North Putnam moves on with win over Cascade

Hank Spencer busts through the Cadets defensive line Firday night. The Cougars won 40-0 and move on to face Tri-West Friday night.

CLAYTON-- Traveling to Cascade High School Friday night for their opening round sectional game, North Putnam was looking to build on the success of their season.

After 48 minutes, the Cougars were moving on as the defense held the Cadets to 99 total yards of offense and kept them out of the endzone.

The final score was 40-0 in favor of the Cougars.

"We finally put points on the board tonight like I knew we could," said Greg Barrett, North Putnam head coach.

Leading the touchdown parade for the Cougars was junior Travis Kratt, scoring three on the night -- one of them a 58-yard run with 10 minutes left in the first quarter.

Kratt ended up with 94 yards on seven carries. All three of Kratt's touchdowns came in the first half.

With 1:10 left in the second quarter, the Cadets finally got a first down on a 10-yard pass from Colin Smith to Justin Helmick. One play later, the Cougar defense took back control of the game as sophomore Jacob Worth charged through the Cadet offensive line to tackle Smith 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Sophomore Hank Spencer also scored six in the first half to bring the half-time score to 28-0. Spencer was the lead rusher on the night, totaling 113 yards on 22 carries.

Barrett said he was impressed with the way his team played on both sides of the ball Friday night. Although there is always work to be done before the next game, he said that he was happy for the way the team played.

"I am thrilled that we finally had the opportunity to get a lot of our younger players on the field tonight," said Barrett. "They all really stepped up.

The Cougars played the majority of the second half with second string players.

With 7:53 left in the fourth quarter, a bad snap on a field goal attempt led to a 30-yard pass by North Putnam junior Travis Franklin. After controlling the high snap, he rolled right and found senior Kyle Adams in the end zone to make the score 40-0.

Senior Shawn Diebold added a 50-yard run with 3:37 left in the third quarter, making the score 34-0. Diebold carried the ball two times on the night for 57 yards.

Barrett gave credit to the power game of the Cadets.

"Coach Josh Hagenow has his young team going in the right direction," said Barrett. "They are an up an coming young team."

Leading the way for the Cadets was senior Jordan Younge rushing for 26-yards on seven carries. Quarterback Colin Smith had six carries for 20-yards.

North Putnam at Cascade

NP -- 12 16 6 6 -- 40

CC 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First quarter

NP -- Kratt 58 yard run 10:00 (Osborn kick miss)

NP -- Kratt 10 yard run 2:23 (Osborn kick miss)

Second quarter

NP -- Spencer 12 yard run 9:56 (Kratt two point conversion)

NP -- Kratt 13 yard run 2:13 (Spencer two point conversion)

Third quarter

NP -- Diebold 50 yard run 3:37 (Osborn kick miss)

Fourth quarter

NP -- Franklin 30 yard pass to Adams (Osborn kick miss)

Individual stats

North Putnam

Rushing -- Spencer 22-113, Kratt 7-94, Boruff 6-25, Vondersaar 1-5, Everts 1-4, Diebold 2-57, St. Victor 3-0, Shorter 3-29, Osborn 3-7, Kirkham 2-(-9), Smerage 1-2

Passing -- Everets 1 completion 25 yards, on two attempts

Cascade

Rushing -- Younge 7-26, Smith 6-20, Arthur 4-17, Hill 1-3, Settles 3-(-2), Helmick 1-5, Butler 2-0, Baldwin 1-16

Passing -- Smith 6 passes/3 completions for 14 yards.