Plymouth offense answers the call in road win at Goshen

Courtesy of The Pilot News, Photo by Sue Garrity

PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth offense made a statement as Plymouth took a win in their first road game of the season by a 31-3 final at Goshen.

“We challenged the offense all week long,” said Plymouth coach Adam Handley. “We had to be better. We know the defense is starting to figure it out a little bit so we had to show up and lead by example.”
One player leading by example was Finn Holm, back in uniform after completing concussion protocol, as he and the Rockie offense took the opening kickoff on a pounding nine-play five-minute drive that ended with an Exzander Ramirez 18-yard run for a score.
“It was nice to get Finn back, he’s one of our leaders, He ran hard he put the team on his back on the offensive side of the ball,” said Handley. “There was that swagger to just be ready to come out and play football.”
“We had a long drive, a successful drive, and no penalties,” he said. “We set the tone right there. We knew we’d be successful as long as we consistently did something. We had a little lull there in that second quarter.”
After a second commanding drive that ended in a touchdown it appeared Plymouth might run away with the win but it was once again penalties that continue to periodically plague the offense.
“That was what killed our drives tonight,” said Handley. “We were averaging four or five yards a carry, but when you are second and 20, four or five yards doesn’t get you a first down. Those were holding penalties so they are aggressive penalties. We will live with them but we have to be better at hiding them.”
The most damaging took points off the board as Ramirez hit Aiden Blalock in the endzone for what appeared to be six, but a holding call brought it back.
“We really tried to get Blalock a touchdown,” said Handley. “He’s battling a shoulder injury and this may be the last game he plays for us. We had a holding penalty that brought us back and put us behind the eight ball.”
After two weeks that were a little on the rough side the Plymouth passing game appeared to take a step forward too.
“Twin Lakes we looked good then we kind of went backwards the past two weeks,” said Handley. “He’s (Ramirez) got to continue to trust his receivers. All summer long he’s practiced with VanDusen and Blalock and he’s got to get familiar with the new group (Jose Fernando and Davis Jones) and how they run routes. Not just that but the trust and the chemistry. You have to trust that he’s going to be there. We’re slowly getting it.”
Plymouth is now 2-2 on the year, and 1-1 in the NLC with a home game against Wawasee on Friday.