BACK IN BLACK: Plymouth’s first win of ’23 impressive
Plymouth’s Jaxon McCaig breaks a tackle during the Wildcats’ 48-37 victory over Hartland.
Trailing Hartland 16-14 with time winding down in the first half of Friday’s KLAA West Division showdown, Plymouth’s football team’s season was hanging in the balance.
However, following their ensuing 20-0 onslaught, the scales of the Wildcats’ season are now leaning in a positive direction.
Fueled by a dominating effort from its offensive line and explosive efforts from quarterback Sam Plencner and running back Jaxon McCaig, Plymouth turned its season around with a resilient 48-37 triumph over the Eagles.
The game was played at Westland John Glenn High School due to the closure of both turf stadiums on the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park campus.
Homecoming set for Friday
The status of the fields for Plymouth’s scheduled Sept. 15 homecoming game against Howell was unclear as of Tuesday, Sept. 12.
This much was clear Friday night: The Wildcats’ offense came to play, regardless of what stadium served as their one-night home.
Plencner was brilliant, completing 9 of 12 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. The tough-as-nails senior also contributed three rushing touchdowns and stellar leadership skills throughout the contest.
McCaig took advantage of punishing blocking from his teammates in the trenches as he finished with 176 yards rushing and three scores.
Cool hand Luc
Defensively, Plymouth was led by Luc Damiani, who was credited with a team-high seven tackles and three assists.
Hartland was paced by Matthew Flynn’s 99 yards rushing and two TDs.
Plymouth struck first three minutes into the game when Plencner hit #31 (name not listed on roster) with a 26-yard touchdown pass.
Collin Degrand then booted the first of his six extra points to put the host ‘Cats ahead, 7-0.
After Hartland countered with 10 straight points, Plymouth sandwiched a pair of Plencner 1-yard TD runs around a short scoring run from James Butzier to take a 20-16 into the half.
Three McCaig touchdowns within a 14-minute span to open the second half extended Plymouth’s lead to 41-24.
Hartland cut its deficit to 41-31, but Plencner’s third TD run (from three yards out) gave the Wildcats an insurmountable 48-31 advantage with less than six minutes to play in the game.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
