By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — The hype has begun for “The Game.”
Friday at Dunlap, two undefeated teams will face off when No. 11 Plymouth takes on No. 8 Concord. It’s the kind of atmosphere that has become a hallmark of the battle between two of the perennial Class 4A powers in the northern half of the state.

“The hype has already started and the team that handles that and slows the game down enough so they can play well is going to win it,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “Obviously it’s a big game. Both teams have been in big games. But over the years it seems that you have to perform and forget the hype of the ‘big game.’”
Conference foes, each knows what to expect from the other and there is a healthy amount of respect.
“I think since the semistate game in 1998 when they beat us over here, they’ve been the best 4A team in the northern half of the state,” said Barron. “When (coach) Tim Dawson decided to go to that no tight end spread it was a very good decision. They have the kind of athletes that are good in space.”
This year the Minuteman offense is a hybrid.
“It’s not the same offense this year,” said Barron. “They’re running the ball as well as I’ve ever seen them.”
It’s something that Barron expects will be in the game plan this week.
“I think if they can run the ball they’re going to run it,” said Barron. “I think they’re going to run at any front we show them and stick with it. They beat Jimtown by running the ball.”
That doesn’t mean they won’t throw it.
“They spread you out and they want you to have to cover the whole field and that helps the running game,” said Barron. “But they’re also trying to see what kind of match ups they can get and if they find the right ones they’re going to take advantage of that.”
Defensively the look is a little more vanilla, but a mean vanilla.
“They aren’t just going to sit and take what the offense gives them,” said Barron. “They aren’t going to get into something and sit and wait. That’s one thing their coaching staff has always done extremely well. They’ll throw some different fronts at you, but they are going to try to control the tempo of the game on that side of the ball.
“I’m sure that they’ve discussed the fact a few times this week that we beat them last year. We are going to have to match their intensity. This is a game that will really tell us where we are, how good we are. It will give us some good perspective of how we match up with the best and how far we might be able to go.”