Plymouth South makes first D4 Super Bowl in 6 years with 26-14 win over Tantasqua

WESTWOOD – In 2011, nine-year old Keven Paul was a Pop Warner star, scoring on the first play — a 40-yard run — for Plymouth in a halftime scrimmage at a Patriots game for a memory of a lifetime.

Now a senior at Plymouth South, Paul and his teammates actually get to relive the moment. The Panthers (10-1) earned a trip to Gillette Stadium with a 26-14 Division 4 state semifinal victory over Tantasqua. With the win, Plymouth South returns to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2013, where they will face Melrose.

Defense and special teams were the keys for Plymouth South as Paul and teammates P.J. Murphy and Jack Condon (game-high eight tackles) dominated in the secondary. Paul was all over the place for Plymouth South on both sides of the ball. The senior safety contributed six tackles, three passes defended, and chipped in on offense with 44 yards receiving and even a snap at quarterback in a key situation.

Paul joked around about his town-legend 40-yard run at Gillette but credited both defenses for the chance to do it again.

“Of course I plan on reliving the moment and to now have the opportunity to do it again (at Gillette) with my teammates as a senior is pretty special,” said Paul. “Credit to (Tantasqua) defense as they knew to stack seven guys in the box because they knew Nick was going off the past few weeks, so we had to go with different options. We watched film all week, took away their tendencies as they like to run first, so it was a heck of a job for our defensive line.”

The Panthers defense forced Tantasqua into a quick three-and-out but the Plymouth South offense didn’t start things off on the right foot. On a rare miscue from the efficient Hunter Dean at quarterback, Seann Lauritsen returned an interception 32 yards to give Tantasqua a 7-0 lead 6:10 into the game.

Plymouth South answered with an 11-play drive as Dean (8-14 97 yards; 2 TDs) made up for things with a 10-yard pass to Hunter Budrow to tie it at 7-7. Siegelman, who finished the game with 107 yards on 27 carries, rushed seven times in the drive but only managed 26 yards as the Warriors defense bottled up the Panthers’ leading rusher most of the first half.

The Warriors were backed up on the next series on a first and goal at the one and stuffed two consecutive runs by Siegelman before Dean scored on the ground for his second touchdown and the 13-7 lead, with 2:24 remaining in the half.

Tantasqua (8-3) was also all about rushing inside the tackles with their bell cow, Ryan Sears. But the excellent punting of Tyler Doyle and the Plymouth South special teams coverage were keeping the drives long for the Warriors. Tantasqua fell short on a key fourth-and-1 jet sweep snuffed out by Paul for a four-yard loss followed by a 38-yard field goal try on the next series. Jarod Spratt’s kick fell a foot short as time expired.

“We got a holding call that put us behind the chains and probably just a foot short on the field goal and in a game like this, three points goes a long way especially going into halftime,” said Tantasqua head coach Jon Hargis, in his third year with the Warriors after taking over a 3-8 program. “The seniors bought in since Day 1 …Sears has been a warrior for us all year, been running the ball, runs the ball hard, physical and he wants to score on every play. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Sears finished with a game-high 119 yards on 25 carries and the lone offensive touchdown for the Warriors, but it wasn’t enough as the offensive line missed senior captain Noah Galonek opening holes for Sears. Galonek injured his leg in the semifinal win over Fitchburg.

Siegelman finally hit the jackpot as he cut back against the grain for a 14-yard touchdown set up by Paul’s one-time appearance at quarterback. Paul turned the corner with a bootleg on a third-and-12, that kept the chains moving for the 19-7 lead with 5:42 left in the third.

“The thing that epitomizes this team — it’s been a team effort the whole year and I know Nick (Siegelman) gets a lot of the credit because we hand him the ball 40 times a game,” said Plymouth South head coach, Scott Fry. “Keven Paul has been unbelievable on defense and nobody really cares who gets the credit – Nick would be the first to say so – as it’s really been a total team accomplishment this year, which makes it that much (more) special.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/33gLxnQ