter. He also scored the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.

The Bison took the lead at 16-8 when Spingola scored on a two-yard run with 9:42 left in the first half. He also scored the two-point conversion.

Poyen cut the deficit to 16-14 with 7:53 left in the half. The Bison started to pull away again when Spingola scored on a four-yard run with 6:59 left in the half. Jimmy Cham kicked the first of four extra points.

The Bison pushed the lead to 30-14 when Mason Boyle returned a Poyen punt 65 yards for a touchdown with 4:03 left in the first half.

Carlisle was not done scoring in the second quarter.

Spingola scored on a 10-yard run with 1:21 left to give the Bison a 37-14 halftime lead.

Carlisle scored 10 points in the third quarter to account for the final score.

Cham nailed a 30-yard field goal with 7:58 left. Remington Gisclair scored on a 19-yard run with 53 seconds left.