Plymouth State’s football team lost their first game of the season 24-7 as they visited the Mustangs of Mount Ida at Mt. Ida Athletic Stadium Sat. Sept. 13 at 1:00 p.m.
The Mustangs managed to control the strong ground game provided by senior Jeff Mack of PSU by holding Mack to 98 yards. The defensive stop for Mt. Ida was led by linebackers Jordan Edinger and Theo McCummings, who together tallied up a total of 13 tackles. McCummings forced three fumbles while Edinger had two tackles for loss.
The Mustangs tact up the first points of the game with a 27-yard field goal by Bobby Hemmann which capped off an 11 play, 60-yard drive. This would give the Mustangs the 3-0 advantage with 13:03 left in the second quarter. PSU would battle right back and answered with a nine yard run by Mack, who gave the Panthers the only lead they would have in the game and capped an impressive 7 play, 91 yard drive. Highlights from the Panthers drive included a 23-yard run by Mack and a 30-yard run by senior QB John DeMarco, which set PSU up with a first and goal from the 9-yard line.
Mt. Ida would strike first after half time with an eight-yard pass from first-year quarterback Tony Tokarz to junior wide-out Kyle Watkins, to make the score 10-7 in favor of the home team. PSU would try and turn to Mack to take control of the running game but was denied from Mt. Ida’s strong defensive play. Mack coughed up a fumble on the Mt. Ida 25 yard line that squeezed out of a pig pile into the hands of Green, who then took it 75 yards for the score. The touchdown put the Mustangs up 17-7 and let out all the wind in the Panthers sails.
With two minutes remaining in the game, senior QB Michael Cloutier for MIC got his first passing touchdown with a 35-yard bomb to Watkins. Watkins had an outstanding game with 11 catches, 158 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
PSU’s offense was out of sync, as it turned over the ball five times, four of which were fumbles. “You can’t think you’re going to win a lot of football games when your -4 in turn overs,” said PSU coach Paul Castonia, “We have to learn to take care of the ball and that’s what we didn’t do.”
With the defeat the Panthers are now 1-1 on the season. Mt. Ida picked up their first win of the season after losing their opening game 34-28 to Norwich University. PSU has to get their season back on track as they hit the practice fields hard in preparation for the upcoming game at Coast Guard Sat. 20 at 1:30 p.m. Mount Ida 1-1, is set to play Becker College Sat. Sept. 27.