BC grinds out win over South

Brown County made the long trip to South Putnam on Friday night. In the battle of Eagles, Brown County played solid football and defeated the host Eagles 21-14.

The visitors scored on consecutive possessions covering the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter to break open a tight game. The BC Eagles had a balanced offense and bend-but-no-break defense in improving to 2-0 on the season. South Putnam fell to 1-1 on the young season.

“Hats off to Brown County. They are well-coached and did a tremendous job tonight. They did some things to take away from what we do both offensively and defensively,” South Putnam head coach Nathan Aker said.

Brown County was efficient and balanced on offense picking up 191 yards rushing and 103 yards through the air. They had two players rush for more than 80 yards and also won the turnover battle 3-1.

South Putnam found some success on offense as well. The Eagles picked up 198 yards rushing, led by Aiden Leblanc’s 120 yards on 27 carries, but the difference in the game may have been a few special teams plays that hurt the hosts.

The Eagles had to punt on their first possession and Brown County’s Tristan Richards returned the punt 59 yards. A face mask penalty on South Putnam further helped Brown County as it took possession on the South 15-yard line. Five plays later, quarterback Noah Carter scrambled in from two yards out to give Brown County a 7-0 lead.

South continued to struggle with special teams, allowing a kickoff to pin it down at the one-yard line, but this time the home Eagles rallied.

South scored on a 99-yard drive that stretched into the second quarter. Dalton Scott and Leblanc consistently gashed Brown County for tough runs and Scott’s seven-yard TD run capped the drive. The PAT kick was no good and the two teams went to halftime separated by just a point, 7-6.

The two teams traded turnovers and possession until late in the half. Brown County drove inside the South 15-yard line, but tough defense kept the ball out of the end zone and Scott blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt with :18 left in the half.

South Putnam controlled the ball in the first half, but Brown County changed that in the second half. The visitors ground out a 64-yard drive to up the lead to 14-6 with :40 left in the third quarter as Colten Harper scored from six yards out.

The Brown County ground game continued its success the next possession, pounding the ball on five of six plays and increasing the lead to 21-6 on another Harper TD run from 11 yards out.

According to coach Aker, injuries played a part in this. The Eagles were missing a few players and Nick Theis went down with an injury just prior to the Brown County touchdown drives.

“This is the first time Nick has gone both ways. It hurt when he cramped up. He is a heckuva player,” Aker said. “We had some injuries and we had a lot of people come in and step up. We had guys playing multiple positions. Dru Teipen came in as freshman and played well at defensive end. Xavier Langley jumped in there and Kole Bemish moved around for us.”

The host Eagles tried to rally late. South put itself back into the game with a 63-yard drive for a TD. Christian Zeffel scored from 11 yards out. Zeffel then hit Colin Adams with a two-point conversion pass to cut the score to 21-14, but couldn’t get the ball back as Brown County ran out the clock.

South Putnam will play its first Western Indiana Conference game next Friday, visiting county rival North Putnam.

BC — Noah Carter 2 run (Ben Rygiel kick), 7-0, Q1 4:47.

SP — Dalton Scott 7 run (kick failed), 7-6, Q2 9:27.

BC — Colten Harper 6 run (Rygiel kick) 14-6, Q3 :40.

BC — Harper 11 run (Rygiel kick) 21-6, Q4 7:53.

SP ­­­— Christian Zeffel 11 run (Colin Adams pass from Zeffel) 21-14, Q4 2:04.

BC SP

First downs 10 16

Rushes-yards 36-191 49-198

Passing yards 103 51

Comp-Att-Int 8-17-0 4-11-1

Total offense 53-294 61-249

Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-2

Penalties-yards 7-65 2-25

Individual statistics

Rushing — Brown County: Colten Harper 17-82, Noah Carter 12-80, Justin Burns 3-10, Griffin Kelly 2-9, Ezra Scully 1-8, Zacc Sheppard 1-2. South Putnam: Aiden LeBlanc 27-120, Christian Zeffel 10-45, Dalton Scott 9-29, Colin Adams 2-4.

Passing — Brown County: Carter 8-17-0 103. South Putnam: Zeffel 4-11-1 51.

Receiving — Brown County: Tristan Richards 3-55, Scully 3-28, Kelly 1-15, Alex Carney 1-5. South Putnam: Kain Gregory 1-29, Adams 2-11, Scott 1-11.