Four straight now for the Rockies

Courtesy of The Pilot News, Photo by Rudy Marquez

PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth Rockies continue to write an unlikely script for a comeback season coming from behind to take a 14-10 win over NorthWood at Plymouth on Friday night.
“There’s a little buzz and I think belief is the right word,” said Handley of his team’s second upset win in a row. “They believe they can compete with anybody no matter the team. We hadn’t beaten NorthWood since 2014 in the regular season and 2015 in the sectional. They (NorthWood) won the first two quarters. We knew the offense was going to figure it out it was just going to take us some time to get the engine running. I told the defense to stay strong, stay together and the offense will take care of business and that’s what happened.”
For the record, 2014 was also the last time that Plymouth beat both Warsaw and NorthWood in the same regular season with a team that was undefeated in the regular season before being beaten by New Prairie in the sectional final.
It was an old-school Northern Lakes Conference slugfest as both teams, while spreading the field, wanted to run the football and the first half was played in less than an hour with both defenses putting on a stellar performance.
NorthWood broke through first with a big play. Hayden Lechlitner took a sweep around the right side for 58 yards and a touchdown nearly equaling the Panther’s total offensive output in the first half on one play.
Plymouth found it just as tough sledding in the first half but had some success on their last possession of the half.
“It was really an effort thing in the first half,” said Handley. “They hit us in the mouth and we were on our heels pretty much the whole first half. With those last three or four plays in the last drive before half time our kids felt we can do this.”
Meanwhile, the Rockie defense continued to make big play after big play, keeping them in striking distance.
“They are flying around, and they have that belief in each other,” said Handley. “They got behind us a couple of times (on pass plays) there late in the game but we just have to know down and distance a little bit better and know what’s coming. They (NorthWood) had some injuries and we knew their quarterback wasn’t his best throwing the ball but we knew he could do it, they tried to overload us on one side, and at that point, it’s just an effort thing, go and make a play.”
Plymouth made a statement coming out of the locker room and putting together an 80 yard nearly five-minute drive to tie it up, the culmination of another heads-up play as Finn Holm found an Exzander Ramirez fumble at his feet in the endzone grabbing it for the score and repeating his feat from a week earlier at Warsaw.
NorthWood came right back with a drive of their own that ended in a Dominic DeFreitas 33-yard field goal to give the Panthers the lead right back.
Plymouth started the fourth quarter with another long scoring drive spurred by a 35-yard run by Ramirez and it was 14-10.
On the next NorthWood possession Carter Bush would grab a Panther fumble. Another defensive stand for the Rockies would give Plymouth a chance to run out the clock.
Plymouth now finds themselves 4-1 in the NLC and winning out over Mishawaka and Concord would ensure them a share of the NLC title.
“After taking care of business at Wawasee and Goshen we went to Warsaw and said let’s just play our game and see what happens,” said Handley. “At that point, I think we started to believe we are a good team, we can compete in this conference. Going into this week against Mishawaka, they just lost to Warsaw so they will be ticked off and ready to go. But I think we just go out and have some fun and see what happens.”
Plymouth is 5-2 overall on the year. Kickoff time next week at Mishawaka is 7 p.m.
•PLYMOUTH 14, NORTHWOOD 10
at Plymouth
NorthWood 0 7 3 0 – 10
Plymouth 0 0 7 7 — 14
Scoring Summary:
Second Quarter
NW — 6:07 Hayden Lechlitner 58 yd run. (Dominic DeFrietas kick)
Third Quarter
P — 7:39 Finn Holm fumble recovery. (Carlos Carillo kick)
NW — 3:25 DeFrietas 33 yd Field Goal
Fourth Quarter
P — Exzander Ramirez 4 yard run. (Carillo kick)