Eagles get season's first victory with 24-21 win over Greencastle

Saturday, September 15, 2007

For some there's nothing sweeter than a kiss from your wife along with your first victory of the season. Fortunately for South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess, he received both after his Eagles defeated Greencastle 24-21 Friday night.

"They (the team) answered the call," Burgess said. "We put a challenge out, but we put that challenge out to the entire football team. Coaching staff and the whole program. Our coaches took a different approach this week, our players took a different approach -- much more business-like, a little more intense."

Things didn't start so smooth for the Eagles, as they fumbled on their first possession, which resulted in a Buzz Deer field goal at the 7:37 mark to give Greencastle a 3-0 lead.

Things grew worse in a hurry as Drew Evens bolted around the left side and found his way into the end zone with 1:29 on the clock.

South Putnam's Drew Cash (40) breaks the tackle attempts of Greencastles Ashton Marshall.

On the Eagles' next possession, Drew Cash ran the ball five times for 23 yards and a touchdown to close the gap to 10-7 early in the second quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Greencastle mishandled the ball that gave the Eagles possession on the 17-yard line. On the next play the Eagles took the lead for good.

Cash took the Jon Davidson handoff and ran 17 yards for the score, making it 14-10 in favor of the Eagles.

As the first half dwindled down, the Eagles put together a 16-play drive that resulted in a Jake Gould field goal to make it 17-13.

The half ended with a Graham Shuee to Evens completion for six yards.

In the second half, the Eagles kept it on the ground as Cash ran seven times in their opening possession, but a Davidson interception halted the drive.

Greencastle started marching down the field after the interception with Evens gaining 29 yards and Kendall Faust adding 12, but a Shuee sack would end the GHS drive.

The Eagles would continue to move the ball on the ground, gaining 74 yards and Trent Knight would add a touchdown with 10:06 on the clock to give the Eagles a 24-13 advantage.

Greencastle senior Kendall Faust (24) looks to juke South Putnam's Josh Sanders in Friday night's game. The Eagles defeated the Tiger Cubs 24-21.

After another stalled drive, the Tiger Cubs put together a drive and would find the end zone again when Shuee kept the ball on a quarterback sneak and took it in from 2-yards out. During the drive Shuee connected with Evens three times for 54 yards. After a Shuee to Evens 2-point conversion, the Tiger Cubs trailed by only three points.

With the Tiger Cubs charging, the Eagles kept to the plan.

In their final drive, the Eagles got two big first downs from Knight and a Davidson knee sealed the victory.

The big story of the night was the Eagles running game. The Eagles rushed 50 times for 271 yards and three touchdowns.

"We threw down an extra challenge to our offensive line," Burgess said. "We felt like we got some guys up there that are pretty good and let's see what they can do.

"That was a great job by our offensive line," Burgess added.

"It's just very disappointing," GHS head coach Mike Myer. "We didn't do the little things like we wanted and it came back to hurt us. We turned the ball over at some crucial times. Special teams let us down a little bit in the first half. Defensively we couldn't stop their run game.

"We'll get ready and come back and try to give North Putnam all they can handle," Meyer added.

The Eagles will travel to Cloverdale at 7 p.m. and Greencastle will host North Putnam at 7 p.m. Friday.

At South Putnam

Greencastle 10 3 0 8 -- 21

South Putnam 0 17 0 7 -- 24

First Quarter

Greencastle -- Deer FG 7:37

Greencastle -- Evens 15 run (Deer kick) 1:29

Second Quarter

South Putnam -- Cash 5 run (Gould kick) 11:15

South Putnam -- Cash 17 run (Gould kick) 11:04

Greencastle -- Deer FG 8:45

South Putnam -- Gould FG 22.3

Fourth Quarter

South Putnam -- Knight 4 run (Gould kick) 10:06

Greencastle -- Shuee 2 run (2-pt. Conversion) 3:48

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Greencastle (22-65) -- Evens 13-59 TD, Faust 8-4, Shuee 1-2 TD.

South Putnam (50-271) -- Cash 29-163 2 TD, Tomaw 10-51, Knight 4-32 TD, Bunten 2-14, Parrish 5-11.

Passing

Greencastle -- Shuee 5-13, 58 yds. 0 TD, 0 INT.

South Putnam -- Davidson 1-5, 6 yds. 0 TD, 1 INT.

Receiving

Greencastle -- Evens 4-60, Faust 1-(-2).

South Putnam -- Frame 1-6.

Next game -- The Eagles will travel to Cloverdale at 7 p.m. and Greencastle will host North Putnam at 7 p.m. Friday.

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