Cougars move to 4-0 in 49-7 win over county rival South Putnam

Saturday, September 8, 2007

BAINBRIDGE - And the train keeps on rolling.

With a cool breeze blowing and storm clouds hovering overhead, the North Putnam Cougars continued their run at a perfect season with a 47-9 victory over visiting South Putnam under the Friday night lights, putting their record at 4-0 on the season.

Adam Vondersaar

Things started well for the Cougars as they marched down the field to score on their opening drive on an Adam Vondersaar 22-yard scamper.

"We came out of the gate and played really good football tonight," Cougars coach Dave Pasch said, "The game of football is all about details and it's exciting to see that we've established ourselves to the point where we can worry about the details."

"We have to decide it's important to us and right now it's not. We got outplayed. We got out classed. We got out coached - top to bottom," South Putnam coach Troy Burgess said.

On South's third snap, Hunter Edwards' pass was picked off by the Cougar's Austin Malayer, who took the offering into the end zone to put the Cougars up 14-0.

Things didn't get any better for the Eagles on their next possession as Jacob Parrish coughed up the ball. The Cougars took only two plays to get into the end zone, but a bad snap left the score at 20-0 in favor of North Putnam. North would score again as Vondersaar would score with 4:05 remaining in the quarter.

Where North Putnam thrived, South Putnam struggled.

The Eagles managed only seven yards in the opening quarter and put up only 10 yards in the second quarter.

A bright spot for the Eagles was their second-quarter defense. South held the Cougars to a single score as the quarter came to an end when Vondersaar scored from 2-yards out, putting the Cougars up 34-0.

As the second half began, the Eagles' first drive stalled after two Parrish runs and an Edwards' incomplete pass.

Cougar running back Kyle Rooker breaks the tackles of South Putnam 's Trent Knight (45) and Nathan Welty. Rooker amassed 48 yards and 11 carries.

The Cougars picked up where they left off.

On their first possession of the second half, North put together an 11-play drive that ended with Kyle Rooker plowing his way into the end zone with 4:35 remaining.

The Eagle settled down and put together a drive that moved the ball 20 yards and proved to the Eagles, they could move the ball against the Cougars. The Eagles would find the end zone on their next possession.

The Eagles kept the ball on the ground and put together a five-play, 42-yard drive that was capped by an Edwards to Trent Knight touchdown pass, giving the Eagles their first and only score of the night.

Maybe the most exciting play for the Cougars came with 7:00 on the clock, when Rob Ford took the ball up the sideline and galloped his way into the end zone from 59-yards out. North would make the 2-point conversion, making the score 49-7.

"The target on your back gets a little bit bigger each week," Pasch commented. "We're going to get everyone's best effort each week. We'll continue to do what we've been doing and hopefully get better."

After the loss, an obviously upset Burgess didn't mix words and laid out what he believes the Eagles need to do to get on track.

"Until we decide we want to play football, this is going to be the result. Our league, our conference and the people we play are too good to just show up," he said. "We've got to dedicate ourselves and want to be here and right now I question whether some of our guys really want to be on the field or not.

"We've got to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask how important is it to be a football player for the South Putnam Eagles," Burgess emphasized.

The Cougars will next travel to Park Tudor at 7 p.m. Friday, while the Eagles will travel to Greencastle at 7 p.m. Friday.

At North Putnam

South Putnam 0 0 0 7 - 7

North Putnam 27 7 7 8 - 49

First Quarter

North Putnam - Vondersaar 22-yard run (Dahlstrom kick) 9:20

North Putnam - Malayer Int. return (Dahlstrom kick) 7:40

North Putnam - Francies 36-yard pass from Dahlstrom (kick failed)

North Putnam - Vondersaar 5-yard run (Dahlstrom kick)

Second Quarter

North Putnam - Vondersaar 2-yard run (Dahlstrom kick) 3:18

Third Quarter

North Putnam - Rooker 1-yard run (Dahlstrom kick) 4:35

Fourth Quarter

North Putnam - Knight 5-yard pass from Edwards 8:05

South Putnam - Ford 59-yard run (2-pt. conversion) 7:00

Individual stats

Rushing

South Putnam (32-98) - Knight 2-34, Cash 8-22, Bunten 1-15, Parrish 11-16, Edwards 4-8, Davidson 5-4, Adams 1-(-1).

North Putnam (40-310) - Dahlstrom 6-83, Vondersaar 13-69, Ford 1-59, Rooker 11-48, Adams 2-26, Francies 4-21, Boruff 2-10, Braeger 1-(-6).

Passing

South Putnam - Edwards 5-8, 22 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT; Davidson 0-4, 0 yds, Spencer 0-3, 0 yds.

North Putnam - Dahlstrom 4-8, 60 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Receiving

South Putnam - Sebanc 2-19, Knight 1-5, 1 TD, Welty 1-3, Parrish 1-(-5)

North Putnam - Vondersaar 3-34, Francies 1-26

Next game - The Cougars will next travel to Park Tudor at 7 p.m. Friday, while the Eagles will travel to Greencastle at 7 p.m. Friday.

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