- Plymouth, Head Coach: Dan Knaus; 2021 season record: 10-1 (7-0)
The Plymouth Panthers are coming off a spectacular 2021 season, going undefeated heading to the WIAA Playoffs, winning their opening round match 51-0 against Milwaukee-Madison, before losing to the eventually WIAA Division 3 State Champions Pewaukee at home in the second round 34-0. The Panthers were offensively dominant averaging 31.6 points per game, while their defense had 19 interceptions and 7 total defensive touchdowns (all interceptions), the latter of which was tied for best in the state to make them a devasting force to face all-year long. This does come with an asterisk as they will be without their top contributors from last season in almost category, losing their starting quarterback, top running back, top receiver, and leading pass rusher among many others to graduation.
However, Plymouth is without players replace to those stalwarts. In fact, on defense the team has two players returning who major impacts in their sophomore seasons. Juniors this year, Ryan Koll and Marco Troka lead the team in tackles with 86 and 80 total tackles respectively in 2021. Koll also had a sack, forced a fumble, recovered three fumbles, and had an interception, while Troka had four sacks, two fumble recoveries, one interception and one defensive touchdown in 2021. New offensive leaders will definitely need to step up too for a repeat of last season’s performance, and head coach Dan Knaus is confident in his junior players saying “Jordan Schmitt has looked good at quarterback, Troka and Koll at running back, Tom Bland has shown flashes receiver.” The team also has returning seniors like running back Dylan Sass and wide receiver Jake Shutter, plus much of the 2021 team’s offensive and defensive linemen will be returning, many for their senior seasons, with four linemen from the 2021 team graduating. Speaking of the team’s ultimate goal, Knaus said “our goals always begin with getting better collectively and individually week in and week out. We have really instilled leadership into our program the last two years and we firmly believe that great leaders will result in great people that win the right way.
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