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Clovers fall in sectional to North Putnam
CLOVERDALE -- In what was the final game for Cloverdale's football team, head coach Tony Meyer said he was proud of his Clovers played against North Putnam in the 42-6 sectional loss Friday.
"That defense that we played tonight was the best defense by far that we've played all year," Meyer said. "The game should've been a heck of a lot closer. They scored 28 points off of turnovers. We put the defense in some really bad spots."
The first-year Clover coach said that his defense played well at the beginning of the game and when it wasn't put on the field with a disadvantage.
"When it was traditional and we kicked off, they held them," Meyer said. "14 points, that's what they gave up. We just made youthful mistake after youthful mistake and it kind of bit us in the backside."
Cloverdale and North Putnam fans were treated to good defense in the first quarter, as each team was held scoreless. However it was the Cougars that struck first in the second to take control of the game.
"I thought we started out a little slow," Cougar coach Greg Barrett said. "The guys pulled it together. It's always good to see you come out and put a good second quarter together. We also had a good third quarter so it was nice to get the young guys in there to play."
The scoring began when Hayden Rudes found Daniel Huffman for a 47-yard touchdown reception early in the second. The Cougar defense continued doing its job allowing its offense to pull the same stunt. This time Rudes found Huffman for a 53-yard touchdown catch.
It was then the defense that put points on the scoreboard, when Bobby Scheele hopped a screen pass and took it to it back to make the score 20-0 in the first four minutes of the second quarter.
North Putnam earned another interception when some confusion on the Cloverdale passing play led to an easy pick that Cameron McPherson took advantage of getting into good position for the Cougars.
After working their way into more of a scoring position the Cougars were able to score through the air again, as Rudes completed his third touchdown pass to Brad Hodges.
"I thought Bobby Scheele had a great game tonight getting that pick six," Barrett said. "That's the second time he's done that this year. Our D-line and our linebacker play was good tonight. Just across the board defensively it was a good game. Defense wins championships and we have to keep playing like that."
With the game fully in control Barrett wanted to be sure to maintain the lead and keep momentum on his side by using the clock and capping the first frive after halftime with a 3-yard touchdown run by Kyler Jeter to make the score 34-0.
"I think our backs were trying to read whether its an outside play or they gave to get up inside a kick out play," Barrett said. "I just wanted to keep pounding at it and making sure we get the blocks and get more physical and they finally did. I thought it worked out pretty good in that second quarter and leading into the third. They did what we asked them to."
At the start of the fourth the Clovers had their best offensive drive that started when quarterback Parker Watts threw a 31-yard pass to Nick Winders who out jumped the North Putnam defender with a well-timed leap.
This led to a five-yard touchdown run when Watts, after scrambling in the backfield, took off up the middle while sacrificing his body to earn the only score for Cloverdale.
The final score came from the North Putnam JV squad who took advantage of the playing time and capped its drive with a 9-yard touchdown run by Chris Murray. Hodges took the botched snap on the extra point into the end zone for the final score of 42-6.
"A lot of people would be crushed right now and I feel terrible for our seniors," Meyer said. "They endured a tough season. They did it with class and honor. They were great leaders and I appreciate all the time I got to spend with them. But we have a lot of young guys coming back that have had a lot of experience this year.
"All in all I think the season was a success maybe not in wins and losses but experienced gained and knowledge gained we are in a much better place."
While North Putnam moves on to play Paoli, who crushed Cascade 53-18, the Clovers are already planning their offseason, which will be the first one that Meyer will be a part of.
"They are going to live in the weight room," Meyer said. "They didn't do any weightlifting last year from what I gather and we are going to start in two weeks the weight room workouts. Hopefully we are bigger and faster and stronger. So It's all good."
AT Cloverdale
NPHS 0 27 7 8 -- 42
CHS 0 0 0 6 -- 6
Individual stats
North Putnam
Rushing: Murray 6-54 (TD), Judy 4-49, Jeter 5-30 (TD), 4-3, Haste 1-13, McPherarson 1-8
Passing
Rudes 8-15-186 (3 TD)
Receiving Huffman 7-113 (2 TD)
Haste 1-48, Hodges 1-5 (TD), McPhearson 1-7, Everts 1-9
* Scheele Interception return TD
Cloverdale
Rushing
Jackson 5-18, Watts 10-13 (TD), Henry 5-3, Duby 3-5,
Passing
Watts 6-19-76
Receiving
Winders 3-52, Kaeft 1-13, Henry 1-2, Boyette 1-8