MIDDLEBURY — Northridge opened their brand new football facility in style taking a decisive win over Plymouth by a 44-0 score.
The Raiders remain unbeaten on the year and have not allowed a point so far this season and have outscored opponents 106-0.
While the Rockies put up a good fight early, everything that could go wrong went wrong including a fumble on a first and goal at the four, that would have tied the game at seven.
“We are our own worst enemy. We’ll get something good going or put ourselves in a position to do something positive and it turns out to be a negative,” said Plymouth coach John Barron. “The kids are playing hard. There’s no quit in them. We are our own worst enemy right now.”
Two fumbles and two interceptions at the least opportune times and negative 44 yards in the rushing game made the night against a tough opponent even tougher.
“It has to come from them,” said Barron. “We have to have some players that can lead and start thinking positively about what they can do for our program.”
Confidence and momentum also become a major area of concern.
“One of these days you think it is going to happen,” said Barron. “Like the turnover inside the five. That was a bad turnover. But we still battled. They are a good team, give them credit but some of these games really hope that some of those plays would be flipped at critical times.”
Starting their third quarterback in the last three games Lennon Creighbaum acquitted himself well with a solid outing throwing for 130 yards on 11 of 27 passing.
“Lennon was thrown into a pretty tough situation against a pretty defensive-minded program,” said Barron. “He battled. He took some hits. He got up off the mat every time. His inexperience showed but those guys (Northridge) are good. He’s got to get some help from everybody else.”
“I think our wide guys are trying to get open,” said Barron. “I think trying to find some kind of a running game has to be our biggest concern for us right now.”
Plymouth falls to 0-4 on the season with a home game next week against the newest NLC member Mishawaka.
•NORTHRIDGE 44, PLYMOUTH 0
At Northridge
Plymouth 0 0 0 0 – 0
Northridge 7 23 14 0 – 44
Scoring Summary:
First
N — 06:02 Hooley 1 yd run (Stoltzfus kick)
Second-quarter
N — 08:20 Hooley 1 yd run (Stoltzfus kick),
N — 07:13 Crowder 14 yd run (Stoltzfus kick),
N — 06:45 TEAM safety
N — 00:07 Hooley 3 yd run (Stoltzfus kick)
Third Quarter
N — 09:24 Puckett 5 yd run (Stoltzfus kick)
N — 02:45 Sainz 69 yd run (Stoltzfus kick),
RUSHING: Plymouth-Lester, 10-minus 1; Reichard, 1-minus 1; Creighbaum 6-minus 42. Northridge-Crowder 10-93; Sainz 1-69; Hooley 13-67; Puckett 6-22; Lockwood 2-14; Collins 2-3; Carrington 1-1; Modglin 2-minus 2.
PASSING: Plymouth-Creighbaum 11-27-2-130. Northridge-Hooley 1-2-1-32.
RECEIVING: Plymouth-Reichard 5-88; Garcia 5-40; Derifield 1-2. Northridge-Crowder 1-32.
INTERCEPTIONS: Plymouth-Garcia 1-0. Northridge-Hochstetler 1-9; Reschly 1-0.
FUMBLES: Plymouth-Creighbaum 4-2. Northridge-Hooley 2-0; Modglin 1-1.
