As Lloyd Christmas said in the movie Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”
“Our playoffs started tonight,” said Panthers head coach Darren Fruzzetti moments after his team defeated Pembroke High 32-14 to break a five-game losing skid. “We needed this one tonight to get to next week.”
To become eligible for the football playoffs, a team must have at least three wins. After opening the season with a win over Silver Lake, the next five games ended in different levels of frustration for Plymouth South (2-5).
Beating Pembroke left the door slightly open for South to get into the tourney mix if it can upset North Quincy (6-1) on the road Friday, Oct. 30, in the final game of the opening leg of the regular season.
After that game, the playoffs will begin for the qualifying teams. Everyone else will play three division games arranged by the MIAA, leading to the Thanksgiving game. South will play at Plymouth North this year.
Plymouth South never trailed against the Titans (3-4) on Senior Night.
The Panthers were boosted by punt return touchdowns from senior captain Kyle Nguyen (64 yards) and sophomore Brenton Cozzone (51 yards). Sophomore running back Bennett Tobin did most of the running on offense, breaking free for touchdown runs of 13 and 24 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Cooper Fry got into the mix in the second half, tossing his first varsity touchdown pass to senior captain Brayden McNulty.
“We asked some young players to take on big roles tonight, and the entire team came together to get the win. A total team win,” said Fruzzetti. “We made some big plays and scored on a couple of punt returns, which was huge tonight.”
Friday was Senior Night for the Plymouth South football team. (Photo by David Wolcott)
McNulty and Cozzone spoke after the game about seeing the young team begin to build some confidence.
“It feels great,” said McNulty, who had another monster game on the defensive side of the football. “The key for us this week was coming together as a team.”
“When we play as a family, great things happen,” added Cozzone.
Plymouth South now faces a North Quincy team that’s not going to be in a very good mood. The upstart Red Raiders (6-1) saw their chance at an undefeated season end Friday night in a 42-28 loss at Scituate High.David Wolcott can be reached at dwolcott@plymouthindependent.org.