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Eagles rout Cadets in season finale, 42-7
It was clear Friday would be South Putnam's night after one drive.
It took the Eagles only two plays to score a touchdown, both runs from Jacob Parrish.
After the Parrish score, there was a bad snap on the extra point, but holder Adam Hammond found Derek Tomaw for the two-point conversion anyway.
The Eagles led 8-0 and it basically got better after that.
South amassed 423 rush yards on its way to a 42-7 win over Cascade. The win brings the Eagles' final regular season record to 4-5 (4-2 WCC).
Coach Troy Burgess thought the win was a nice treat for senior night.
"It's always nice when you can go out like that with your seniors," Burgess said. "We got a lot of seniors in the end zone tonight. We scored some touchdowns. We had seniors make big plays. And that's the goal. You always want to send your seniors out on senior night in style, and I thought we did that tonight."
The South rushing attack was in full effect throughout the first half. On the second drive, Josh Sanders ran 50 yards for the Eagles' second touchdown. The Jacob Gould extra point made it 15-0.
In the second quarter, Brad Bunten capped an eight-play 80-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown scamper. A missed extra point kept the score at 21-0.
Across the ball, Cascade could manage nothing on the ground. They rushed 8 times for negative one yards in the first half. The total was at negative five by game's end.
The score stood at 21-0 at the half.
The Eagles opened the second half strong, going 35 yards in four plays. Sanders caught a 14-yard pass from Hunter Edwards, and Parrish ran three times for 21 yards. The last carry was a 10-yard touchdown. The point after made it 28-0.
With the run obviously not working, Cascade went almost exclusively to the pass. They were eating up large chunks of yards and heading for a touchdown when Anthony Prine fumbled on South Putnam's one-yard line. The ball rolled out of the back of the end zone, and South took over on a touchback.
For the remainder of the game, South stuck with what had worked thus far, pounding the ball on the ground on offense and keeping the Cadets at bay with a swarming defense.
The Eagles scored two touchdowns more touchdowns in the game. Sanders took it in from 13 yards out with 4:03 remaining in the fourth. Tomaw then ran in from the 14-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Defensively, the Eagle line kept Cadet quarterback Conner Guthrie on his toes, but he still completed quite a few passes. The South secondary struggled with its coverage, although they did bat down several balls, as well as getting interceptions from Tomaw and Drew Cash.
Guthrie and his receivers did get it together, though, for one drive in the fourth. Guthrie found Elliot Lane for a 61-yard completion and then found Ozy Riley for a five-yard touchdown.
Add to this the Eagles committed a lot of penalties, 12 for 115 yards, and they have some things to work on going into sectional.
"We have to clean it up a little bit," Burgess said. "Late in the game, I thought they maybe exploited a little bit of our pass coverage. We have to do a little better job there.
"They're all things we have to take care of ourselves," he added reassuringly.
Burgess was perhaps proudest of the statement his team made in this game. The Eagles were 1-9 last year and lost to Cascade badly. He liked turning the table.
"It's huge to get one against a team that beat us 57-0 last year. To come back and turn the table like that and get a big win like this means a lot for a program," Burgess said. "It gives us a lot of confidence, hopefully, going into the tournament."
The Eagles move on to sectional action now. They travel to Monrovia at 7 p.m. next Friday for the opening round.
While South beat the Bulldogs 19-6 last week, Burgess takes nothing for granted.
"Monrovia's a good football team. They're going to have either four our five wins. They played us hard last week. It was a good game last week, so we have our work cut out for us."
At South Putnam
Cascade 0 0 0 7 -- 7
South Putnam 15 6 14 7 -- 42
1st Quarter
SP -- Parrish 12 run (Tomaw pass from Hammond good) 7:33
SP -- Sanders 50 run (Gould kick good) 3:40
2nd Quarter
SP -- Bunten 10 run (kick failed) 5:23
3rd Quarter
SP -- Parrish 10 run (Gould kick good) 10:25
SP -- Sanders 13 run (Gould kick good) 4:03
4th Quarter
SP -- Tomaw 14 run (Gould kick good) 11:52
Cas -- Riley 5 pass from Guthrie (Fisher kick good) 5:18
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs -- Cascade 9, South Putnam 20
Fumbles-Lost -- Cascade 4-2, South Putnam 1-1
Penalties-Yards -- Cascade 6-63, South Putnam 12-115
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Cascade (1-7, 1-6 WCC):
Rushing -- (13 carries, -5 yards) -- Guthrie 9-(-30), Quinn 4-(-1), Dunn 2-1, Helmick 1-(-1), Russo 1-(-1)
Passing -- (18-34-1-2, 206 yards) -- Guthrie 18-34-1-2, 233 yards
Receiving -- (18 catches, 233 yards) -- Lane 11-173, Riley 3-25, Prine 3-35
South Putnam (4-5, 4-2 WCC):
Rushing -- (50 carries, 423 yards) -- Tomaw 13-130, Parrish 10-115, Goldman 7-30, Sanders 4-85, Knight 4-24, Bunten 4-19, Cash 4-2, Freeman 3-11, Spencer 1-5, Edwards 1-(-15)
Passing -- (5-9-0-0, 24 yards) -- Edwards 5-8-0-0, 39 yards, Spencer 0-0-0-0, 0 yards
Receiving -- (5 catches, 39 yards) -- Sanders 2-14, Chadd 1-11, Parrish 1-10, Hammond 1-4
Next game -- South Putnam opens sectional action when it travels to Monrovia at 7 p.m. next Friday.