South Putnam gets win over Monrovia

Saturday, October 9, 2010
South Putnam's Dean Varvel hauls in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Grant Zimmerman in the first quarter Friday.

GREENCASTLE -- Since dropping a close contest to Greencastle on Sept. 17, the South Putnam Eagles have gone 3-0, including their 28-13 win over Monrovia Friday on senior night.

"It feels good," Eagle head coach Troy Burgess said. "Since the Greencastle game, we've played well -- played three weeks in a row, we've played well, beat good opponents in all three weeks. Like I said, we're winning, but we still have a lot to work on. We have a lot to work on and we're killing ourselves -- turning the ball over, some silly mistakes and if we don't make those, we have a chance to be a pretty good football team.

"I'm happy for the kids; I'm happy for the seniors tonight. This was a big one for them," he added.

Monrovia took a quick 7-0 advantage after a Darren Oliver score at 7:51 in the first quarter. But instead of hanging their heads, the Eagles scored on their next possession.

After Zack Smith slipped on the kickoff, pinning the Eagles deep, Rob Gibson busted out a 74-yard run down the Monrovia sideline to put South Putnam in business.

Four plays later, Grant Zimmerman found Dean Varvel in the endzone to knot the game 7-all with 6:25 on the clock.

The Bulldogs went 3-and-out on their next possession and gave the Eagles some prime real estate when they botched the punt at their own 18-yard line. However, the Monrovia defense stepped up and caused a fumble on the next play to keep South Putnam from adding another score.

Gibson once again burned the Monrovia defense with 9:06 left in the second quarter after he blazed a trail down the sideline for a 60-yard score, putting the Eagles up 13-0.

Just before the half, the Bulldog defense once again kept the Eagles out of the endzone when Zimmerman's pass went off his receiver's hands and was hauled in by Dylan Michel.

Both squads failed to score in the third quarter, but it didn't take the Eagles long to find paydirt in the final stanza.

At the 11:45 mark, Zimmerman dropped back and began to scramble as the pocket collapsed around him. But as soon as the senior set his eyes downfield, he spotted Gibson and fired the ball to the speedy junior. Seventy yards later, Gibson crossed the goal line, giving South Putnam a 21-7 lead.

The Eagles added their final score when Brayden Freeman powered in from 1-yard out to move his team's lead to 29-6.

Monrovia scored as the clock expired to bring the score to its final 28-13 margin.

Gibson rushed 19 times for 187 yards and a touchdown. He also hauled in two passes for 88 yards and a score.

South Putnam owned the line of scrimmage, something Burgess said has been a strength since the loss to Greencastle.

"Up front. We're winning the battle up front each week," Burgess said. "Our offensive and defensive lines are just doing a tremendous job and offensively we're creating some holes and we have some athletes that can run the ball if we just give them a gap in there.

"Defensively the same thing. Our defensive front is getting some pressure and they're doing a good job. We've just had some guys step up and not be selfish," he added.

He is also especially proud of the selfless nature of his squad week in and week out.

"We talk about it each week," he said. "Brayden Freeman, here's a guy that has waited his whole life to play tailback in this offense after watching Drew Cash do it. 'Gosh, I'm going to get 40 carries a game'. Now all of sudden we ask him to play a fullback in a wishbone and block every down. And you know what? He hasn't missed a beat. He does it and when we give him the ball he runs hard and when we don't he block hard. That's the type of team we have. We're just a very unselfish group and that's why we're in the position we're in right now."

Up next in the Eagles' regular season finale will be Cascade, a team that has had some struggles this season, but one Burgess doesn't want his team to look past. When asked how you get a team to do that, Burgess said it was simple.

"To me its real simple -- we're not that good yet," he said cracking a smile. "To think we can just roll in someplace and beat somebody because we're there, we're sadly mistaken. Cascade's a good football team and they've gotten better each week, they're strong and physical and they're continuing to improve. Our kids have to do the same thing. It wasn't very long ago we were sitting here at 2-3 at one point, so we don't need to forget that. We've had to play awfully well to get ourselves to this point and there's no room for let down right now."

South Putnam will travel to Cascade Friday at 7 p.m.

At South Putnam

Monrovia 7 0 0 6 -- 13

South Putnam 7 6 0 15 -- 28

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

MON -- Oliver 31-yd. run, kick good 7:51

SP -- Varvel 9-yd pass from Zimmerman, kick good 6:25

Second Quarter

SP -- Gibson 60-yd. run, kick failed 9:06

Fourth Quarter

SP -- Gibson 33-yd. pass from Zimmerman, two-point conversion good 11:45

SP -- Freeman 1-yd run, kick good 5:34

MON -- Oliver 6-yd. pass from Clements, no kick :00

Individual Stats

Monrovia

Rushing -- Clements 12-125, Oliver 13-64 TD, Klampe 7-20, McCleery 1-1, Sichting 4-10

Passing -- Clements 5-13-1-0 48 yards

Receiving -- Sichting 2-15, Oliver 2-15, Michel 1-18

South Putnam

Rushing -- Gibson 19-187 TD, Freeman 12-48, Smith 7-10, Zimmerman 5-26

Passing -- Zimmerman 4-7-2-2 105 yards

Receiving -- Gibson 2-88 TD, Varvel 1-9 TD, Smith 1-8