Cougars lose at North Daviess

A group of North Putnam defenders brings down the running back during a game earlier this season. The Cougars had trouble on Friday slowing down the North Daviess ground game. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

ELNORA -- North Putnam has spend the whole first half of the season trying to stop opponents who would be content to keep the ball on the ground on every offensive play.

The NPHS defense started to find a rhythm last week, but strong performance for North Daviess senior fullback Colton Lengacher sent the Cougars back to the drawing board after a 44-15.

"We just couldn't stop (Lengacher)," NPHS coach Greg Barrett said. "They're an I-(formation) power team and that's all they did all night. We just couldn't tackle him."

Lengacher was All-State honorable mention as a junior and showed he deserves consideration again this season with his performance against the Cougars.

North Putnam (0-5, 0-2 WCC) knew coming into the game he was the player to stop, but NPHS had no answer. Barrett said he thought the defense would be able to slow Lengacher down, particularly with the way they played last week against South Putnam, but they were no match for Lengacher's power and size (6-foot-2, 235 pounds).

The Cougars had some success moving the ball on offense, keeping the ball on the ground and trying to control the clock, but it wasn't enough to keep them in the game.

Barrett said as his team prepares for the rest of the rest of the season and for a motivated opponent next week with Greencastle (1-4, 1-1 WCC), he is confident the team will be improved.

"We saw some bright spots (against North Daviess), we just saw way too many spots that weren't very bright," Barrett said. "We'll take care of the things that we've got to get better at. ... We've got a great group of kids working hard, so we'll just keep getting at it and doing the things we do."

No stats available