PLYMOUTH — It’s the game that has become THE game for the past decade or so in NLC football and this week is no different as Plymouth’s Rockies meet Concord in a contest with plenty of implications in who will walk away with this year’s NLC title.
Concord and Northridge remain unbeaten and the Rockies come in with only a loss to Northridge. While next week’s game between Concord and the Raiders is big, this week’s is just as big if the Rockies want anything to say in the title chase.
“The stage is perfect for us,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “It’s a night we’re honoring our only state champions from 1977; we’ve got the new uniforms. A lot of people are talking about next week being the conference championship — but so is this week. At least that’s what we are telling our kids and if we do the math correctly I think we are still there.”
Coming in to the game, the Rockies are a little banged up and have lost one big component of their season so far in senior Jeremy Drudge to a knee injury.
“We’ve gotten to that point in the season where unfortunately those things start to stack up,” said Barron. “You don’t replace (Jeremy) Drudge. Not just the fact that he’s your leading tackler but in the special teams. The kicking game becomes a lot harder without him around.
“You don’t like seeing seniors go through that. It’s more than just what he does on the field. He’s a great player and a great kid but you know it’s a great family. (Older brother) Justin wore number 20 for us and he was a heckuva football player for us and little brother is wearing 20 and he’s having another all-star year. I don’t say it very often but I think he could play Division I football. He’s a great kid to be around and that’s kind of hard.
“It’s going to take four guys to replace him.”
And again, maybe more than just the number of tackles.
“There is a good chemistry on that (defensive) side of the ball, but Jeremy was the leading tackler. We’ll see how we adjust to that,” said Barron. “Our kids should still play physical and run to the ball. I think we have a good game plan. We’ve seen a lot of different schemes offensively and this team is a team that really wants to run the football. We will definitely have to get off blocks and make adjustments.”
Offensive struggles in the first half a week ago looked familiar to the coaching staff and have brought some coaching points during the week.
“There were similar signs of poor execution that we had against Northridge,” said Barron. “We have really become a run-oriented team and I would like to see us put the ball in the air a little more effectively. We’d like to get the ball to (Braxton) Bennitt a little more in open space. It was nice to see Cole (Filson) have a big run in the second half and do what he does best in running the football and the option game.”
“They are undefeated for a reason,” said Barron of the Minutemen. “They are well-coached. They fly to the ball defensively. They have a good scheme. They are going to try to make us throw the ball. The game is going to come down to execution. They play with a lot of confidence.”
“Offensively, they are going to try and maul you. Their linemen average 260 pounds on their front. We don’t have a guy 260 pounds anywhere on our line. We are going to have to be able to get off blocks and slow their running game down. Their quarterback (Ethan Cain) is a big, strong kid. He ran through guys against Jimtown a week ago. We are going to have to be ready to be physical.”
Playing on the big stage will ask for that level of effort.
“We’ve got to do what we do and get after it,” said Barron. “We have to play fast up front. If we sit, they will maul us. I have a lot of faith in our kids. We’ll need to be patient defensively and our offense needs to get going. I don’t want to get into a punting game with them, I don’t want to get into a field position game with them. We just need to make plays.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. on Friday night at the Rockpile. This is also homecoming night for Plymouth.
