Plum football hopes to bounce back at Armstrong

By: William Whalen
Monday, September 25, 2017 | 11:00 PM

Matt Morgan the football coach is superstitious. The 6-foot-6 Plum coach didn't say he was that way as a player, but he has begun to take notice of the invisible forces that surround the sport.

Perhaps that's why after his Mustangs lost at home to No. 5-ranked McKeesport, 48-14, on Friday night, he wasn't looking back. Morgan quickly turned the page on Week 4 in anticipation of the Mustangs' Friday trip to Armstrong.

“As a coach, I'm very superstitious, and hopefully that pattern carries over to Armstrong,” the fifth-year coach said. “Bottom line is that the kids have to start waking up, and we all got to wake up.”

The pattern Morgan speaks of is the Mustangs' season-long trend of losing a game one week and bouncing back the following week with a win. The inconsistent pattern has kept Plum in the thick of the Big East Conference standings. Morgan said he's not a big fan of looking into patterns but hopes it remains true for one more week.

“This was another wake-up call,” Morgan said following Friday's loss. “You get one win and you think your world-beaters when the reality of it is you have great teams every week. Hopefully, this a wake-up call for our boys, and we'll come out next week and be successful.”

Sooner or later the pattern has to be broken, and if Plum (2-3, 2-2) has any thoughts of making the WPIAL Class 5A postseason, the margin for error needs to lessen with just four Big East Conference games left.

There were times against McKeesport when it seemed the playing field was slanted downward toward the Mustangs defense and the McKeesport ballcarriers were shot out of a cannon.

Once McKeesport ballcarriers burst through the first level of the Plum defense, they were off to the races. Arm tackling by Plum defenders wasn't good enough to bring down McKeesport runners, and there wasn't a Mustang on the field who was going to keep up with the Tigers' ballcarriers.

The Tigers scored on touchdown runs of 56, 75, 86, 61, 99, 25 and 76 yards and amassed 600 yards rushing without putting the ball in the air once.

“This is the first time we struggled with assignment football, like real bad,” Morgan said about his team's defensive effort. “It's tough for us, and it's frustrating but guess what, we got to wash it off and get ready for next week.”

When the Mustangs offense settled down and used the running game to set up the pass, Plum was effective and moved the ball well. But trailing by double digits to start the second quarter, Plum play-callers felt the overwhelming need to stay in the game by throwing the ball in an effort to score a quick touchdown and cut into the McKeesport lead. The plan didn't work, took little time off the clock and played right into the Tigers' hands.

“When you start as a play-caller you get a little frustrated when you go down quick like that and think you have to catch up real fast,” Morgan said. “We weren't successful with it, and we went back to what we were successful with and we scored another touchdown.”

Sophomore quarterback Anthony Little hooked up with junior fullback Seth Norcutt for a 15-yard touchdown reception to bring the score to 14-7 with a little less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. But that was as close as the Mustangs would get. Coulter Robb scored on a 15-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to make the score 41-14.

“I thought offensively, running the ball, we were successful,” Morgan said.

The Plum offense moved the ball but drives stalled out. The Mustangs finished the game with 274 yards of offense, 242 yards of that coming on the ground.

“We had a couple of nice drives in the second half, and we have to stay true to who we are and do a better job at that as coaches,” Morgan said.

Week 5 poses a whole new set of problems for Plum. In fact, one could look at the matchup against Armstrong as two teams that mirror one another with big offensive and defensive lines.

Armstrong (2-3, 0-3) returns home to David ‘Red' Ullom Field after losing an overtime heartbreaker to Franklin Regional, 26-23.

Plum sits fifth in the Big East, one-half game ahead of Latrobe (2-3, 1-2).

The River Hawks have a different look now that running back Zane Dudek has moved on to Yale. They are led by senior dual-threat quarterback Dawson Porter, who leads the team in rushing (525 yards, two TDs) while passing for 413 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We'll focus on Armstrong and we know how good they can be, and they're a physical football team,” Morgan said. “Even though they don't have Zane (Dudek), they got talented players all over the field. Their line is big, and it's probably the biggest line we'll face all year. For us, we just got to refocus.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

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