FeedsWilcats hold off Chiefs to earn upset win
Call it the biggest upset in high school football this year.
Or, call it the biggest win in Plymouth High School history or of Head Coach Mike Sawchuck’s Plymouth coaching career.
Any way that you look at it, the Plymouth win over Canton Friday night was big—huge, in fact.
The Wildcats held off the Canton Chiefs’ final effort in the waning seconds for a 22-20 victory on Friday night.
“It feels good,” Sawchuck said of the first-ever Plymouth-over-Canton win in school history. “It makes it even more special because we did it the right way. The kids worked their tails off—we have great kids. The thing I am most proud of is my coaching staff. They did a great job preparing these kids.
“I’ll tell you that that is a hell of a team over there,” he added about Canton. “They are well coached and I have the utmost respect for them.”
The rivalry contest couldn’t have been any more exciting.
The Chiefs trailed by two points with less than two minutes to play. They started on the Canton 28 and marched to the Plymouth 40-yard line with a scramble by senior quarterback Adam Powers and a 28-yard pass to William Tidwell. Two plays later, Plymouth senior linebacker Kyle Wallath busted through the Canton offensive line for a near sack, forcing Powers to throw the ball away. Canton was charged with intentional grounding.
Jordan Raiford moved Canton back to the Plymouth 42 on an eight-yard run to make it fourth-and-12 but Plymouth’s Ronnie Goble sacked Powers to end the drive.
Despite the Chiefs’ shortcoming, Coach Tim Baechler was proud of his team.
“I’m so proud of them there in the second half, but unfortunately we made too many mistakes in the first half,” he said. “Especially with our offense. It’s not an easy task coming back from a 14-0 hole. We played like we were young and inexperienced because we are.
“(Plymouth) didn’t make any mistakes as far as turning the ball over,” he added. “And despite all of that stuff we still came back and almost got it. We didn’t deserve to win, but the kids came back and almost got it.”
It looked like Canton would dominate the game early. The Chiefs plowed their way to the ‘Cats’ 10-yard line. They pounded the ball to the 1, but Plymouth held tough, stuffing Canton on a fourth-and-goal. After Plymouth was forced to punt, Canton set up shop near midfield and moved the ball near the Plymouth 20-yard-line before Daniel Stoney’s 38-yard field goal attempt missed its mark.
The tables turned in the second quarter when Plymouth recovered its own punt that hit a Canton player near midfield. Five plays later, senior quarterback C.J. Gregory threw a 15-yard strike to senior wideout Mike Hanchett. Mike Korona nailed the point after for a 7-0 lead.
Plymouth blocked Canton’s punt with 2:25 left in the first half to set up shop on Canton’s 17. Myron Puryear punched in a score on the first play from scrimmage to give the ‘Cats a 14-0 advantage going into the break.
Canton came out on fire in the second half. Powers plunged it in from the one-yard-line for Canton’s first score, making it a 14-6 game. A botched snap on the extra point attempt left it that way.
Two series later, with Canton pinned on its one, Plymouth tackled Powers in the end zone to give them a 16-6 lead with 3:52 left in the third. That was until Powers found David Wilcox for a 33-yard score. Stoney added the point-after to cut into Plymouth’s lead, 16-13.
Puryear added another spark when he burned Canton’s defense for a 56-yard score at 9:46 of the fourth quarter. Korona’s kick was good for a 22-13 lead.
Wilcox scored again for Canton with 4:51 left, narrowing the gap to 22-20.
“You play the same team for so many years that we finally said it comes down to who is tougher,” Sawchuck said. “We know what they do. We know that they are going to play power football and we just have to man-up and play power football with them. And we did it. They still moved the football a little bit but you can’t shut them down. They are a hell of an offensive team.”
Plymouth moved up to 3-1 with the victory.
Puryear finished the night with 116 yards on 13 carries.
Raiford led all rushers with 170 yards on just seven attempts.
“We’re close to being pretty darn good,” Baechler said. “We just can’t make mistakes. (Plymouth) got the breaks and we didn’t get anything. When you have two evenly matched teams the mistakes are going to cost you.
“Our defense made some stops when they had to,” he added. “Our offense responded and put three scores on the board. Maybe if we score 35 it’s a different story, but we only ended up with 20 because we couldn’t get it done in the first half.”
The Wildcats head to Franklin at 7 p.m. on Friday. Canton (2-2) takes its show on the road to Walled Lake Western at 7 p.m. on Friday.
