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North Putnam mauls Mustangs in opener, 40-14
ROACHDALE -- The 2010 season got off with a bang -- six bangs to be exact -- for the North Putnam Cougars Friday night. The Cougars scored six times en route to their 40-14 drubbing of Edgewood and look to be a powerhouse once again this season.
The Cougars amassed 352 rushing yards on the night, with Travis Franklin carrying four times for 118 yards and a touchdown.
North Putnam scored on their opening drive, and despite a lack of scoring until late in the second quarter, had the game well in hand throughout.
North Putnam head coach Greg Barrett acknowledged the good and the bad he witnessed Friday at Cougar Stadium.
"Well, I definitely saw some hustle tonight and team effort," Barrett said. "A lot of guys touched the ball tonight and that's huge. We had a lot of guys get some good reps. Saw some nice big plays by Travis Franklin. Jordan Murphy did a nice job -- Hank Spencer, Travis Kratt blocking for us on the edge. Colton (Everts) made some great reads
"We've got a lot of guys that we can do a lot of things with. We definitely will get better. We can't shoot ourselves inside the 20 with stupid penalties and that's going to come as the year goes on. We'll get better -- we'll make sure that happens," he added.
The Cougars first scored on a Kolten Evert keeper from five-yards out with 7:27 on the clock. They didn't score again until 4:34 left in the second quarter when Jordan Murphy galloped in from six-yards out, putting the Cougars up 13-0.
North Putnam put an exclamation mark on the first half as Evert and Franklin teamed up for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:34 remaining.
Franklin struck again in the third quarter, taking the ball from Evert and racing down the field for a 65-yard touchdown, bringing the North Putnam faithful to its feet.
Edgewood got into the scoring act with 4:25 in the third as Tyler Cross connected with James Ridge for a 45-yard touchdown strike to bring the score to 26-8 in favor of North Putnam.
After an Everts 19-yard scoring run, Cross and Ridge teamed up again this time for a 61-yard touchdown, making the score at 33-14.
Murphy added North Putnam's final score with 3:45 remaining when he ran over the Edgewood defense for a 12-yard score, giving the Cougars all the advantage they would need as they won 40-14.
Barrett knows the importance of going against tough opponents early in the season and thought Edgewood gave his team a good game.
"Besides the conference that we play in that we think is very tough, then you start off with Edgewood at 3A and Southmont next week another 3A team -- it's good for us," Barrett explained. "It makes us better for conference and better for tournament play. We're just very excited with what happened tonight. We know we've got a lot of things to get better on. Time will tell with that.
"Overall, I thought we played hard, we played fast and we played aggressive," he said.
In addition to Franklin's 118 rushing yards, Murphy added 93 yards and two scores, while Hank Spencer added 73 yards on 15 carries. Franklin was also the team's leading receiver with two catches for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Everts was 6-for-10 passing with a touchdown and one interception and 93 yards.
North Putnam will travel to Southmont Friday for a 7 p.m. start.
At North Putnam
North Putnam 7 12 14 7 -- 40
Edgewood 0 0 8 6 -- 14
North Putnam
Passing -- Everts 6-10-1-1 93 yards
Rushing -- Franklin 4-118 TD, Murphy 12-93 2TDs, Spencer 15-73, Everts 7-40 2TDs, Shorter 1-18, Kratt 4-12, No. 34 2-(-1), No. 4 1-(-1)
Receiving -- Franklin 2-38 TD, C. Vondersaar 2-34, A. Vondersaar 1-12, Murphy 1-9
Edgewood
Passing
Cross -- 4-12-2-1 115 yards
Rushing
Delos Samtos -- 12-31, Cross 10-19, Roberts 3-16
Receiving
Ridge -- 3-110 2TDs, Mabry 1-5
Next game -- North Putnam will travel to Southmont Friday for a 7 p.m. start.