Eagles lose heartbreaker to Patriots

Saturday, August 23, 2014
South Putnam's Lucas Lorian stiff-arms a Patriot in the first quarter of the South Putnam loss. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

South Putnam approached its 2014 opening game against Owen Valley looking to give head coach Nathan Aker his first win.

A last-minute sucker-punch by the Patriots spoiled the evening, however, as the visitors scored with 38 seconds left to win 24-21, their first triumph over the Eagles since 2007.

Aker, in his first official game as head coach, said that the squad fought hard with a Patriot squad that was as good as advertised.

"I'm really proud of how we came out and fought," Aker said. "The kids are doing the right thing, have bought into the things we're trying to do and we've got a good group here.

"That was a heck of an Owen Valley team. They're going to win a lot of games this year."

South Putnam struck first on the evening after trading turnovers with Owen Valley.

After the visitors punted on their first possession, Eagle quarterback Grady McHugh was intercepted by Caleb Summerlot. The Patriots handed the ball back shortly thereafter when Michael Hendershot fumbled and Trevor Long recovered for the hosts.

Lucas Lorian thought he had scored for the home side three plays later, only for a 48-yard run to be called back by a penalty.

Lorian only had to wait three more plays to strike again as the senior tailback scored from two yards out to give South Putnam a 7-0 lead.

The score remained unchanged until the second quarter when Owen Valley benefited from a second Eagle turnover.

The host defense held the Patriots to a three-and-out, only to muff the punt and give the visitors a fresh set of downs to play with.

A 35-yard pass play and a horse collar penalty against the Eagles setup a three-yard plunge by Seth Sparks to close the gap to 7-6 after the extra point was blocked.

Heading into halftime, Aker was pleased with most of what he had seen to that point.

"We got off to a pretty good start in the first half," Aker said. "To take the lead into halftime was important for us tonight.

"Turnovers and special teams hurt us late in the half. We all had a few mental mistakes and penalties we didn't like, but we'll get those things corrected."

After the halftime break, South Putnam needed only two plays for Lorian to score his second touchdown, motoring 67 yards to give the hosts a 14-6 lead.

Owen Valley responded with a grinding 13-play drive, picking up a key fourth-and-three to keep the drive alive, culminating with a five-yard score by quarterback Evan Wood to cut the lead back down to 14-12.

Neither squad made much headway as the South Putnam offense stalled out for much of the third and fourth quarters while the Patriots wasted great field position twice.

Brandon Gierke made an interception deep in Eagle territory that halted one drive while Kyle Shaffer blew up a fourth-and-inches play with 6:23 to go that gave the hosts a chance to score themselves.

A 43-yard run by Lorian set South Putnam up on the Owen Valley 10-yard line, only to turn the ball over on downs.

The Patriots then stunned the home crowd when Wood kept the ball on an option play and rolled up 90 yards to give the visitors an 18-14 lead with 2:51 to play.

As they had done all game, South Putnam rode the legs of Lorian down the field, eating up 40 yards in three plays before the drive threatened to stall out again.

A holding penalty set the Eagles back after Lorian had run inside the Patriot five yard line and would have lost crucial yards on the next play, only for the visitors to be called for a personal foul that set South Putnam up on the 34-yard line.

McHugh, who was 1-for-7 at the time, faked a pitch to Lorian and fired a strike to Zane Yon that gave the Eagles a 21-18 lead with 1:06 to play.

Aker was impressed with the way the squad had responded to the adversity of trailing.

"That was a really big drive for us," Aker said. "Lucas was a workhorse for us and the offensive line was suffering through several things.

"We really sucked it up on that drive and got big chunks of yardage. Hitting (Zane) Yon on the play-action was a huge play and we were feeling pretty good at that point."

Owen Valley saved its best play for last, however, when Wood hit Sparks for a 45-yard score that sent the Patriot fans into a frenzy and seal a 24-21 victory for the visitors.

It was a bitter blow for the hosts and Aker said that the squad just didn't have enough in the tank to hold off the Patriots one last time.

"With the talent and the coaching staff that Owen Valley has, we knew the game wasn't over by any means," Aker said. "We were going to rely on our defense but at the end of the night, we came up a little bit short."

As the squad walked off the field in near silence, Aker was quick to point out that the players would pick each other up quickly in the coming days.

"We don't really have a theme this year per se, but our unofficial theme during the summer at of late is being together," Aker said, "We're preaching that to the kids.

"We look at it from the top-down through the entire program but we especially want to see it in the high school squad. We've got to stay together and can't let this loss linger."

The road for South Putnam does not get any easier next week when the Eagles host Tri-West.

With the toll that the game took on both the minds and bodies of the squad, Aker said that the mental strength of the squad would be tested over the next seven days.

"We've got to get healthy this week," Aker noted. "We've got to take care of our bodies, be smart over the weekend, be smart at practice and try to be peaking again by Friday.

"There's a loaded Tri-West team up the road that's got a lot of talent and a great coaching staff. They're going to be ready to fight.

"Our kids will bounce back. South Putnam kids are tough, smart kids and they know what to do to be ready next week."


At South Putnam

Owen Valley 0 6 6 12 -- 24

South Putnam 7 0 7 7 -- 21


Scoring

1st Quarter

SP -- 4:29 Lorian 2-yard run (Yon kick) 7-0

2nd Quarter

OV -- 2:44 Sparks 3-yard run (XP blocked) 7-6

3rd Quarter

SP -- 11:32 Lorian 67-yard run (Yon kick) 14-6

OV -- 5:55 Wood 5-yard run (Conversion failed) 14-12

4th Quarter

OV -- 2:51 Wood 90-yard run (Conversion failed) 14-18

SP -- 1:06 Yon 34-yard pass from McHugh (Yon kick) 21-14

OV -- 0:38 Sparks 45-yard pass from Wood (Conversion failed) 21-24


Statistics

Total Plays/Yards

SP -- 54-356

OV -- 54-311

Rushing

SP -- 43-289 -- Lorian 29-238, TD; Shaffer 8-47; McHugh 5-(-2); Rutter 1-6

OV -- 36-214 -- Wood 10-149, TD; Sparks 8-28, TD; Hendershot 8-25; Townsend 7-14; Sims 2-(-3); Shouse 1-2

Passing

SP -- McHugh 3-11-67-1-2

OV -- Wood 7-18-97-1-1

Receiving

SP -- Yon 1-34, TD; Rutter 1-18; Shaffer 1-15

OV -- Sparks 3-83, TD; Shouse 2-2; Hendershot 1-10; Sims 1-8

1st Downs

SP -- 13

OV -- 12

4th Down Conversions

SP -- 0-1

OV -- 1-2

Turnovers

SP -- 3

OV -- 2

Next Game: South Putnam (0-1) hosts Tri-West (0-1) next Friday.

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  • Good coverage by all four sports runners.

    Reading the four articles with such good information covering the four county football teams, I thought that I attended each game.

    Good job, Banner-Graphic.

    -- Posted by Lookout on Sat, Aug 23, 2014, at 7:35 AM
  • WATCH OUT.. LUCAS LORIAN IS GONNA HAVE A KILLER SEASON! GO SOUTH!!! GO EAGLES!!!!!

    -- Posted by truthis on Sat, Aug 23, 2014, at 8:53 AM
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