Plymouth football upsets top seeded Windham to advance to D2 final
WINDHAM – The Plymouth High School football team used smash mouth football and special teams to beat Windham 20-18 and punch its ticket to Durham on Saturday afternoon.
No. 4 Plymouth was successful on its two extra point attempts and two field goals, both within 30 yards. On the other hand, No. 1 Windham failed on an extra point attempt, two 2-point conversion attempts and a field goal attempt as time expired was blocked.
The win sends the Bobcats to the Division II championship game for the first time since 2013, when they won it all. Plymouth with face No. 7 Bow, which knocked off No. 3 Hanover in the other semifinal, at 2:30 on Nov. 19 at the University of New Hampshire.
To open the scoring, Plymouth’s lead back Garrett Macomber ran the ball in from 56 yards out with 4:08 remaining in the first.
When asked about Macomber Plymouth head coach Chris Sanborn said, “In my opinion he is the best player in the state. He might go unnoticed because he is only a junior and we are up in Plymouth, but the things he does on both sides of the ball make a huge difference.”
On the ensuing drive, Windham’s Cody Potter connected with Royce Belsky for a 24-yard touchdown pass. After the failed PAT put the score at 7-6, Plymouth went on a classic Plymouth football drive.
The Bobcats ran a 16-play drive, chewing seven minutes off the clock, and ended up getting a 28-yard field goal by two-sport athlete Daniel Carey. This pushed the score to 10-6 at halftime, putting Windham in an unfamiliar spot.
“I am not sure if we have trailed all season,” Windham coach Bill Raycraft said. “I am pretty sure this is one of the first times this season we have punted.”
This adversity was something that seemed to favor Plymouth, as it experienced the ebbs and flows of a football season, but in the second half Windham was up to the challenge.
In the midst of this smash mouth football contest, the wall Windham had to climb became a little higher when Plymouth quarterback Brandon Roy scored on a QB sneak late in the third quarter pushing the score to 17-6.
Once again Windham responded, scoring four minutes later on a Victor Pizzotti touchdown run. Pizzotti was the leader of this team who has had a very impressive career at Windham.
“He is not only our leader on the field, but he is our vocal leader off the field and the younger guys really look up to him,” Raycraft said of Pizzotti.
After Plymouth recovered an onside kick, giving them good field position, Carey knocked in a 30-yard field goal, giving Plymouth a 20-12 edge, but it still remained a one score game.
For the third time on the day, Windham answered. The Jaguars recovered a Plymouth fumble, setting up a 1-yard TD run by Pizzotti, giving him two for the day. But for a third time on the day, Windham failed to convert on the point-after-touchdown attempt.
The PAT is something that Sanborn really focused on with his team.
“Teams often have their heads down after giving up a touchdown, and many forget that there are still points to be had after the score,” Sanborn said. “We really encourage our guys to focus on not giving up those points.”
Plymouth regained possession but failed to run out the clock, with Windham forcing a turnover on downs with 52 seconds remaining.
The Jaguars were able to get into field goal range, but the field goal was blocked by Macomber as time expired, giving Plymouth the victory.
“We knew they were going to play smash mouth football, but if you want to play smash mouth football with Plymouth, you better buckle up your chin strap and play,” Sanborn said.
