PLYMOUTH – After a big win on the road a week ago and another big game looming on the horizon the fear was that Plymouth’s Rockies might have a let down. That fear was alleviated with a 37-6 win over Elkhart Memorial.
Taking advantage of ideal field position all night long the offense was able to score early and often starting with a familiar sight – Taylor Fulton running in from eight yards out just four minutes into the contest.
Brandon Zehner and Justin Drudge took long plays into the endzone in the second quarter. Drudge found the end zone twice officially and had another score called back by a penalty.
Except for a single score late in the half, it was the Plymouth defense once again that rose to the occasion.
“They got to the ball tonight, they created a lot of situations where we had good field position,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron of his defense that was outstanding for a second straight week. “I’m proud of the way those guys are playing. They really seem to have the concept of playing together and they support one another out there very well.”
The Rockies were a little sloppy offensively early – a result of finding some plays at the back of the play book.
“We need to be able to evaluate some of these plays that we run in practice all the time,” said Barron. “We dropped some balls and didn’t make some plays but we also scored a lot of points. We did want to open the play book up a little more. We did want to do some things we don’t normally do.”
In the second half though it was Plymouth football the way it always is as the Rockies took the opening kick of the half and established the run with a long sustained drive running the football.
“The second half we wanted to control the line of scrimmage and get Taylor some more touches,” said Barron. “It was like this is what we do. Getting back to what we do to start the second half was definitely on our mind.”
Barron capped the 11 play drive with a six yard run that essentially broke the game open. A fourth quarter pick six by David Bacon would be the final blow.
Plymouth stays unbeaten at 5-0 and will be at home against Wawasee next week.
Score by Quarter
Elkhart Memorial…. 0 6 0 0 – 6 Record: (1-4,1-3)
Plymouth………… 6 12 13 6 – 37 Record: (5-0,3-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 08:48 PLYM – T. Fulton 8 yd run (J. LaFree kick failed), 4-43 1:39, EMEM 0 – PLYM 6
2nd 10:55 PLYM – B. Zehner 19 yd run (J. Drudge rush failed), 1-24 0:07, EMEM 0 – PLYM 12
07:14 PLYM – J. Drudge 23 yd pass from J. Barron (T. Fulton rush failed), 1-23 0:07, EMEM 0 – PLYM 18
00:20 EMEM – Pates 24 yd pass from McNeal (Crane kick failed), 2-24 0:18, EMEM 6 – PLYM 18
3rd 07:19 PLYM – J. Barron 6 yd run (J. LaFree kick), 11-61 4:33, EMEM 6 – PLYM 25
04:37 PLYM – J. Drudge 4 yd run (J. LaFree kick failed), 3-10 1:10, EMEM 6 – PLYM 31
4th 03:51 PLYM – D. Bacon 62 yd interception return (J. LaFree kick blockd), , EMEM 6 – PLYM 37
EMEM PLYM
FIRST DOWNS………………. 9 16
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)………… 32-25 35-172
PASSING YDS (NET)…………. 108 84
Passes Att-Comp-Int……….. 29-8-3 17-7-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS….. 61-133 52-256
Fumble Returns-Yards………. 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards………… 0-0 5-19
Kickoff Returns-Yards……… 2-28 2-55
Interception Returns-Yards…. 2-30 3-78
Punts (Number-Avg)………… 10-27.5 1-41.0
Fumbles-Lost……………… 2-0 4-3
Penalties-Yards…………… 11-77 5-45
Possession Time…………… 28:04 19:56
Third-Down Conversions…….. 5 of 18 1 of 8
Fourth-Down Conversions……. 0 of 0 2 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances……. 0-2 4-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards…….. 0-0 4-29
RUSHING: Elkhart Memorial-Rhodes 6-23; Donovan 11-17; Goodman 7-10; Summers 1-8;
Williams 2-minus 4; McNeal 5-minus 29. Plymouth-T. Fulton 15-58; J. Drudge 6-46;
B. Zehner 2-28; J. Barron 10-25; D. Johnson 2-15.
PASSING: Elkhart Memorial-McNeal 7-22-3-100; Williams 1-7-0-8. Plymouth-J.
Barron 7-15-2-84; K. Lacefield 0-1-0-0; J. Drudge 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Elkhart Memorial-Pates 3-48; Donovan 2-13; Rhodes 1-20; Baker 1-19;
Leal 1-8. Plymouth-J. Drudge 4-56; N. Nixon 1-16; B. Zehner 1-13; T. Fulton
1-minus 1.
INTERCEPTIONS: Elkhart Memorial-Kale 1-30; Peek 1-0. Plymouth-D. Bacon 1-62; K.
Lacefield 1-16; C. Schuler 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Elkhart Memorial-Kale 5-3; Banghart 3-5; Summers 2-3. Plymouth-C. Wiers 4-8; K. Lacefield 3-3; C. Scruggs 2-4; C. Koss 2-4;
