Strong second quarter leads Cascade past North Putnam

CLAYTON – In an era that many high school football teams throw the ball all over the field, the North Putnam Cougars and the Cascade Cadets played a run-heavy throwback game at Cascade on Friday night.

Cascade rushed for 348 yards, while the Cougars had 146 of their own as Cascade scored 34-straight points to defeat North 40-21.

The Cougars scored early in the game and held the Cadets in check, but some big plays, almost big plays and a big dose of the Wing-T offense by the Cadets dropped North Putnam to 1-5, while Cascade improved to 3-3.

“We did some good things on both sides of the ball. We made some plays but hats off to Cascade; they are a good team that is getting better,” North Putnam head coach Scott Moore said.

North Putnam got off to a great start. The Cougars got a 49-yard run from Noah Claycomb on their first play from scrimmage. Six players later Claycomb scored from three yards out and Evan Polley kicked the extra point and the Cougars had a quick 7-0 lead.

Cascade and North Putnam’s offenses continued to move the ball on the next two possessions, but both teams turned the ball over on downs inside enemy territory. Cascade eventually put together a scoring drive that covered the last part of the first quarter. The Cadets marched 61 yards in 10 plays as Liam Farmer was able to score a touchdown from three yards out on the first play of the second quarter. The Cadets rushing attempt for the two-point conversion failed and the Cougars maintained a 7-6 lead.

North began to mix in a little passing on its next drive. The Cougars drove 65 yards in 9 plays with Claycomb rushing and Christian Kramer finding his receivers. The freshman quarterback hit his older brother Arrick for a big 34-yard pass to open the drive and finished the drive with a beautifully designed slant play to Myles Bryan for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 9:21 left in the first half. After Polley added his second PAT kick of the night the Cougars led 14-6.

“We moved the ball pretty well at times. We made some plays,” Moore said.

Cascade answered again. The Cadets started the next drive at their own 28-yard line and after picking up a couple of first downs, Cascade faced fourth-and-four when an almost big play for the Cougars turned into a big play for the Cadets.

A Brady Trebley pass was almost intercepted, but the deflected pass went up in the air and Devon Weigle caught the deflection for 19 yards and a first down. Farmer did the rest of the work and scored from four yards out and the Cougar lead was cut to 14-12.

“We had some opportunities tonight. We have to just make a few more plays,” Moore said.

The Cougar offense stalled on the next possession and the Cadets made them pay. After taking the ball over on downs at its own 44-yard line, Cascade’s Wiegle caught a clean pass from Trebley for a 34-yard touchdown pass and then Trebley hit Chase Durbin with the conversion pass and the Cadets had their first lead at 20-14 with just half a minute to play in the half.

“We put ourselves in some good positions on third and fourth down, but they made plays. That is the name of the game, they made more plays than we did,” Moore said.

Cascade capitalized on the momentum as they took the second-half kickoff and used a nine-play drive, all on the ground, to extend the lead.

The Cadets’ Logan Gibbs raced around the end for a 15-yard run and the score. That extended Cascade’s lead to 26-14. The drive used up almost half of the third quarter while the Cougars struggled on their next possession.

North had its first three-and-out and although Christian Kramer boomed a 49-yard punt Cascade was able to control the ball for most of the rest of the quarter. After trading punts again, Cascade extended its lead.

A short pass to the speedy Toby Savini turned into a 67-yard touchdown for the Cadets and a commanding 32-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. North Putnam was able to drive inside the red zone on its next possession but came up short and a few plays later Farmer broke a run up the middle for a 66-yard touchdown run and a 40-14 lead with just four minutes left.

North was able to pick some yards in the air on the last possession as Kramer hit Bryan for 25 yards, brother Arrick for 11 and then Wesley Murphy on the left sideline for a 29-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 40-21, but there was just 1:40 left to play and the Cadets ran out the clock for the victory.

Farmer led all rushers with 206 yards on 27 carries, while Claycomb led the way for North with 142 yards on 22 attempts. Kramer had a good night passing hitting on 14-of-25 passes and two touchdowns, but it was not enough against the tough Cadets.

“They (Cascade) came out in the second half and kind of rammed it down our throats and got a two-score lead. That was tough for us and tonight they were a better football team,” Moore said.

The Cougars will try and get back on the winning side of the ledger next Friday as they will host Western Indiana Conference opponent, West Vigo.

1st Qtr

NP – Noah Claycomb 3 run (Evan Polley kick), 7-0, 9:21.

2nd Qtr

CHS – Liam Farmer 3 run (run failed), 7-6, 11:56.

NP – Myles Bryan 13 pass from Christian Kramer (Evan Polley kick), 14-6, 9:21.

CHS – Liam Farmer 4 run (run failed), 14-12, 3:22.

CHS – Devon Weigle 34 pass from Brady Trebley (Chase Durbin pass from Trebley), 20-14, :29.

3rd Qtr

CHS – Logan Gibbs 15 run (pass failed), 26-14, 6:44.

4th Qtr

CHS – Toby Savini 67 pass from Brady Trebley (pass failed), 32-14, 9:54.

CHS – Liam Farmer 66 run (Devon Weigle run), 40-14, 4:00.

NP – Wesley Murphy 29 pass from Christian Kramer (Evan Polley kick), 40-21, 1:40.

Rushing: North Putnam: Noah Claycomb 22-142, Christian Kramer 6-9, Myles Bryan 1-(-5), Cascade: Liam Farmer 27-206, Damien Appleby 16-74, Toby Savini 10-62, Brady Trebley 4-(-9), Logan Gibbs 1-15.

Passing: North Putnam: Christian Kramer 14-25-0 219. Cascade: Brady Trebley 4-5-0 129.

Receiving: North Putnam: Myles Bryan 5-104, Arrick Kramer 4-65, Bryson Staggs 1-10, Braden Glaze 2-(-10), Noah Claycomb 1-21, Wesley Murphy 1-29. Cascade: Toby Savini 1-67, Devon Weigle 2-53, Logan Gibbs 1-9