All good things must come to an end, a reality that the Luxemburg Casco Spartans were hoping to avoid in a return trip to Plymouth, the team that eliminated them a year ago. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as the Spartans fell to the Panthers 35-6 as heard on 104.1 WRLU.
Luxemburg Casco received the opening kickoff of the game, but were quickly stopped on their first possession, punting after a 3 and out. Plymouth came out firing, marching down the field, capping off their opening drive with a 7 yard touchdown by Deven Miller. Looking to respond, the Spartans did piece together a drive that got into Plymouth territory but fizzled out after a fumble was nearly lost and a costly penalty backed the offense up. After a turnover on downs, Plymouth was able to take advantage, scoring again, this time on an 18 yard pass to Dylan Korthals. The Spartans offense was unable to muster a scoring drive but did force a stop late in the 2nd quarter, but the ensuing punt pinned LC to their own 3 yard line. Plymouth’s defense was able to force another 3 and out, giving the Panthers great field position after the Spartans punt. One of the biggest turning points in the game came on the ensuing possession, as Plymouth found themselves facing a 4th and 5, where Kayden Schultz pulled down the snap from the punt formation and ran to the 19 yard line, being forced out of bounds by Cam Dorner. In the aftermath of the play, Dorner was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and disqualified from the contest. A couple plays later, Cole Kuhn scored on a trick play, and the Panthers extended the lead to 21-0 before halftime.
Plymouth got the opening kick in the 2nd half, and extended the lead on Miller’s second score of the game, a 7 yard carry for the touchdown. To Luxemburg Casco’s credit they battled back resiliently, but were unable to answer until late in the 4th, after forcing a stop on 4th down to take back possession of the game. Eli Derenne found Tatem Klaubauf for a 40 yard catch and run that got the Spartans offense into the redzone, aided in part by a facemask to add some extra yardage. A few plays later, LC faced 4th and goal from 3, when Mason Trimberger found the endzone on a jet sweep, ending the shutout. The Spartans attempted to go for a 2 point conversion, but Loritz’s pass was batted down incomplete. Jacob Walton attempted an onside kick to try to give Luxemburg Casco an extra possession, and the picture perfect kick was nearly recovered by the Spartans but took a hop just out of reach into the Panthers hands. Plymouth put the game out of reach a short matter later, as Schultz and Korthals connected once again this time from 36 yards out to put the Panthers up 35-6 after the ensuing PAT kick.
The Spartans season comes to an end after an 8-3 campaign. Plymouth moves onto face #1 seed Grafton, who took down #4 Merrill 59-0.
Photo by Ron LeCloux
