CM gets season back on track with 21-6 win over Plymouth South Panthers

The CM Knights traveled down to Plymouth South High School where they would try to get their season back on track against the Panthers. After a somewhat lackluster 3 quarters the Knights finally broke it open in the fourth, scoring 15 points and securing the win.

1st Quarter
The Panthers started the first half on an 8 minute drive which consisted of all run plays out of the exact same formation. They brought the ball all the way down to the 10 yard line where the Knights stopped the drive by stuffing a run up the middle. The only offensive highlight from the Knights in the first quarter was a 15 yard pass from AJ Doyle to Joey McCarthy across the middle of the field.

2nd Quarter
The Knights started their touchdown drive in the second quarter on a play action, Doyle rolled out as far as he could go and found Donald Bland who turned the 8 yard pass into a 20 yard gain. Next, the Knights ran a reverse from Armani Reeves to Joey McCarthy who ran for 13 yards. Doyle would then hook up with McCarthy on an 11 yard touchdown pass, after an unsuccessful extra point attempt CM lead the way 6-0. After another heavy diet of run plays from the Panthers, CM turned them over on downs to end the half.

3rd Quarter
The third quarter was for the most part uneventful. CM ran another reverse, this time to Reeves who ran for a 10 yard gain. The Knights drove the ball into field goal position but kicker Tom Byrnes didn’t have a chance as the Panthers penetrated the line to disrupt the play. All Byrnes could do was try to draw a penalty but there was not enough contact to justify it. CM got the ball back with 2:30 left in the quarter when Shane Smith jumped on a fumble, the first big mistake of the Panthers’ offense all night.

4th Quarter
After relinquishing the ball back to the Panthers this game looked like it could go down to the wire. In a sense the Panthers killed themselves in this game. Once again they turned the ball over when a botched pitch to the running back was recovered by the Knights on their own 12 yard line. This is where the Knights’ started to put the game away. When Doyle dropped back and realized that he had no receivers down field he tucked it and ran, after getting a couple of blocks he ran for 26 yards. Running Back Lorenzo Warren then broke free from a few tackles ran for a a 51 yard touchdown with 4:57 left in the game. A successful two point conversion put the Knights up 14-0 and in great position to get the win. However the game was not yet secured to the point where they could relax. On the Panthers’ first pass attempt of the game Paul Fahey stripped the Quarterback to force a fumble and give the Knights the ball back. A few plays later Warren forced his way into the end zone once again with 3:11 left to put the game away. The Panthers finally got on the scoreboard with :04 seconds left in the game and missed the extra point.

This was a great win for the Knights. All season in close games they have made big plays in the fourth quarter and this game was no exception. Great plays were made on both sides of the ball in the closing minutes of the game as the Knights improved to 5-3 on the season. Next Saturday they will travel to Xaverian and try to derail the number 1 ranked team in Massachusetts.

Mike Slonina '11