DUNLAP – Considering the hype the outcome was anti-climatic as Plymouth’s Rockies walked out of Concord High School with a 48-20 win.

After the first 20 seconds the Minutemen were never really in the game.

Concord’s Jarrell Poindexter took the opening kickoff of the game 90 yards for a touchdown. On the play Plymouth kicker Jacob LaFree went down in a frightening moment, that required him to be taken by ambulance to a local hospital. The emotion seemed to lift the Rockies who clearly rallied around one of their most popular team mates.

“I was kind of numb myself you find yourself thinking like a Dad at that moment,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “I know our kids were very focused. We gave up that touchdown but it exemplifies what our team is made of. That’s very emotional and they certainly did rally.”

Ryan Tepe missed the extra point, and from that moment on it was literally all Plymouth.

The Rockies took the ensuing kickoff and went on an eight minute scoring drive – rarely running outside the tackles – and setting the tone for the entire game. From there it was all Plymouth.

“You watch tape and you look at what you do and you think maybe you can have some success,” said Barron. “I think we’re a really good football team. We run well. We tackle well.”

They also seem to “scheme” well as Offensive Coordinator Mike Kershner’s offense added another wrinkle. A week ago they lined Justin Drudge up in an “I” formation with fullback Taylor Fulton in the shotgun. This week the Rockies added a “Power I” formation, putting Jeremy Splix in the back field as yet another lead blocker.

“I like what we do on offense,” said Barron. “Mike and the offensive coaches have done a great job of making sure that Drudge gets the ball. When he gets the ball good things happen. He’s always going forward.

“We put Splix in the backfield tonight. That’s another way of Mike making sure that Justin got touches and it’s just easiest to turn around and hand him the ball. Getting Splix and Friar and Cam (Eveland) on the offensive side of the ball – these kids are highly competitive kids. They love to compete. I thought our offensive line did a very good job of wearing them down. They had three or four kids playing on both sides of the ball and I have to believe we wear people out.”

But once again it was the Plymouth defense that made the loudest statement. The Rockies held the offense for the top team in 5A without a single yard of rushing offense in the first half and without a single yard of total offense in the third quarter.

“It all starts up front (with Brandt Peters, Chaz Scruggs, C.C. Bastardo, Marcos Rodriguez),” said Barron. “Those guys are not only quick and strong they never give up. Even when they get knocked down and double teamed. They understand their role. They may get in on a tackle but a lot of times they’re not – they’re creating tackle lanes for our linebackers and our linebackers are very good.”

Plymouth is unbeaten at 7-0 with a game at Goshen next week.

Score by Quarters

Plymouth………… 7 14 20 7 – 48 Record: (7-0,5-0)

Concord…………. 6 0 0 14 – 20 Record: (6-1,4-1)

 

Scoring Summary:

1st

11:43 C – Pointdexter 95 yd kickoff return (Tepe kick failed)

3:15 P – J. Drudge 4 yd run (I. Rich kick)

2nd

11:55 P – T. Fulton 13 yd run (I. Rich kick)

1:31 P – J. Barron 1 yd run (I. Rich kick)

3rd

7:25 P – J. Drudge 20 yd pass from J. Barron (I. Rich kick failed)

1:57 P – K. Lacefield 33 yd pass from J. Barron (J. Drudge rush), 7-50 3:24, PLYM 35 – CONC 6

:06 P – C. Eveland 47 yd pass from J. Barron (I. Rich kick blockd), 1-47 0:09, PLYM 41 – CONC 6

4th

9:12 P – J. Splix 3 yd run (I. Rich kick), 4-20 1:51, PLYM 48 – CONC 6

8:13 C – Pointdexter 65 yd run (Tepe kick), 2-69 0:47, PLYM 48 – CONC 13

2:10 C – Emerson 1 yd run (Tepe kick), 4-55 1:15, PLYM 48 – CONC 20

 

RUSHING: Plymouth-J. Drudge 15-86; J. Barron 16-60; T. Fulton 13-52; J. Splix

6-40; T. Hooten 3-3; I. Rich 1-0; T. McMillen 1-minus 1. Concord-Pointdexter

1-65; Emerson 3-43; Grooms 11-9; Thomas 3-8; Fragale 4-6.

PASSING: Plymouth-J. Barron 3-4-0-100. Concord-Grooms 8-15-2-96.

RECEIVING: Plymouth-C. Eveland 1-47; K. Lacefield 1-33; J. Drudge 1-20.

Concord-Pointdexter 4-23; Wilmore 3-45; Wirt 1-28.

INTERCEPTIONS: Plymouth-K. Lacefield 1-0; D. Bacon 1-0. Concord-None.

FUMBLES: Plymouth-None. Concord-Pointdexter 1-1; Grooms 1-0.

SACKS (UA-A): Plymouth-M. Rodriguez 0-1; M. Friar 0-1; B. Peters 0-1; C. Scruggs

0-1. Concord-None.

TACKLES (UA-A): Plymouth-C. Schuler 4, C. Wiers 3.