'Cats vs. 'Dogs

Thursday's Plymouth-Brighton contest will showcase a pair of stellar defenses

  The pattern has been apparent to Plymouth football coach Mike Sawchuk during his team's early-season practices and its season-opening victory over Salem on Friday night.
  "At practice, we'll have one good play, then one bad play, one good play, one bad, play," said Sawchuk. "And in the game against Salem, we had one bad half (the first) and one bad half. That's something we've talked about a lot the past few days: You play like you practice. We have to get more consistent."
  The Wildcats will need four quarters of solid football to come out of Thursday night's game at Brighton with a victory. The Bulldogs, who return seven players on defense, lost to Canton, 6-0, Friday night, but didn't yield a first down in the second half to the Chiefs' potent offense.   The game was played in a steady downpour, which limited both teams' ability to move the football.
  "Their defense flies around," said Sawchuk. "They're very aggressive.
  "Offensively, they're very big. Their quarterback is a heck of an athlete who can really hurt you if he breaks contain.   They run several offensive formations, so we'll have to be prepared for anything."
  After reviewing the game film of Friday's win over Salem, Sawchuk was even more impressed with the play of defensive line than he was during the contest.
  "They played awesome," he said. "Everybody was going to the ball. Our linebackers were very solid, too."
Plymouth will have the edge if the game is close down the stretch thanks to junior kicker Kyle Brindza, who drilled a 47-yard field goal with 10 yards to spare against the Rocks.
  Thursday night's game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Brighton. Weather conditions are expected to be near-perfect.
  Junior quarterback Victor Hicks will get his first high school varsity start against Brighton. He relieved Ryan Barrera late in the second quarter of Friday's win over Salem and sparked the Wildcats' offense to 22 second-half points.

Ed Wright can be reached at info@plymouthcantonsports.com or (734) 453-1980.