PLYMOUTH — Enduring a loss to your first round sectional opponent is a tough way to end your season, but the way Plymouth fell to NorthWood might be even tougher.
The Panthers dominated the game from the opening kick and left a sour taste in the mouth of the Rockies.
“We didn’t have to look at the whole game (on film) to figure it out,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “We played so poorly and we were so out of it early and frankly we just didn’t get off blocks. We didn’t execute anything, sometimes we were in the wrong front, the wrong coverage. They are a really good football team but I still think that we are a really good football team.”
“You analyze it. You discuss it. You try not to be the football team that was on the field last week,” he said.
Another week of preparation has gone on and most of that has likely been psychological.
“Football is a lot different than other sports, we play on Friday you have a whole week to process it and you’re back on the field the next Friday,” said Barron. “You don’t have a middle of the week game or back to back game where you have to just forget it and move on. It’s hard to forget what happened last week. I want our kids to know that’s not acceptable, that’s not the way we prepared. We can come up with a lot of excuses, the bottom line is we got whupped.”
“We needed to point out the mistakes as to why we didn’t execute,” said Barron. “You can talk and scream and yell until you’re blue in the face at some point somebody has to execute and go make a tackle. We weren’t very aggressive defensively.”
“We let them know where we feel the problems were on Monday and then you move forward,” he said. “The kids have responded very well. There have been some changes. At this point you just want the 11 kids on the field that you feel give you the best chance to win. There had to be some changes. We didn’t play very well.”
The Plymouth offense had some positive moments but were not able to end positive drives with numbers on the board.
“I think our offense just needs to execute the plays that we have in,” said Barron. “We’re not making a lot of wholesale changes anywhere, it’s a question of how do you change a mindset? I don’t think this is an insurmountable task. It’s a matter of them understanding that if they get beat their season is over.”
“If your kids play like that and play with a sense of urgency our kids will play hard,” said Barron. “I don’t know who you’d rather play this week than the team that just kind of kicked sand in our face. I want our kids to fight back. I’ve always felt like Plymouth kids are tough and I guess we’ll see when we get out on the field.”
The Rockies will travel to NorthWood for a 7 p.m. start.
