North Putnam rolls, 62-14

Saturday, September 1, 2007
North Putnam's Griffen Dahlstrom (21) evades a Cascade tackler.

CLAYTON -- Ever have one of those moments that you hoped wouldn't last? On Friday night, the Cascade Cadets had nine of them as the North Putnam Cougars stormed into town and scored nine touchdowns en route to their 62-14 routing of the Cadets.

Things got started quickly for the Cougars as Kyle Rooker scored North's first touchdown with 10:02 on the clock. And the Cougars never let up.

On the night, the Cougar running attack put up an amazing 485 yards on the ground and kept the Cadets looking at the backs of their jerseys as they crossed the goal line eight times.

"We've got some pretty sound runningbacks. When we get hat-on-hat, I think we've got a chance," Cougar head coach Dave Pasch said.

The Cougars had two runners over 100-yards on the night. Rooker amassed 135 yards and Adam Vondersaar logged 149 yards.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars forced a fumble on the 32-yard line with Alex Lance causing the fumble and J.T Francies recovering. On the next play, starting quarterback Griffen Dahlstrom cut through the Cadets' defense and scored, putting the Cougars up 14-0 with 9:47 on the clock.

On their next possession, it was Dahlstrom again scoring from two yards out. Then as if on cue, the Cougars caused yet another fumble on the kickoff when Shawn Diebold collided with the Cascade carrier and Justin Ensor covered the ball. Three plays later, the Cougars went up 28-0 as Vondersaar scored on a four-yard scamper.

But just when you thought North Putnam would stick to its ground assault, the Cougars went to the air.

Dahlstrom connected with Jerrett Ban on a 65-yard touchdown pass, putting North up 35-0 with 3:02 on the clock. The Cougars would cap a whirlwind first quarter by adding another touchdown coming from a 29-yard slashing dash from Vondersaar, making it 42-0 in favor of the Cougars.

On its first possession of the second quarter, the Cougars lost the ball on downs but on its next possession, North resumed exactly where they left off. Vondersaar scored once again on a 41-yard burst down the field and the Cougars were up by 49 points.

Although the Cougar offense was on fire, its defense was just as impressive.

On the next Cascade possession, the Cougars pushed the Cadets back when faced with a fourth and one and continued to hand it to the Cadets all evening.

"Everything's a program perspective here. Our guys communicate well and their very sound tacklers. We definitely have a vision," Pasch commented.

The Cougars had one more scoring opportunity just before the half but saw their drive stall on the two-yard line as the horn sounded.

Vondersaar continued to cut through the Cadets in the third quarter and scored with 9:06 remaining to put the Cougars up 56-0.

Cascade would finally score its first points with: 21 seconds left in the quarter.

North Putnam would add another score in the fourth quarter when Kyle Adams scored from 11-yards out, giving North a 62-7 lead with 4:57 remaining.

The Cadets scored with 2:17 on the clock to bring it to its final score of 62-14.

"In the first two games we hadn't scored in the first quarter and I think that's a credit to the two teams that we played prior. We really wanted to come out tonight and execute. I thought that last week wasn't the kind of football we wanted to play," Pasch said.

"It's good for our kids to experience this because when you have that type of mindset, they can perform to the best of their abilities.

"It's taken a long time to get here and we're definitely not where we want to be, but we have improved over the years and I think that really shows. It's from the top down. It's not just your first 11; it's the second 11 (guys), the 33rd, the 40th and 60th guys that come on the field. When you can still do the things you want to do and execute - that's what I think coaches are most proud of," Pasch added.

The Cougars will host county and WCC rival South Putnam at 7 p.m. Friday.

At Cascade

North Putnam 42 7 7 6 -- 62

Cascade 0 0 7 7 -- 14

First Quarter

North Putnam - Rooker 29 run (Dahlstrom kick) 10:02

North Putnam - Dahlstrom 32 run (Dahlstrom kick) 9:47

North Putnam - Dahlstrom 2 run (Dahlstrom kick) 7:34

North Putnam - Adam Vondersaar 5 run (Dahlstrom kick) 6:09

North Putnam - Dahlstrom to Ban 65 pass (Dahlstrom kick) 3:02

North Putnam - JT Francies 29 run (Dahlstrom kick) 0:03.9

Second Quarter

North Putnam - Adam Vondersaar 59 run (Dahlstrom kick) 6:14

Third Quarter

North Putnam - Adam Vondersaar 12 run (Ford kick) 9:06

Cascade - Conner 4 run (Fisher kick) 0:20.6

Fourth Quarter

North Putnam - Adams 11 run (Kick blocked) 4:57

Cascade - Helmick 12 run (Fisher kick) 2:17

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

North Putnam:

Rushing - (49 Carries, 485 yards) - Dahlstrom 7-71, Rooker 11-135, Adam Vondersaar 9-149, Francies 1-29, Jones 4-21, Ford 3-30, Boruff 7-28, Adams 3-24, Franklin 1-8, Welch 2-(-6), Aaron Vondersaar 1-(-4).

Passing - (2-5-1-0, 84 yards) - Dahlstrom 2-4, 84 yds., 1 TD, 0 INT, Jones 0-1, 0 yds., 0 TD, 0 INT.

Receiving - (2 catches, 84 yards) - Adam Vondersaar 1-19, Ban 1-65.

Cascade:

Rushing - (26 Carries, 129 yards) - Guthrie 8-42, Tanner 7-30, Hensley 4-8, Helmick 6-38, Prine 1-11.

Passing - (10-28-0-0, 77 yards) - Guthrie 10-28, 77 yds., 0 TD, 0 INT.

Receiving - (10 catches, 77 yards) - Dunn 1-9, Lane 3-18, Riley 2-14, Mink 2-24, Singh 1-2, Grooms 1-10.

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