Cougars suffer first loss of the season to Southmont

ROACHDALE -- Going into Friday night's contest the North Putnam Cougars had owned the Southmont Monties for the past several years.

But Friday night the Cougars ran into a buzz saw as the Mounties took advantage of numerous North Putnam mistakes to come away with a 28-13 win dropping the Cougars to 1-1 on the season.

"South just flat out kicked our butts tonight," said North Putnam coach Greg Barrett. "You have to give them credit they took advantage of our mistakes."

From the opening kick off, the Mounties had the Cougars on their heels as they forced them to go three and out on their first possession. Southmont then marched the ball down the field and scored on a five yard run by Micah Hatch. Curtis Rose added the extra point to make it 7-0.

With 10:30 left in the second quarter, North Putnam sophomore Hank Spencer intercepted a pass from Southmont senior quarterback Logan Petry returning the ball 60 yards for the score. Hunter Logan added the extra point for the Cougars to make it 7-7.

Spencer ended the game with 10 carries for 104 yards and one touchdown getting the majority of the carries for the Cougars. As a team, the Cougars rushed for 188 yards on the night.

Sophomore quarterback Kolten Everts led the team down the field with less than six minutes to go in the game completing 8 of 11 passes for 90 yards. Senior Shawn Diebold caught the ball keeping his toes in on the edge of the endzone for the Cougars second score of the night.

"We have a young team but they didn't quit tonight. I am really proud of them," said Barrett. "We have to work on cutting down the number of turnovers."

With the second scoring drive for the Cougars, Everts seemed to find his rhythm hitting his receivers. He finished the night passing for 186 yards.

After North Putnam's first score of the night, Southmont took the ball down the field on three plays for 71 yards and a touchdown, Rose added the extra point to make it 14-7. Southmont scored again with 3:43 left in the third quarter on a four yard run by Hatch.

Going into next week's games against South Putnam coach Barrett is looking for improvement from his team. Assessing the teams play Friday night Barrett said that they didn't fire off the ball like they were capable of.

"We will have to get it fixed and get fired up for next Friday night's game," he said. "We will learn from tonight and apply it towards the rest of our season."

Southmont had 203 rushing yards on the night and 24 passing yards. Senior Tanner Hill had five carries for 53 yards and Hatch had 27 carries for 96 yards.

At North Putnam

North Putnam 0 7 0 6 -- 13

Southmont 7 7 7 7 -- 28

First Quarter

SM -- Hatch 5 yard run 4:50 first quarter, Rose extra point

Second Quarter

NP -- Spencer 60 yard pass interception 10:30 second quarter, Hunter extra point

SM -- McKinney 57 yard run 4:25 second quarter, Rose extra point

Third Quarter

SM -- Hatch 4 yard run 3:43 third quarter, Rose extra point

Fourth Quarter

SM -- Hill 19 yard run 6:09 fourth quarter, Rose extra point

NP -- Diebold catch in endzone from Everts 2:55 fourth quarter, 2 point conversion failed

Team Stats

Rushing -- NP (46-188), SM -- (40-203)

Individual Stats

Rushing

NP -- (Spencer10-104, 1 TD; Everts 1-2; Vondersaar 2-48; Diebold 3-1, 1 TD; Marlow 1-8; Jones 1-10; Boruff 1-10; Murphy 2-5)

SM -- (Hatch 27-96, 2 TD; Hill 5-53, 1 TD; Petry 5-10; Long 3-44; McKinney 1-57, 1TD)

Passing

NP -- 38 attempts, 27 completed for 186 yards, 15 incomplete, 3 interceptions

SM -- 2 attempts incomplete, 1 interception

Receiving

NP -- Bouroff 6-63; Spencer 5-46; Adsams 3-27; Diebold 1-5; Jones 1-20)