Eagles soar past Clovers on homecoming

Saturday, September 28, 2013
Speedy South Putnam senior Wes Riner (9) runs through a wall of blockers during Friday's game against Cloverdale. Riner finished with 41 yards and a touchdown on the ground and had one catch for 10 yards. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

The scoreboard said that South Putnam was a big winner Friday night over Cloverdale. The stat sheet would say the Eagles outgained the Clovers by a mere 93 yards, yet the victory was comfortable for the hosts, 40-0.

South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess would argue otherwise.

"That's a much, much improved Cloverdale team," Burgess said. "They came in with a good game plan, they played hard and I take my hat off to Cloverdale and their kids. Coach Duff did a great job and he got his kids ready to play tonight."

Even after being shutout by the Eagles, Cloverdale head coach Jarrod Duff said the squad showed plenty of promise.

"We moved the ball, especially in the first half, against a really good defensive team," Duff said. "We were able to run the ball, run the option, throw the ball and when you can do that against a good defensive team like South Putnam, it is really encouraging."

The game could not have gotten off to a much better start for the hosts after Wes Riner intercepted Mark Osmialowski for a 51-yard pick six.

Cloverdale senior Wade Warren (right) keeps his focus as he fights for a reception against South Putnam senior Klayton Vittetow. Warren caught the ball on the two-yard line. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

Cloverdale was able to move the ball before and after the interception and made it to the Eagle three-yard line just before the first quarter ended.

Disaster struck two plays later when Osmialowski was picked again, this time by Sawyer Arnold. The damage was limited by an illegal forward lateral that negated a 97-yard touchdown return by Jimmy Rutter.

South Putnam scored on the following drive, covering the 97 yards over 14 plays. Riner scored for the second time, this time from five yards out to give the hosts a 13-0 lead after a missed extra point.

Cloverdale handed the ball back for a third time when Osmialowski fumbled a handoff and Jacob Williams recovered the ball. The Eagles scored three plays later on a five yard Lucas Lorian run.

Though the hosts led 19-0 at halftime, Burgess said that the squad had to rely on having played together a great deal to ride out the early storm.

"The difference on the scoreboard was the experience factor," Burgess said. "We've got a lot of guys with a lot of varsity experience. When we needed to make a play, we did. As far as execution goes, though, Cloverdale took it to us in the first half."

After battling the hosts and the injury bug for the first half, Cloverdale eventually succumbed to the grinding South Putnam attack in the third quarter.

Arnold struck first on a 37-yard run to give the Eagles a 26-0 lead two minutes into the second half. After Rudy Harris recovered another Osmialowski fumble, Lorian struck two plays later from 13 yards out to extend the lead to 33-0.

Osmialowski dropped another ball barely a minute later, with Joe Waters picking the latest offering up on the Cloverdale 36-yard line. Lorian took the next handoff and scored nearly untouched to cap the Eagle scoring output at 40-0 midway through the third quarter.

South Putnam began to rotate players in and ground down the clock until the end of the game, sending the Eagles to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in WCC play.

Burgess said afterwards that after getting knocked around in the first half, the squad responded.

"I'm proud of the way the kids came out in the second half," Burgess said. "They came out and did the things they were supposed to do and I'm proud of their effort. Our offensive line executed better, Sawyer made some great reads and we ran hard."

With injuries piling up from the previous week and throughout the game, Duff said the squad refused to back down and instead stepped up in big ways.

"All of our injuries are unfortunate," Duff said. "We're thin as it is so the injuries are obviously a concern. We're going to have to do a good job of taking care of these guys this week to get them ready for Friday night.

"Taylor Mescall moved from the backfield to the offensive line. That's a testament to the kind of kid Taylor is. We asked him to move up because it could help our team and he didn't hesitate.

"He said he would do whatever the team needs him to do. I'm proud of him and all these guys."

Duff said that the squad also understood that things were improving but more was needed as the squad headed into a matchup with Greencastle next Friday.

"Our coaching staff and players see the big picture," Duff said. "We understand we're still making too many mistakes but we're making fewer of them. Tonight, we have to look at the positive things and the competitiveness.

"We're getting better and we're doing more things the right way. We were able to compete with a quality football team and we have another quality team to go against next week. We'll go into next week looking for a good week of practice, get better and be ready for Greencastle Friday night."

Burgess and the Eagles, meanwhile, get a new test with a visit from Mt. Vernon of Posey County. Burgess said the experience of the week was as important as the game itself.

"We have to treat this like a tournament game," Burgess said. "With our new sectional alignment and where we're going, other than Indianapolis Lutheran we don't know anything about the other schools.

"Everybody else will be similar to this week in that we'll have film and it will be our first go-round with them. We can use this as experience preparing for the sectional. Mt. Vernon is big and physical so it's going to be a really good test for our kids."

Cloverdale's Andrew Howard (41) tries to shed off a tackle by South Putnam senior Braden Patrick during Friday's game. Howard finished with 70 yards on the ground. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)



At South Putnam
Cloverdale............0 0 0 0 -- 0
South Putnam.......7 12 21 0 -- 40

Scoring
1st Quarter
SP -- 9:20 Riner 51-yard interception return (Yon kick) 7-0

2nd Quarter
SP -- 5:44 Riner 6-yard run (XP no good) 13-0
SP -- 1:29 Lorian 5-yard run (Conversion failed) 19-0

3rd Quarter
SP -- 10:06 Arnold 37-yard run (Yon kick) 26-0
SP -- 7:06 Lorian 13-yard run (Yon kick) 33-0
SP -- 6:11 Lorian 36-yard run (Yon kick) 40-0

Team Stats

*CLSP
Total Yards274367
Interception30
Fumble31
First Downs1512
4th down0-21-2
Penalties2-157-58
Punts22

Individual Stats
Rushing
Cloverdale -- Howard 18-70; Osmialowski 10-9; Boyd 4-12; Smith 3-12; Manion 1-(-3)
South Putnam -- Lorian 15-154, 3 TD; Cutshaw 8-24; Arnold 5-100, TD; Riner 4-41, TD; Grundlock 2-2; McHugh 2-(-2); Waters 1-8; Wiggs 1-5

Passing
Cloverdale -- Osmialowski -- 9-19-174, 3 INT; Duff 0-1-0
South Putnam -- Arnold 3-5-28

Receiving
Cloverdale -- Warren 4-86, TD; Secrest 2-30; Davis 2-18; Fislar 1-40
South Putnam --Riner 1-10; Vittetow 1-10; Mitchell 1-8

Next Game: South Putnam (5-1, 3-0 WCC) hosts Mt. Vernon (Posey) and Cloverdale (1-5, 0-3 WCC) travels to Greencastle next week.

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