Pilgrims KO Mustangs
New Plymouth piles on 477 yards of total offense against Melba
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
scottf@argusobserver.com
Friday, October 2, 2009 10:30 AM PDT
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| Scott Ford | Argus Observer
New Plymouth receiver Justin Johnson (4) looks for a running lane, while trying to avoid a Melba defender during senior night in New Plymouth Thursday. The Pilgrims defeated Melba, 35-20, to improve to 2-0 in the Western Idaho Conference standings. Johnson and Pilgrim quarterback Brady Harris connected for four touchdowns in the win. |
New Plymouth—With the final score 35-20, a knockout may not be the correct term to describe New Plymouth’s victory over Melba Thursday in New Plymouth.
But knocking Mustangs out is what the Pilgrims did.
On two occasions, the Pilgrim defense laid out a Melba player in knockout fashion. Add in a ton of other violent hits and this game had the luster of a heavyweight boxing bout.
Mebla came in sporting the bigger team, but New Plymouth head coach Porter Lacey told his team following the game that the Pilgrims are not afraid of any team, and their play Thursday night proved that.
“We are a very physical team, and that is what we preach,” Lacey said. “We want them to be physical, and there have been some times this year that we have not been very physical, and we will continue to work on that everyday.”
New Plymouth staked an early 25-0 lead by the break, then added 10 more points in the second half for good measure.
The Pilgrims scored their first touchdown on an 11-yard pass play from Brady Harris to Justin Johnson.
Harris and Johnson hooked up three more times on the night for scores.
Johnson had scores of 39 yards, 17 yards and 39 yards.
Harris ended the night with 281 passing yards on 17 of 26 attempts.
“They (Harris and Johnson) have done this before,” Lacey said. “It’s two great athletes making some plays.”
The lone rushing touchdown for New Plymouth came off the running of Dean Kopczynski on an eight-yard run.
On the ground the Pilgrims pounded out 196 yards for the game.
“We are starting to find ourselves,” Lacey said. “We have found some new leadership, and some kids have stepped up to take the place of Casey (Pfeifer).”
Pfeifer has been sidelined for the past two weeks with a broken arm, and the Pilgrims are hopeful their defensive leader will make a return before the season ends.
Even though the final quarter of play became sloppy and comical, the Pilgrims were able to hold off a late charge by Melba, who scored all of its points in the second half.
The Pilgrims will get a week off as they enter their bye week, which Lacey said is coming at a great time for his team.
New Plymouth will come out of its bye week with a road game at Parma.
“It’s nice to be able to have this week to scout Parma and Nampa Christian and to give our team a little break before we wrap up the regular season,” Lacey said.
