Plymouth football does what it does best to get win against St. Thomas

DOVER - There’s a reason the Plymouth High School football team has won back-to-back Division II titles and nine since the 2005 season.

It’s because when it comes to big games the Bobcats come to play, and muscle and bruise their way past their opponents.

Saturday in Dover it was no different, as the Bobcats came south for a battle of unbeatens against St. Thomas Aquinas. The last two years Plymouth (5-0) had eliminated the Saints (4-1) from the playoffs and looked just as good again en route to a 20-9 win over St. Thomas to stay unbeaten.

“They know what they’ve been doing for a long time, and we just (repeat) it,” Plymouth coach Chris Sanborn said. “When we wanted to, we let them pound the ball, pound the ball, and pound the ball. We thought we could beat them up front.”

The Bobcats offense dominated the ground game, outrushing St. Thomas 230-60, and outgaining the Saints 305-224 overall. Senior back Patrick Malm rushed for a game-high 152 yards and his touchdown late in the second quarter gave the Bobcats some breathing room and a 13-2 lead heading into intermission.

Fellow senior Owen Brickley had 58 yards on the ground and has was a ball hawk on defense.

“We knew that they would blitz their linebackers a lot,” Brickley said. “We knew that Patrick was going to be able to get those yards on those traps. The line did a great job, and he really took advantage of it.”

With the Plymouth offense chugging along it was up to the defense to stop St. Thomas quarterback Shawn DeKorne once again, and it was up to the task. DeKorne did complete 17 of 25 passes for 164 yards, but 65 of them came on the Saints’ lone touchdown drive deep in the fourth quarter.

DeKorne never got a chance to get going offensively, and when it seemed like the Saints would get moving, they were undone by mistakes. Two lost fumbles hurt, and an interception in the end zone by Plymouth junior Nick Qualey in the third quarter was a gut punch for the Saints.

Junior receiver Will MacLean was held to five receptions and 37 yards. He also caught the lone touchdown for St. Thomas.

“It was all about covering (MacLean),” Malm said. “We knew he was their best receiver so we put in a couple of extra defenses where we had two guys covering him. They did a great job.”

Cody Bannon was a menace at quarterback for Plymouth. The sophomore went 5 for 6 for 75 yards and a 21-yard touchdown to Cale Swanson in the third quarter. Four of his completions went for key first downs that retook momentum from St. Thomas.

As the wins keep coming, the Bobcats are keen not to rest on any laurels as they hit the home stretch of the season.

“It’s pride and tradition,” Brickley said. “It’s happened before us. We just look up to everyone that came before us and how to act and conduct ourselves on the field and everywhere else.”