Plymouth comes back in second half to beat Alvirne, win 3rd straight D2 football title

DURHAM - There were no great adjustments drawn up for the Plymouth Regional High School football team at halftime of Saturday's Division II championship game.

All the Bobcats had to do was do what they'd been taught all week in practice.

No. 1 Plymouth did just that, swinging momentum with a blocked punt early in the half, keeping the Broncos out of the end zone, and putting the game away with a long touchdown drive, as the Bobcats won their third D2 title in a row with a 29-18 win over No. 3 Alvirne at the University of New Hampshire.

The win was the 27th in a row for Plymouth (12-0), as it finished the year undefeated for the second year in row, and it's the program's 25th football title.

While the Bobcats dominated the second half, Alvirne came out flying in the first half, forcing a turnover on the opening kickoff and scoring on the first three possessions of the game to take an 18-15 lead at halftime.

"We felt in the first half that we didn’t play well, especially defensively, and we were only down three (points)," Plymouth coach Chris Sanborn said. "Same situation as two years ago (in the final against Bow). We played terrible and we’re only down three.

"We just told them to do what we taught them all week. It was just fundamental, how they were lining up, they were out of position. We got at them at halftime. We showed them what they were doing wrong and they corrected."

Owen Brickley led Plymouth with 132 yards rushing and two touchdowns and Patrick Malm added 130 yards on the ground and a score, as the Bobcats ran for 263 yards. Quarterback Cody Bannon also had a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:30 left to put the game away.

And after allowing 163 yards on the ground to Alvirne in the first half, the Bobcats held the Broncos to 25 rushing yards in the second half. Alvirne (9-3) was just 3 of 12 on third downs for the game and had 10 penalties for 108 yards.

"They’ve won all those games for a reason," Alvirne coach Tarek Rothe said. "They’re a very good team, they’re very well-coached, they execute and they don’t make many mistakes. We made a few too many mistakes and couldn’t recover."

James Bertrand led the Broncos with 116 yards on the ground and had eight catches for 75 yards, while Kyle Gora had 37 yards rushing and a touchdown and was 15 of 32 passing for 167 yards and another score. The sophomore quarterback also caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Jack Regan on a reverse option pass that put Alvirne up going into halftime.

That score finished off a back-and-forth first half in which the teams traded touchdowns on the first five possessions of the game. While Alvirne failed on all three of its conversion attempts, Plymouth successfully went for two and made a point-after to trail by just three.

"I didn’t think it’d be that kind of game," Sanborn said. "I thought our defense would play better, but we were making mistakes and giving up the big play. We’d grind the ball down and then give up a big play. I didn’t want to get into a shootout. We had to get up and correct our defense and control the clock."

After receiving the kickoff to start the second half, Alvirne was called for a false start and a snap infraction, giving the Broncos a first-and-20. Plymouth's defense forced a punt and Jackson Palombo came free around the right side to block Morgan Williams kick.

The ball bounced back toward the goal line and was recovered by Plymouth's Anthony Velez at the Alvirne 8-yard line. Two plays later, Brickley scored from five yards out to give the Bobcats a 22-18 lead just 1:22 into the half.

"Right after we scored that touchdown, we felt good and everything was going to be fine," Brickley said. "The punt block is a big change of momentum in the game and I just think we did a good job of capitalizing on that."

Alvirne struggled to move the ball until late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The Broncos had a first down at the Plymouth 25-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs at the 19 with 10:40 left.

Malm picked up five yards on first down, but a false start pushed it back to a second-and-10. Bannon dropped back to pass for just the second time all game and found Brickley over the middle for a 26-yard gain.

The Bobcats picked up four more first downs on the drive, which went for 16 plays and 81 yards, taking up 8:10, and ending on Bannon's 3-yard touchdown run.

"That’s what that offense does," Rothe said. "They give you three, four years at a time and then they pop one. We prepared for that pass over the middle and we knew it was coming and we just couldn’t get to it. That’s just how the ball bounced for us."