Plymouth, NH- Down on Currier Field Saturday afternoon the Plymouth State football team worked up some magic on a special Senior Day, defeating Worcester State by a score of 34-31. The win was Plymouth’s first since back on September 14th of this season, increasing the Panthers record to 2-6 (1-5 within the conference). With the loss, Worcester State drops to a record of 3-5 (1-5).
Worcester State came out of the gate fast, scoring on a 6 play 65 yard drive that was capped off by 17-yard pass from junior quarterback Pat Viencek. After PSU’s own Kyle Wilson (Dover, NH) blocked the extra point the Panthers drove the ball 57 yards for a score, which was rumbled in by Andrew Foglia (Montauk, NY) making the score 7-6 in favor of Plymouth.
Plymouth decided to take an even bigger lead in the game, after senior linebacker Josh Morgan (Foster, RI) blocked a Worcester State punt at the 22-yard line, which led to a 2-yard scoop and score by First year Bubba Kaplan (Truro, Ma). Worcester State later countered with a 12 play scoring drive, which ended with another Viencek touchdown pass. At the end of the first quarter the score remained 14-12 in favor of Plymouth State.
The second quarter remained in Plymouth’s favor as they took an even bigger jump ahead of Worcester State with a 27 yard field goal by kicker Rob Giles (Plymouth, NH). The score remained the same until the end of the second quarter, where Plymouth scored on yet another rushing touchdown from Foglia. At half time Plymouth was up 24-12.
At the start of the second half, Viencek threw his third throwing touchdown of the day to Jack Sprague (Maynard, Ma) which cut the lead to just five. Foglia came back for PSU and rushed for his third touchdown of the day, but before the Panthers knew it Viencek was tossing a 21 yard touchdown pass, which was his fourth of the day. WSU once again gained ground on Plymouth, now only down by six points going into the Panthers final quarter at Currier field.
Plymouth made sure to keep control of the football in dramatic fashion, and cushioned their lead thanks to another connecting field goal by Giles. It had now become a two possession game for WSU at a score of 34-25, but with one final attempt for glory Viencek threw yet another touchdown. The 21 yard pass made it five on the day, but it wasn’t enough. Worcester attempted one quick onside kick, but it was recovered by Plymouth’s own, Senior captain Jake Matthews (Windham, NH) who made one final play on his home field. The final score stood still at 34-31 in favor of Plymouth. One more win for PSU’s Seniors on their own field.
Tons of emotions were in the air after the game. The dedication of the Senior group of players was one of the reason they succeeded in their most important game of the season. When asked how it felt to win one more game on his home field, Senior Captain Jake Matthews said ” It was one of the best feelings I have had on the football field. I was so proud of my team at the end of the game for all the work we put in. We never gave up. It was a complete team win because of our coaching, offense, defense and special teams. We knew it would take the whole 60 minutes to win this game. Wins don’t come easy but we did what it took to win one more, and now all we can do is move forward and keep winning.”
Plymouth State goes down across the border of Mass to take on Mass Maritime in a crucial conference game.