Eagles open season in impressive fashion

South Putnam senior Drew Cash is drug to the ground by two Owen Valley defenders during Friday night's game. The Eagles ran away with the victory 46-0.

SPENCER -- With the opening kickoff of Friday night's Owen Valley, South Putnam Football game the skies opened up dumping buckets of rain on the field sending fans scurrying for cover.

The rain nor Owen Valley's defense could stop senior Drew Cash, as he ran roughshod over the Owen Valley defense. Cash ran for 112 yards and five touchdowns in the first half giving the Eagles a commanding 39-0 lead at half time.

Cash scored on the Eagles first possession on a one-yard run. Junior kicker Jake Gould made the extra point making it 7-0. From that point on the Eagles controlled Owen Valley on the defensive and offensive side of the ball.

"After a few forced fumbles everything seemed liked it just snowballed for Owen Valley," said South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess. "That's the way it goes it could of just as easily happened to us."

After scoring the first touchdown with 8:23 left in the first quarter, Cash went on to score four more on his way to racking up a game high 144 yards on 18 carries. The Eagles stuck to their running game throughout the night gaining 298 total yards.

With the wet conditions quarter back John Spencer spent the night handing the ball off to his receivers. Spencer had one pass attempt on the night falling incomplete, he also rushed for 15 yards and one first down.

With the game in hand in the second half, Burgess took the opportunity to give quarterbacks Grant Zimmerman and Seth Hammond some playing time. The pair continued where Spencer left off handing the ball off to their receivers.

"I was very happy with how the kids played tonight," said Burgess. "They have put a lot of time in over the summer months to get to this point.

"Defensively we caused a lot of turnovers that the kids took advantage of."

It wasn't till the 6:39 mark of the second half that Owen Valley picked up its first, first down.

With 2:30 left in the third quarter, sophomore Rob Gibson broke through the Owen Valley line for a 50 yard touchdown run capping off the scoring for the Eagles. Gibson also had a 20 yard run on a kickoff giving him 70 yards on the night.

Burgess said, it was the offensive line that made the difference in Friday night's contest.

"They really did a good job of controlling the line," he said.

Gould made all five of his extra point attempts on the night. During the rain storm, Gould botched one of the snaps and threw a pass to Brayden Freeman for two extra points. Gould also completed a 15 yard field goal as the teams switched sides to begin the second half.

The Eagles had nine penalties on the night for a loss of 50 yards. Owen Valley had five penalties for 40 yards.

"Going forward we need to work harder on not making the mental mistakes," said Burgess. "We need to cleanup the undamentals."

Sophomore Zach Smith also seen playing time during the second half busting through the Owen Valley line for a total of 38 yards on three carries.

At Owen Valley

Owen Valley vs South Putnam

Owen Valley 0 0 0 0 -- 0

South Putnam 21 18 7 0 -- 46

Scoring

First Quarter

Cash 1 yard run 8:23 first quarter, Gould extra point

Cash 28 yard run 5:35 first quarter, Gould extra point

Cash 8 yard run 2:01 first quarter, Gould extra point

Second quarter

Gould 15 yard field goalCash 1 yard run 8:19 second quarter, Gould extra point

Cash 9 yard run 3:05 second quarter, Gould pass to freeman 2 points

Third Quarter

Gibson 50 yard run 2:30 third quarter, Gould extra point

Rushing

#4 Smith 38 yards 3 carries

#16 Spencer 15 yards one carry

#22 Heller -2 yards 1 carry

#25 Freeman 12 yards 3 carries

#32 Dinkel -2 yards one carry

#37 Waters 1 yard 2 carries

#40 Cash 144 yards 18 carries

#41 Gardner 5 yards 2 carries

#49 Nichols 9 yards 2 carries

#58 Dean 2 yards 1 carry