Plymouth football survives Milford, clinches D2 playoff spot
MILFORD – On a misty and rainy night in Milford, the Plymouth High School football team came to town undermanned and became more undermanned as the game progressed.
But the Bobcats were able to battle through all of these injuries and come out with a 14-12 win over Milford to clinch a spot in the Division II playoffs.
Milford came into the game with momentum coming off back-to-back victories. Conversely, Plymouth had its only two losses of the season the past two weeks. This trend continued into the first half, as Plymouth fumbled the ball twice and missed on three big opportunities to score early. Milford was able to use the momentum to cash in right before halftime with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Zack King to Ryan Camirand.
After an offside penalty on the extra point, Milford (6-3) attempted a two-point conversion, but failed. Going into an extended senior night halftime with a 6-0 deficit, Plymouth (7-2) was looking to change the momentum.
Plymouth finally broke a series of “shooting themselves in the foot,” as Plymouth coach Chris Sanborn said afterward, with a touchdown run by junior running back Colby Moore.
Sanborn referenced that this touchdown was really special.
“Going into camp we told Moore that he would only be playing defense,” the coach said. “We were three back in every position (on offense).”
However due to a series of injuries Moore ended up at running back and rushing for over a hundred yards in his regular-season finale.
Milford battled due to its run game and attrition, as Plymouth only had three healthy backs due to all of its injuries. On the other hand, Milford was able to run six different backs, keeping them fresh at all times, and wearing down the Bobcats defense.
The Spartans were able to regain the lead with six minutes remaining in the game with a 7-yard touchdown run by senior fullback Teagan Vitali. Another failed 2-point conversion made the score 12-7.
Plymouth was quick to respond less than a minute later with a 64-yard touchdown run by Garrett Macomber. The extra point pushed the score to 14-12. This was the second special touchdown of the day for Plymouth, as the pulling guard and lead blocker is a converted senior fullback, who was replacing another senior who was injured in the first half.
“My kids left it all on the field,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “I am really proud of this group and they are great kids.”
Jones is hoping his season didn’t end tFriday, but Milford needs to see what happened on the scoreboard on Saturday. Plymouth had a long ride back home, but the bus ride was a little bit smoother knowing that the Bobcats are in the playoffs.
