Lorian runs past Cougars, school rush record

Saturday, October 26, 2013
South Putnam junior Lucas Lorian hurdles a defender during Friday's sectional quarterfinal win against Trinity Lutheran. Lorian was called for a penalty on the play but finished with 350 yards and five touchdowns. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

He came in like a wrecking ball, but by the time South Putnam junior Lucas Lorian took his handoff and got up to the line of scrimmage, there was no wall to wreck. His offensive linemen had already taken care of that.

The Eagles thoroughly, completely dominated visiting Trinity Lutheran in the first round of the Indiana High School Athletic Association sectional tournament on Friday, beating the Cougars 64-0.

Lorian ran for what seemed like miles but stopped just short, finishing his day with 350 yards and five touchdowns. That total helped Lorian surpass the one-mile mark for the season and set new school records with 2,143 yards and 30 touchdowns.

South Putnam was motivated not just from the start of the postseason, but also from perceived disrespect from its opponent.

"It's tournament time," South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess said. "You work all season long and you play hard and you feel like you've earned a little bit of respect. ... Our kids took it a little personal and they played with a little edge tonight."

The Eagles came out of the gates blazing past the frigid Cougars and controlled the game from the opening snap.

After a booming kickoff from junior Zane Yon, Trinity Lutheran took the ball on its own 15-yard line to start the game.

The first play, a called flea flicker, ended up in a loss of nine yards when senior defensive tackle Lane Hacker shot into the backfield for a sack.

Cougars freshman Blake Levy lofted a pass incomplete on second down, then dropped back again on third down. Sophomore Joe Masters blew up that play for a sack and a safety and the Eagles took a lead less than a minute into the game without ever touching the ball.

It took just one play to score again.

South Putnam started the ensuing possession on the Trinity Lutheran 40, handed off to Lorian and the back skipped, shuffled and sprinted through the defense for his first score.

The Eagles were playing with a passion that went beyond just an ordinary postseason game. Spurred by newspaper comments from the Trinity Lutheran coaching staff calling Lorian "an average back," South Putnam had something to prove.

"We respect every opponent we play and we try to show that respect," Burgess said. "As an opposing coach, when you go in the newspaper and talk about, 'I've seen two or three backs just as good as their back; they're an average team; they've never played anybody quite like us,' ... I think that's an insult to teams like Tri-West. I think that's an insult to Cascade.

"It's an insult to Greencastle. To say those things, that's a little bulletin board material. Our kids took it a little personal and wanted to come out tonight and show that we're a better football team than that."

Lorian got the ball on the Eagles first 13 plays, scoring two touchdowns and, on his first reception of the year, embarrassing a Trinity Lutheran defender by hurdling directly over him. He was correctly called for an unsportsmanlike penalty, but the statement was more powerful than the loss of yards.

"I think he's pretty special," Burgess said. "He had a little extra motivation, he wanted the ball in his hands and I wanted to give him an opportunity to do it. His offensive linemen wanted him to have the ball in his hands.

"That's what's important about this team. They're very close-knit and they felt like they had something to prove for him."

On the rare occasion there wasn't a truck-sized hole in the line in front of him, Lorian was content to carry on his back any Cougar defenders willing to try to stop him.

Lorian was unmoved by the advances and shucked the tacklers off like corn husk as he got into the end zone seemingly at will.

While Trinity Lutheran was preoccupied trying to come up with some way to slow down the "third or fourth best back" it had seen this year, the Eagles linemen took advantage.

The unit ravaged the Cougars on both sides of the ball. Hacker, the team's center on offense, had 2.5 sacks. Seniors Rudy Harris and Tayler Arnold had 1.0 each and sophomore Trevor Long had 0.5.

It wasn't just the pass rush that interrupted Trinity Lutheran. The Cougars finished the game with negative-4 yards rushing and only 82 yards from scrimmage.

The game was so out of hand that South Putnam ended the first half by taking a knee from the Trinity Lutheran 1-yard line rather than punching in another score.

The Eagles were content to take their 44-0 lead into the break.

At the end of the first half, Lorian had 21 touches, 285 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns. The Cougars had run 22 plays for one first down.

Lorian had one drive to punctuate his statement game, and it lasted just one play -- an 80-yard touchdown to open the second half that put him past the single-season yardage record and left him just 14 yards shy of the South Putnam single-game record of 364.

With its featured back out of the game, the Eagles mixed in a series of other ball carriers throughout the remainder of the game.

Senior Joe Waters had three carries for 43 yards and two touchdowns, junior Dakota Bunten had seven carries for 45 yards and a TD, freshman Kyle Shaffer had 10 carries for 45 yards and a TD, senior Derrick Mitchell had one carry for 13 yards and freshman Andrew Ballard got his first varsity carry, a two-yard gain.

Senior quarterback Sawyer Arnold had the Eagles other score, a 32-yard run in the second quarter. He finished the game 4-for-5 passing for 34 yards.

"We got everybody a lot of touches," Burgess said. "We got a lot of young kids a chance to carry the football and a lot of young kids got a chance to play."

The Eagles finished the game with 584 yards of offense and 25 first downs. The Cougars had 79 yards from scrimmage and three first downs.

South Putnam also had three interceptions, one each from Sawyer Arnold, senior Wes Riner and senior Klayton Vittetow.

South Putnam (9-1, 5-0 WCC) advanced in the tournament and will travel to West Washington next week, a two a hour drive to an unfamiliar opponent from the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference.

The Senators (5-5) beat South Decatur on Friday 21-12.

"We're very happy to be playing another week," Burgess said. "I'll take a four-hour drive as long as we're playing. I'm very excited.

"It'll be neat to go somewhere that I've never been. ... This is what makes the tournament fun this year."

Lane Hacker (right) and Tayler Arnold (left) combine to sack Trinity Lutheran quarterback Blake Levy during Friday's win. South Putnam had six sacks during Friday's win. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)



IHSAA Sectional Quarterfinal
At South Putnam

Trinity Lutheran 0 0 0 0 -- 0
South Putnam 16 28 13 7 -- 64

Scoring summary
1st quarter
S 11:06 -- Masters sacks Levy for 6-yd loss, safety, 2-0
S 10:58 -- Lorian 40-yard run (Yon kick), 9-0
S 4:46 -- Lorian 39-yd run (Yon kick), 16-0

2nd quarter
S 11:53 -- Lorian 10-yd run (Yon kick), 23-0
S 10:38 -- Lorian 64-yd run (Yon kick), 30-0
S 6:44 -- Arnold 32-yd run (Yon kick), 37-0
S 3:55 -- Waters 1-yd run (Yon kick), 44-0

3rd quarter
S 11:37 -- Lorian 80-yd run (Yon kick) 51-0
S 9:27 -- Waters 40-yd run (PAT failed, bad snap, incomplete pass), 57-0

4th quarter
S 9:20 -- Bunten 21-yd run (Yon kick), 64-0

Team stats

*SPTL
1st down253
Net yard58479
Rush-yard58-55023-(-4)
Passing3483
Ints-ret yd3-270-0
Comp-att-int4-6-010-23-3
Sacked-lost2-106-53
Fumbles-lost1-01-1
Penalties-yd4-353-12

Individual stats
Trinity Lutheran
Rushing: Harless 7-39; Welker 2-7; Warren 2-3; Rollins 1-0; Stout 1-(-2); Bottoroff 2-(-4); Levy 8-(-47)
Passing: Levy 10-21-2-86; Stout 0-2-1
Receiving: Marksberry 4-37; Rollins 2-25; Harless 2-14; McKay 2-2

South Putnam
Rushing: Lorian 21-350; Waters 3-43; Riner 1-12; Bunten 7-45; Shaffer 10-45; Arnold 4-44; Mitchell 1-13; Grundlock 1-7; Ballard 1-2; Hall 1-2; McHugh 8-(-13)
Passing: Arnold 4-5-0-34; McHugh 0-1-0-0
Receiving: Vittetow 2-16; Lorian 1-15; Rutter 1-3

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  • Wow! Congrats to the Eagles and Mr. Lorian.

    -- Posted by Balding Eagle on Sat, Oct 26, 2013, at 7:28 AM
  • THAT IS MY BOY! We dont care about the STUPID penalty, that jump was AMAZING & so are you Lucas Lorian!!!!!!!!!!!!

    -- Posted by truthis on Wed, Oct 30, 2013, at 3:58 PM
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