Plymouth State barrier to Mariners’ title hopes

The second consecutive winning season has already been stowed away below decks. Now the Maine Maritime Academy football team is steaming on a new course, one that leads straight to the Northern Division title of the New England Football Conference.

If the 5-3 Mariners from Castine can beat Plymouth State Saturday in New Hampshire (1 p.m.) and Lowell loses to UMass-Boston, MMA will clinch the Northern Division title and have a shot at its first NEFC crown since 1980.

If the Mariners can beat Plymouth State….

“When you look at their roster, you see Plymouth has 42 juniors and seniors,” said third-year MMA head coach John Huard, sizing up the acknowledged power in the NEFC. “They’re at another level from the standpoint of personnel…. But they can be beat. Anyone can be beat.”

Finding a way to beat Plymouth State has been the quest of 12 other NEFC teams for more than a decade. They’re still looking. The Panthers have virtually owned the conference in that span, winning 8 of the past 9 titles while rolling up an aggregate record of 88-16-2.

This year, Plymouth State takes a 7-1 record into the contest with MMA. How good are the Panthers? Their one loss was a 33-17 war with American International, a Division II school that has played the University of Maine on occasion. As usual, the Panthers enter the MMA game ranked first in the NEFC in both total offense and defense.

“From what everybody has said, they think this is the best Plymouth State team ever, even when they had (Joe) Dudek,” said Huard, referring to the former PSC tailback who went on to become a Heisman Trophy candidate and play briefly in the NFL. “We’ve got our hands full.”

The Mariners will be out to snap a 10-game losing streak to PSC. The Panthers lead the series 15-4, the last MMA victory an 8-7 decision in 1979. With that kind of history, it might be expected the Mariners would be ready to call it a season right now. They aren’t.

“We’ve still got a chance (to win the division) and we want it,” said Kirk Matthieu, the record-setting sophomore tailback who has spearheaded the MMA multiple offense by rushing for 1,340 yards and 8 TDs. “They’re a good team, but so are we.”

Aside from spotting the Panthers more than 20 pounds per man in both lines, the Mariners do, in fact, mirror PSC.

Both teams have balanced attacks that feature talented runners. MMA’s Matthieu leads the conference, while PSC tailback Tracey Manter ranks fourth with 661 yards and 4 TDs.

Both teams also have accomplished passing tandems. The duo of MMA quarterback Dave Robinson and wide receiver John Guss have hooked up 43 times for 6 TDs. Panther quarterback Matt Jozokos has thrown for 22 TDs with only 6 interceptions. His favorite target is WR Doug Cantrell, who has 32 catches and 11 TDs.

“We’re both wide open,” assessed Huard. “They do a couple of things differently. They go with a lot of big plays. We throw a lot of underneath stuff. They don’t like to run the ball as much as we do.”

The Mariners rank fifth in the conference in both total offense and defense, averaging 315 and 303 yards, respectively. PSC averages 381 yards of offense and yields only 178 yards to the opposition.

What will it take for MMA to pull off the upset?

“Basically, we’ve got to do a good job on field position,” answered Huard. “The kicking game has to be consistent. The thing we have to do is prevent them from running up a lot of scores quickly. We have that capability. It will be interesting to see what happens.”