PLYMOUTH – What a difference a week makes.
Reeling a week ago after a loss at NorthWood, Plymouth’s Rockies took a week to recover and opened the IHSAA sectional round with a resounding 66-7 win over Wawasee.
“The kids played extremely well, they played very fast,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “We executed a lot of things tonight, screens, throwing the ball down the field, running the football. I was really proud of them.”
And there was no reason not to be proud of a team that did pretty much all that it wanted to in extending their season another week. The tone was set early and often by a Plymouth defense that was swarming to a nearly helpless Wawasee defense all night long.
“They played with a lot of confidence,” said Barron of his defense. “I thought we had a great week of practice on both sides of the ball and you always worry about that when you give kids time off. The guys up front played outstanding. And what can you say about Styers and Friar – turn those guys loose – Peters played on both sides of the ball, the secondary shut them down. We were confident in our game plan coming in and we just let them play.”
It was outside linebacker A.J. Styers – injured a week ago – who showed with an exclamation point how happy he was to be back in the lineup.
“We missed him last week,” said Barron. “He’s a very explosive player. He and Matt (Friar) set the edge for us and they run a lot of things down away from them. I thought our inside stunt game was very good.”
It was also a part of the game plan to get some new players involved in the offensive game plan. Nate Nixon had a big night receiving with three catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. He also caught an extra point pass.
“I like the way Nixon caught the ball downfield,” said Barron. “(The Wawasee defender) was trying to be physical with him and he was physical right back. That was a matchup we liked going in and every time Nate touches the ball he does good things with it.”
And once again it was Cam Eveland’s night on offense. He had 208 receiving yards, added 44 rushing and three touchdowns.
The game also saw Jack Barron have a big night at quarterback. He threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two more.
“Getting him loose tonight was important to us and I think that the chemistry between him and (fullback Tristan) McMillen really it’s all about timing and feel and trust,” said Barron. “I thought Jack threw the ball well tonight and ran the ball well tonight.
The Rockies (8-2) will return to action at DeKalb next Friday. The Barons were 39-13 winners over Angola.
Score by Quarters
Plymouth 28 8 8 22 – 66
Wawasee 0 7 0 0 – 7
First Quarter
P – Tristen McMillen 9 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)
P – TD CamEveland 65 Yd Pass From Jack Barron (Failed Two-Point Conversion)
P – TD Jack Barron 6 Yd Run (Nathan Nixon catch For Two-Point Conversion)
P- TD Tristen McMillen 3 Yd Run (Cam Eveland Run For Two-Point Conversion)
Second Quarter
P – TD CamEveland 22 Yd Pass From Jack Barron (Two-Point Conversion)
W – TD Tyler Smith 5 Yd Run (Lucas Garza Kick)
Third Quarter
P – TD CamEveland 48 Yd Pass From Jack Barron (Jack Barron Run For Two-Point Conversion)
Fourth Quarter
P – TD Brandt Peters 1 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)
P – TD Jack Barron 11 Yd Run (Cam Eveland Run For Two-Point Conversion)
P – TD Nathan Nixon 18 Yd Pass From Jack Barron (CamEveland Run For Two-Point Conversion)
Rushing – (Plymouth) T. McMillen 9-67 2TD, J. Barron 18-53 2 TD, C. Eveland 4-44, T. Hooten 3-10. (Wawasee) Wadkins 8-28, Smith 24-47 TD, Rosbrugh 7-15, Katzer 1-2.
Passing – Barron 10-18 263 4TD, INT, Smith 1-2 4.
Receiving – C. Eveland 6-208 3TD, N. Nixon 3-52 TD.
Tackles – Matt Friar 9, Dilley 11.
