North Putnam handles Clovers

Saturday, October 10, 2015
North Putnam's Brad Hodges, on the first play of the game, takes a screen pass from Hayden Rudes to the end zone. Hodges was a versatile Cougar, rushing for 104 yards and earing a receiving touchdown and touchdown passing. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

CLOVERDALE -- A competitive first half between North Putnam and the Cloverdale football team, turned into a rout Friday nights as the Cougar defense forced the Clovers into four interceptions in a 55-6 North Putnam win.

The Cougars wasted no time securing the upper hand, forcing and recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff. Then on the first play from scrimmage, Brad Hodges caught a screen pass from Hayden Rudes and took it 25 yards for a touchdown.

"I thought we came out extremely fast, scoring with that first play," NPHS coach Greg Barrett said. "I thought we did a good job with our outside game tonight and I thought we did some good things in the inside. Sustaining our blocks and getting downfield fast."

Ethan Radford causes a fumble and North Putnam returns. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

Cloverdale responded quickly with a 76-yard bomb fired by Parker Watts who found Tyler Kaeft over the middle. Kaeft broke two tackles en route to Cloverdale's only score.

"I'll take the first half all day long," Clover coach Tony Meyer said. "They fought, the defense was great. I wish we could skip over the third quarter. They've got experienced kids that have talent and size."

With the score 7-6 Cougars, the Cloverdale defense made things as difficult as it could for Rudes in the offense getting pressure and forcing the sophomore to make some tough plays.

Indeed after avoiding pressure from the Clovers, Rudes found Daniel Huffman in the end zone but the play was called back to due an illegal player downfield.

"We did some really good things tonight besides the penalties we had," Barrett said. "Those are things we've got to work on. Better techniques and better fundamentals up front."

The Cougars bounced back with a well-timed screen to Hodges where he followed his blockers to a touchdown.

North Putnam looked to be in control again when Ethan Radford ended a drive to bring up fourth down. Barrett elected to go for it and Watts at defensive back tracked the interception and took it back for good yardage.

On the ensuing drive, however, Cameron McPherson returned the favor.

The turnovers kept coming early. When CHS' Nick Winders recovered North Putnam's fumble, Cloverdale was unable to move the ball, turning it over on downs.

"We couldn't run again. Its the reoccurring theme," Meyer said. "The running backs weren't hitting the hole. The only positive yardage running we had was Parker. A lot of that is due to Brayden White. He had a good game. He was phenomenal. He was coming up the middle. He caused a lot of problems for us."

White said the defensive game plan from North Putnam assistant coach Dan Fouts makes it easier for the defense to make plays on the field.

"Our front line did a great job tonight," White said. "They were manhandling the offensive line. They are what makes it happen. Everything starts at the line defense and offense they did a job tonight."

North Putnam managed a third score before the half with Everts capitalizing on the field position and breaking a 15-yard touchdown up the middle.

Cloverdale opened the second half with a defensive stop but ran into the punter, allowing North Putnam a second chance which it took advantage of with a halfback pass from Hodges to Huffman who was wide open.

Hodges had 104 yards rushing, 55 yards receiving with a touchdown and 44 yards passing.

Cloverdale, which had seen several injuries on the night, could not gain any momentum as the game wore on.

"The injury bug hit us on the offensive line," Meyer said. "Radford got hurt, Drew Boyette got hurt. A lot of people got banged up. We're used to rotating people in on the offensive line. We couldn't do that tonight."

North Putnam found scores in a variety of ways in the second half. Rudes used two quarterback sneaks to earn a score, Corbin Judy scored on a 15-yard run and Everts scored again on a 45-yard run.

The Cougars did score on two consecutive plays by Judy but both were called back for holding, as was the third play where Judy gained at least 40 yards.

However, the defense of North Putnam played the part as McPherson went up to secure his third pick, but it was Jake Powell who caught the deflection for the Cougar interception.

"Defensively the things I'm excited about is they are getting good penetration up front," Barrett said. "They are flying around and pursuing to the football. Of you can gang tackle and get 11 guys to the ball, you'll put yourself in good position."

While Cloverdale kept fighting until the end including a pass play turned run when Watts broke at least three tackles and scampered for 12 yards the Clovers still weren't able to score again.

North Putnam called off the Cougars after a late score by the JV offense when Dylan Hess followed his blockers for a 10-yard score.

"For the most part, I'm very excited with their effort," Barrett said. "I thought they played extremely hard. We did what we needed to do in the second half."

With the GHS loss Cloverdale will face South Vermillion in Cloverdale in the WIC crossover game Friday and North Putnam will play Sullivan in Roachdale.

At Cloverdale

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