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Greencastle picks up first win at North Putnam
ROACHDALE - Greencastle's football team was 24 minutes away from gaining its first victory last week but failed to hold onto a 16-0 lead, falling to South Putnam at home.
Given a second chance to get their first victory after taking a 17-0 lead into halftime at North Putnam, the Tiger Cubs gave away two fumbles and a score before righting the ship and securing their first win of the season 24-7 over the Cougars.
Greencastle head coach Ryan Spoonmore said the entire program was lifted by the win.
"This is a great win for our program," Spoonmore said. "The coaches have worked tirelessly to get these guys going in the right direction.
"Coach Barrett and his staff do a great job and I love those guys. It does feel good, though, to get that first win for the program because the Tiger Cubs needed that victory."
With players hooting and hollering in the background afterward, Spoonmore added that the team adhered to the message the coaching staff sent out the previous week.
"They feel a lot better than before we started the game," Spoonmore said. "We used 'integrity wins' for our theme of the week.
"We said it's time for us to be good men in the community, in the classroom, in the hallways of our school and it's time to go out and play four quarters of football. That's what we did tonight."
North Putnam head coach Greg Barrett was apologetic to the fans after the loss.
"First of all, we have to apologize to Cougar Nation because they came out and supported us very well tonight and we put a performance like that out there in the first half," Barrett said. "We put ourselves in a hole and had to dig ourselves out but we didn't have enough time.
"We're disappointed because we're a better team than we showed in the first half."
Greencastle got off to a flying start after Cole Edgar picked off North Putnam quarterback Brad Hodges on the third play from scrimmage, setting up a 34-yard field goal by Sedrick Weinschenk to give the Tiger Cubs a 3-0 lead.
After forcing a Cougar punt, the visitors moved inside the North Putnam red zone, only for a bad quarterback-center exchange to be picked up by Nolan Ensor. The hosts returned the ball on the next snap when Blake Everts was stripped and Elijah Williams recovered for the Tiger Cubs.
Still inside the Cougar red zone, Devon Clar punched into the end zone four plays later, sweeping around the Greencastle right side from five yards out to give the Tiger Cubs a 10-0 lead.
With the clock expiring on the first quarter, Hodges was pressured into a poor throw that was intercepted by Austin Mitchell and returned for a 25-yard touchdown, giving the visitors a 17-0 lead.
Spoonmore said that the defense set up the offense well in the first half.
"Those (turnovers) got the mojo going," Spoonmore said. "We challenged the defense to make plays and asked who was going to step up and be a playmaker for us.
"The defense got us going because they were on the field first and the offense took advantage to move the ball and did some nice things. (North Putnam) did some things to stop us but we got a play back here and there and I was proud of guys."
The turnovers came down to Greencastle pressure and a lack of discipline, according to Barrett.
"Give credit to their defense," Barrett said. "Coach (Mike) Meyer brought a lot of pressure, which we knew he was going to bring and we prepared for it all week.
"That's what's disappointing. Sometimes we did get it, sometimes we didn't get it and that goes back to self-discipline and the turnovers in the first half."
After trading possessions to start the second quarter, North Putnam quickly marched to the Greencastle 10-yard line and were inches away from a score when Jake Riggen was tackled a foot from the end zone.
In perhaps the defining moment of the game, however, the Cougars were called for holding on the next play, an illegal formation before the next snap, took a sack on the following play and then a delay of game, seeing second-and-goal from inside the one-yard line to third-and-26, eventually ending in a turnover on downs.
Both coaches agreed that the series altered the course of the contest.
"That was a game changer and a momentum changer," Barrett said. "I thought we were in but we weren't.
"We went to get ourselves in there and we had a couple of penalties and missed a hand-off. We'll go back and look at the film but again, it came down to communication and self-discipline up front."
"That was a huge turn of events for us," Spoonmore added. "We've been shooting ourselves in the foot all season long after doing some great things.
"We told our guys at halftime that the team with the fewest of the mistakes wins these football games and that's true at any level of football."
Greencastle looked to add more points before halftime but Weinschenk pushed a 43-yard field goal attempt wide to the left as the score stayed at 17-0 entering halftime.
Greencastle received the ball to start the second half and moved into North Putnam territory, only for Chandler Hyten to lose the ball in Cougar territory and give the home side a chance to make inroads on the lead.
A critical fourth down run by Everts that covered 49 yards set up the Cougars on the Tiger Cub seven-yard line, close enough for Riggen to power into the end zone and cut the deficit to 17-7.
When Zach Secrest fumbled three plays later, Greencastle fans could have been forgiven for reliving moments from the previous week.
An intentional grounding killed North Putnam's momentum, leading to a failed fourth-and-13 conversion attempt.
After the defense had given the Cougars a chance to stay in the game, Barrett said that not getting a second score deflated the squad a little bit.
"I thought the defense played well at times, I really do," Barrett said. "Our offense just put us in a bad hole.
"Unfortunately, our defense was out there a lot longer than our offense was in the first half. I was happy with the way the offense marched the ball downfield after a turnover.
"We missed a chance to do that after a second turnover and we really needed to make that happen, which is where we lost a bit of wind in the sail," Barrett added. "If we scored there, things could have changed for us, but we didn't and we have to go to work and keep getting better."
Greencastle took advantage after Clar went on a 37-yard gallop to the Cougar 20-yard line. Hyten finished the drive two plays later, sweeping around the left side of the Tiger Cub line for a 21-yard score that put the visitors ahead 24-7.
North Putnam would make two brief forays into Greencastle territory but could not unlock the Tiger Cub defense again, falling to 2-4 on the year as the visitors celebrated their first victory of the season.
Despite a couple of nervy moments, Spoonmore said the squad stayed with the game plan and saw out the win.
"We played a lot better this week (in the second half)," Spoonmore said. "We kept moving the ball and kept doing what we wanted to do while the defense kept playing hard.
"We knew North Putnam was going to come out playing hard because Coach Barrett got those guys motivated at halftime. We had to weather the storm and pulled out the win tonight."
For the Cougars, a trip to Eastern Greene awaits next week and Barrett said that the squad needed to find the fire that was missing from Friday night.
"They have a pretty good quarterback and running back so we have to accommodate for those two guys," Barrett said. "It's not going to be anything different than we've seen all year, though.
"We've got to tackle, be disciplined on defense, we have to read our keys, stay at home when we need to and fly around and make plays. We lacked emotion in the first quarter, which was disappointing.
"We lost enthusiasm when we had an awesome crowd trying to pump us up. It was just one of those nights."
Greencastle, meanwhile, completes its county games by hosting Cloverdale for homecoming next week.
Spoonmore said that the coaches and players would be conscious of avoiding a let down against the Clovers.
"I know Coach (Jarrod) Duff will do a great job with his Clovers down there this week," Spoonmore said. "We will coach our tails off to make sure these guys don't have a let down this week.
"We'll get right back to work and won't change anything this week. We'll watch film and make our game plan and go from there.
"I anticipate our guys coming our really hard this week and I think they'll be motivated to play football."
At North Putnam
Greencastle -- 17 0 7 0 - 24
North Putnam -- 0 0 7 0 - 7
Statistics
Total Yards
Greencastle 53-268; North Putnam 52-204
Rushing
Greencastle -- 38-192; Secrest 15-61; Clar 8-90, TD; Hyten 7-59, TD; Costin 5-(-29); Hughes 3-(-9)
North Putnam -- 33-173; Hodges 17-49; Everts 7-63; Riggen 7-45, TD; Christy 1-10; Judy 1-6
Passing
Greencastle -- Costin 11-15-76
North Putnam -- 4-19-31-0-2; Hodges 4-18-31, 2 INT; Everts 0-1-0
Receiving
Greencastle -- Tesmer 3-24; Cook 3-15; Hughes 3-11; Secrest 2-26
North Putnam -- McPherson 2-21; Christy 2-10
1st Downs
Greencastle 11; North Putnam 9
4th Down Conversions
Greencastle 1-1; North Putnam 2-6
Penalties
Greencastle 7-76; North Putnam 7-76
Turnovers
Greencastle 3; North Putnam 3