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South Putnam takes second straight game
The South Putnam Eagles have won their first two games by a combined score of 88-6, downing visiting Brown County Friday night by a score of 48-0.
The home team put up impressive numbers again in week two.
Completing five of eight passes for 124 yards was South Putnam senior quarterback Grady McHugh, tossing three touchdowns in the process. Junior running back Kyle Shaffer earned the nickname "Choo-Choo-Train" once again as he ran for a total of 133 yards on 24 attempts and contributed the second most points with two touchdowns, just one behind McHugh.
Freshman Aidan LeBlanc showed up big for South, chewing up 76 yards on nine carries and scoring twice in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Nathan Aker, a 2002 graduate of South Putnam, was very pleased with many of his players. With 419 total yards, who could blame him?
"Our line of scrimmage played phenomenal tonight on both sides of the ball," Aker said. "Joey Masters, Josh Bills, Matt Schnepp, Will Cruse, Kody Britton, Cody Wiatt, Brandon Gierke, Averie Fields . . .
"We did a lot of plug-and-play," Aker continued. "A lot of guys were playing different spots and moving around -- trying to keep them fresh. Shaffer is a workhorse. He's got guys hanging on him that we don't even know where they came from."
Scoring first for South was senior Jimmy Rutter on an 11-yard pass from McHugh with five minutes left in the opening quarter. The score was 7-0 South Putnam to enter the second.
Aker said his senior and freshman quarterbacks have been working well together, which can be somewhat rare.
"With McHugh and (Allen) Plunkett throwing it out there, what a great thing . . . to open up with each other," Aker said. "We're trying to make that a part of our offense and we're trying to stay a little bit more balanced so that we can maybe throw to set up the run, or run to set up the pass."
The second quarter saw a flurry of scoring by the home team, adding 20 points before the half. Shaffer scored his first touchdown of the night shortly into the second, punching in the one-yard score to cap off a drive that lasted more than three minutes. At 6-2, 250 pounds, senior Brandon Gierke helped set up the score by running for the equivalent of five first downs with a 54-yard run on the previous play, nearly ending the drive himself. On the following possession, Rutter again received a 24-yard pass from McHugh.
Just before halftime, South junior Dylan Wood caught a 40-yard pass from McHugh to enter halftime with a 27 point lead.
Turning his focus to his defense was Aker, saying it "showed up big for us tonight."
"The kids did a great job of getting two or three guys to the ball on every play," Aker said. "Our JV guys were the Brown County offense all week, they did a great job of running their stuff and that prepared us well."
Brown County again couldn't get anything going in the second half, going just one-for-four in the air. Brown County did manage to put up 104 yards rushing, however, as senior Phillip Palmer took to the ground 18 times for 86 yards.
Scoring first in the third was South's Shaffer for his second touchdown of the night.
Entering the final quarter ahead by 34 points, South freshman Averie LeBlanc stole the spotlight when he added another two touchdowns to the home team's score. In total, LeBlanc put up 76 yards on nine carries.
"Our guys just keep plugging away and keep stepping up to what they're asked. They've done a phenomenal job."
Aker and South Putnam will be back on the gridiron Friday when they travel to their first Western Indiana Conference matchup against South Vermillion beginning at 7 p.m.
At South Putnam
Brown County 0 0 0 0 - 0
South Putnam 7 20 7 14 - 48
1st Quarter
SP 5:13 Rutter 11-yard reception from McHugh (XP good) 7-0
2nd Quarter
SP 9:07 Shaffer 1-yard rush (XP good) 14-0
SP 3:41 Rutter 24-yard reception from McHugh (XP no good) 20-0
SP 1:01 Wood 40-yard reception from McHugh (XP good) 27-0
3rd Quarter
SP 5:30 Shaffer 1-yard rush (XP good) 34-0
4th Quarter
SP 9:15 LeBlanc 5-yard rush (XP good) 41-0
SP LeBlanc 34-yard rush (XP good) 48-0
Statistics
Total Yards
Brown County 115; South Putnam 419
Rushing
Brown County Walsh 3-(-4); Palmer 18-86; Richards 1-(-1); Warren 1-7; Carney Harper 1-2; Burns 1-12; Claburn 1-2
South Putnam Shaffer 24-133 (2 TD); Scott 2-26; Gierke 3-65; Plunkett 1-0; LeBlanc 9-76 (2 TD); Sheppard 1-4
Passing
Brown County Claburn 1-4-1; Carney 0-1-0 (1 interception)
South Putnam McHugh 5-8-124 (3 TD); Plunkett 0-2-0
Receiving
Brown County Harper 0-2-0; Fleishman 0-1-0; Walsh 1-1-1; Maus 0-1-0
South Putnam Rutter 4-7-89 (2 TD); Wood 1-1-35 (1 TD); Scott 1-1-26; Sanders 0-1-0; Gierke 0-1-0
1st Downs
Brown County 8; South Putnam 16
4th Down Conversions
Brown County 0-0; South Putnam 1-1
Turnovers
Brown County 4; South Putnam 0