Plymouth Rushing Attack Grounds Tigers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
PLYMOUTH - First-year Warsaw football coach Troy Akers likened it to an old fashion alley fight, and his Tigers were backed into a corner from the start.
Using a power running game that simply dominated the Tiger defense, Plymouth opened up Northern Lakes Conference play with a 24-17 win over visiting Warsaw.
After manhandling finesse offenses from Columbia City and Homestead for 42 tackles for loss in the first two games, the Tiger defense ran into a Plymouth offense Friday that was hardly fancy.
All the Rockies did was beat Warsaw off the ball play after play, and with open holes to run through, thanks to strong offensive line play, Plymouth amassed 296 rushing yards on 60 carries.
"We knew how Plymouth worked," said Akers, whose Tigers fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the NLC. "They want to control the clock and run the football for three, four yards per carry. We just didn't make the plays tonight. We played finesse teams the first two weeks. Plymouth is a different team. They like to line up and bloody your nose every play."
In wins over Columbia City and Homestead, Warsaw's defense gave up just 81 total rushing yards.
Friday the Tigers gave up 222 yards to Plymouth senior Jerad Gaul on 32 carries, an average of 6.9 yards per carry.
Junior Coty Singleton got in on the action, too, pounding out 93 yards on 19 carries.
All totaled - passing and receiving - Plymouth ran 74 offensive plays and racked up 348 yards and 21 first downs.
Plymouth's rushing attack allowed the Rockies to easily control the clock, as they had possession of the ball for 32 minutes of the 48-minute game.
"It's about being physical," said Akers. "What they did tonight is because of what they did in the winter. They hit the weights hard and are a strong football team. We didn't respond to the challenge. This was an alley fight, and they took it to us from the start. We made it interesting, but it was too late."
As they did last week when they came back and upset Homestead, the Tigers provided some late-game fireworks, as senior quarterback Michael Wienhorst connected with classmate Antonio Castillo on a 51-yard touchdown pass. Senior tailback Thomas Balestri then added an 11-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion.
While the offensive outburst excited the Warsaw crowd, it was too little, too late as the offense was dormant until the fourth quarter.
By then Plymouth already held a 24-3 advantage.
"I'm proud of the way the kids fought back, but I'm not into moral victories," said Akers. "We had silly opportunities at inoppertune times. Silly penalties and dropped balls hurt us. These kids can catch the ball, they just didn't do it tonight."
Wienhorst finished the game 9 of 21 through the air for 162 yards.
The biggest chunk of those yards came via Castillo, who caught two passes for 95 yards. Senior Tyler Stouder caught five passes for 47 yards, while Nate Abbitt and Dale Wood had one catch each for 10 yards.
Balestri led the Tigers in rushing with 76 yards on 14 carries, while Wienhorst had six carries for 16 yards and Wood two carries for 18 yards.
The win improved Plymouth to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the NLC.
Plymouth scored the first points of the game, as Michael Brown drilled a 33-yard field goal with 4:49 remaining in the first.
Warsaw's Jordan Quiroz was just short on a 54-yard field goal, and then tied the game with a 44-yard kick with 1:37 remaining in the first half.
Ryan Pickell caught a nine-yard pass from Chad Clinton for a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining.
Gaul added the next two touchdowns for Plymouth, scoring on runs of 34 and two yards, pushing the lead to 24-3 with 5:13 remaining in the game.
Castillo scored on the 51-yard pass from Wienhorst, and the Tigers opted for a two-point conversion, which failed.
After forcing Plymouth to punt, Warsaw put together a seven-play drive that went 57 yards and was capped off by an 11-yard run from Balestri, who also ran in the two-point conversion attempt to narrow the gap to 24-17.
The Tigers then attempted an onside kick but couldn't recover, and Plymouth ran out the clock.
Warsaw is in action again Friday when it hosts NLC foe Elkhart Memorial for homecoming. [[In-content Ad]]
PLYMOUTH - First-year Warsaw football coach Troy Akers likened it to an old fashion alley fight, and his Tigers were backed into a corner from the start.
Using a power running game that simply dominated the Tiger defense, Plymouth opened up Northern Lakes Conference play with a 24-17 win over visiting Warsaw.
After manhandling finesse offenses from Columbia City and Homestead for 42 tackles for loss in the first two games, the Tiger defense ran into a Plymouth offense Friday that was hardly fancy.
All the Rockies did was beat Warsaw off the ball play after play, and with open holes to run through, thanks to strong offensive line play, Plymouth amassed 296 rushing yards on 60 carries.
"We knew how Plymouth worked," said Akers, whose Tigers fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the NLC. "They want to control the clock and run the football for three, four yards per carry. We just didn't make the plays tonight. We played finesse teams the first two weeks. Plymouth is a different team. They like to line up and bloody your nose every play."
In wins over Columbia City and Homestead, Warsaw's defense gave up just 81 total rushing yards.
Friday the Tigers gave up 222 yards to Plymouth senior Jerad Gaul on 32 carries, an average of 6.9 yards per carry.
Junior Coty Singleton got in on the action, too, pounding out 93 yards on 19 carries.
All totaled - passing and receiving - Plymouth ran 74 offensive plays and racked up 348 yards and 21 first downs.
Plymouth's rushing attack allowed the Rockies to easily control the clock, as they had possession of the ball for 32 minutes of the 48-minute game.
"It's about being physical," said Akers. "What they did tonight is because of what they did in the winter. They hit the weights hard and are a strong football team. We didn't respond to the challenge. This was an alley fight, and they took it to us from the start. We made it interesting, but it was too late."
As they did last week when they came back and upset Homestead, the Tigers provided some late-game fireworks, as senior quarterback Michael Wienhorst connected with classmate Antonio Castillo on a 51-yard touchdown pass. Senior tailback Thomas Balestri then added an 11-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion.
While the offensive outburst excited the Warsaw crowd, it was too little, too late as the offense was dormant until the fourth quarter.
By then Plymouth already held a 24-3 advantage.
"I'm proud of the way the kids fought back, but I'm not into moral victories," said Akers. "We had silly opportunities at inoppertune times. Silly penalties and dropped balls hurt us. These kids can catch the ball, they just didn't do it tonight."
Wienhorst finished the game 9 of 21 through the air for 162 yards.
The biggest chunk of those yards came via Castillo, who caught two passes for 95 yards. Senior Tyler Stouder caught five passes for 47 yards, while Nate Abbitt and Dale Wood had one catch each for 10 yards.
Balestri led the Tigers in rushing with 76 yards on 14 carries, while Wienhorst had six carries for 16 yards and Wood two carries for 18 yards.
The win improved Plymouth to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the NLC.
Plymouth scored the first points of the game, as Michael Brown drilled a 33-yard field goal with 4:49 remaining in the first.
Warsaw's Jordan Quiroz was just short on a 54-yard field goal, and then tied the game with a 44-yard kick with 1:37 remaining in the first half.
Ryan Pickell caught a nine-yard pass from Chad Clinton for a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining.
Gaul added the next two touchdowns for Plymouth, scoring on runs of 34 and two yards, pushing the lead to 24-3 with 5:13 remaining in the game.
Castillo scored on the 51-yard pass from Wienhorst, and the Tigers opted for a two-point conversion, which failed.
After forcing Plymouth to punt, Warsaw put together a seven-play drive that went 57 yards and was capped off by an 11-yard run from Balestri, who also ran in the two-point conversion attempt to narrow the gap to 24-17.
The Tigers then attempted an onside kick but couldn't recover, and Plymouth ran out the clock.
Warsaw is in action again Friday when it hosts NLC foe Elkhart Memorial for homecoming. [[In-content Ad]]