North Putnam struggles in loss to Golden Arrows

Saturday, October 17, 2015
Brad Hodges of North Putnam takes on a Golden Arrow defender Friday at home. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam made the plays early in the WIC football crossover game for third place against Sullivan. However after the Cougars jumped to a 14-0 first-half lead, the Golden Arrows put the clamps on and scored 27 unanswered points to earn the victory Friday.

With Cougar head coach Greg Barrett away with family matters, North Putnam had assistant coaches calling the shots and after the loss the coaches talked to the North Putnam team about responding in the face of adversity.

"What are you going to do? You're going to face adversity. Are you going to come back?" NPHS assistant coach Dan Vukovits said. "How are you going to react to this? How are you going to work next week to improve? Those are the things that we talked about."

The Cougar defense earned an early stop in the first quarter, thanks in part to second-down sack by Bobby Scheele.

From there the Cougars drove down the field and ended it in the end zone with a one-yard run from Brad Hodges.

"I saw a lot of effort out there tonight," Vukovits said. "There were little things as far as execution that I didn't see and I didn't like. But those are the things that we can work on and we can make improvements. This is a good team. We played them even for a half. They made a couple of big plays in the second half that opened things up."

The North Putnam defense had the Golden Arrows vexed in the first quarter and just when Sullivan was about to get the ball back, the Arrows muffed the fair catch and Brayden White was in perfect position to pounce on the ball.

At the start of the second quarter, North Putnam took advantage of the good position and scored again on a Hodges run, this on from four yards out. The Cougars then went up two with a pass turned run as Hayden Rudes sprinted toward the pylon to earn the two points.

"We're on track and we have improved," Vukovits said. "We played a tough team tonight and that gives us things to work on."

Sullivan struck back in the second when it capped its good drive with a 30-yard touchdown run to give the Arrows their first score.

Sullivan then came up with a defensive stop and methodically moved its way into the red zone. Despite the tough, stingy Cougar defense that made the Arrows fight for every yard, Sullivan was able to score on a well-placed pass. The extra point made it a 14-14 game at halftime.

"They made a couple of adjustments and we didn't adjust to their adjustments in the second-half as well as I would've liked. That's basically it," Vukovits said. "We had them on their heels early in the first half. We had some things rolling. The second half, we never got any momentum going."

The second half was full of tough moments for each side but Sullivan came out on top. After a standoff where each team was reluctant to give up the first points of the half, Sullivan was able to complete a 41-yard pass to take the lead in the game 21-14.

The defense did come up with some big plays in the half,including a fourth-down stuff and a Trevor Bingman fumble recovery.

Brad Hodges turned a broken play in the backfield into a 20-yard gain after muscling his way out of two tackles and earning a first down. But even with these plays, the Cougar team never earned the touchdowns it needed and after a 25-yard screen pass that led to a seven-yard Sullivan touchdown pass the game was out of reach for North Putnam.

The Cougars (7-2, 4-1 WIC) will be playing Putnam County rival Cloverdale in the IHSAA sectional on Friday.

At North Putnam

Sullivan 0 14 7 6 -- 27

N. Putnam 6 8 0 0 -- 14

Scoring

First Quarter

NP-- Hodges 1 yd run 6-0

Second quarter

NP-- Hodges 4 yd run (Rudes run Good) 14-0

S-- Wes Bedwell 30 yd run 14-6

S -- Conner 2 yd TD pass from Powell 14-14

Third Quarter

S -- 41 yd TD pass from Powell

Fourth Quarter

S-- 7 yd TD pass from Powell

Rushing: NP

Hodges 16-93 (2 TD) Huffman 1-5, Jeter 6-17, Everts 3-18, Rudes 7- (-12), Judy 2-4

Passing:

Rudes 6-10-65

Receiving:

Everts 2-33, Haste 2-19, Huffman 1-8, Hadges 1-5

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: