It was an uncharacteristically hot mid-September afternoon in Plymouth, NH, when the Football team hosted Western Connecticut. It was the team’s first time playing on Currier Field for the 2018 season. Their home turf was packed with eager fans, residents, parents and students alike, who have high expectations after the team was named the co-champions of their conference and made it all the way to the NCAA playoffs, for which the team was honored at half time for their accomplishment. Joining them were all of the other Plymouth student athletes who competed in the NCAA playoffs. Those included were the Women’s Lacrosse team, Indoor and Outdoor Track runners Warren Bartlett (Loudon, N.H.) and Sam Brunnette (Newport Center, VT.), and Skiers Freydis Einarsdottir (Gardabaer, Iceland), Karl Kuus (Toronto, Ont.) and Cooper Yates (Richmond, B.C.)
The Panthers came into Saturday’s game coming off of a marvelous and commanding shutout victory against Castleton.
Western Conn. Started the scoring first with a rushing touchdown during the final 5 minutes of the first quarter. Although drawing first blood, things swayed to Plymouth’s favor after the Colonials botched their point after attempt which only made it 6-0 heading into the 2nd quarter.
After that, it was all Plymouth, who ended the first half scoring 21 unanswered points. Junior wideout Jacob Szulc (Concord, N.H.) caught two touchdown passes in the quarter. Both came within 30 yards of the endzone, showing that he still has the red zone prowess that he showed last season, having caught 11 touchdown passes on 27 receptions. Junior running back David Hamilton (West Deptford, N.J.) ran the ball in from the 1 yard line adding to the Panther’s 21 point offensive.
The second half was more competitive. Before the first half ended, the Colonials scored on a 21 yard pass to draw closer, making it 21-13. To start the second, Plymouth continued to score. Senior quarterback, Zack Edwards (Brookfield, Mass.) tossed his 3rd touchdown pass of the game to sophomore Max Osgood (Nashua, N.H.) to make it 28-13. That would be Plymouth’s last score.
The Colonials took off and controlled the final quarter of the game. The Colonials scored twice, at the end of the 3rd and at the beginning of the 4th to pull them to 28-26. They attempted a 2 point conversion to tie the contest but their attempted failed. However, 60 seconds later, Western Conn.picked o Edwards and took it 32 yards to the house to give them the 32-28 lead. That would ultimately be the final score as both teams could not find any more points in thenal 11 minutes.
Hamilton finished the day with his second straight 100 yard rushing performance. Edwards, despite the 3 touchdown passes, threw 2 picks and only added 98 yards in the passing game. Junior safety Matt Shea (Windham, N.H.) made 12 stops on the defensive side of the ball.
The Panthers next contest is this Saturday night at UMass Dartmouth. Kick off is at 5:30 pm.