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Cougars overcome miscues to edge Cascade
CLAYTON -- North Putnam defeated Cascade 20-13 on Friday in what wasn't one of the prettiest games in which head coach Greg Barrett had been involved.
The Cougars, ranked No. 15 in the AP Media 2A Poll, committed three turnovers and eight penalties and saw a 14-0 lead disintegrate to 14-13 late in the fourth quarter.
"We found a way to win so that was exciting," Barrett said. "It wasn't pretty. Any time you have three turnovers on offense and win a game you're pretty excited about that."
The Cougars' running game and key stops on defense put them over the top in their first game of the season.
"Field position was not good for us," Barrett said. "We didn't have many plays in the second half on offense and didn't do a good job helping our defense out and getting them off the field.
The Cougars rushed the ball 32 times for 223 yards. Gage Bell led the way with 85 yards with Ethan Christy following with 68 yards and a touchdown.
"Gage Bell ran the ball great," Barrett said. "Christy came in late there in the fourth quarter and ran the power game extremely well. A lot of guys touched the ball tonight. We did a lot of good things. We just can't have penalties."
With about five minutes left in the second quarter, quarterback Hayden Rudes was intercepted by Noah Mourey. Cascade followed with a 13-play, 64-yard drive that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run from Tanner Fox.
Cascade kept the pressure on the Cougars in the second half. Another interception gave the Cadets prime field position early in the fourth quarter. On their next drive, Cascade got the ball on the Cougars' 35-yard line and, aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty, went down the field and scored on a 10-yard pass from Edwards to Mourey.
However, the extra point kick never got off the ground, and the Cougars maintained a short lead at 14-13.
The Cougars responded quickly with a scoring drive that started on their own 20-yard line. Christy capped the drive off with a late 7-yard run and a 4-yard run for the touchdown.
The extra point after was blocked to keep it a 20-13 game. However, the Cougar defense held its own next time out, stuffing a fourth-and-four with 2:11 remaining. All that was left to do was run out the clock, and the offense did its job of that.
"We have some kids who can fly around and make some hits and they did that tonight," Barrett said. "Jake Powell played outstanding. You talk about a kid coming downhill flying and blowing up a hole -- he did a nice job of that."
North Putnam's first two scores came in the first half. Solomon Gross scored on a 28-yard run and Max Haste scored from one-yard away.
"That's a well-coached football team," first-year Cascade coach Steve Spinks said. "They're sound, fundamental and in the end, that's what wore us down."
North Putnam travels to Southmont next week. The Cougars took a 31-21 win last season over the Mounties.
North Putnam 7 7 0 6 -- 20
Cascade 0 7 0 6 -- 13
NP -- Gross 28 run (Hayes kick) 7-0, Q1 2:04.
NP -- Haste 1 run (Hayes kick) 14-0, Q2 7:54.
C -- Fox 1 run (Deurloo kick) 14-7, Q2 :06.
C -- Mourey 10 pass from Edwards (kick failed) 14-13, Q4 8:11.
N -- Christy 4 run (kick failed) 20-13, Q4 3:48.
NP C
First downs 10 13
Rushes-yards 32-223 45-164
Passing yards 47 38
Comp-Att-Int 4-9-2 7-10-0
Total offense 41-270 55-202
Punts-Avg. 1-45 4-30.8
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-69 6-46
Individual statistics
Rushing -- North Putnam: Jody 4-16, Bell 6-85, Christy 8-39, Rudes 5-11, Gross 7-68, Haste 2-4. Cascade: Alderson 11-55, Fox 11-31, Mourey 2-7, Horning 13-32, Mantooth 5-25, Edwards 3-14.
Passing -- NP: Rudes 4-9-2 47. C: Edwards 7-10-0 38.
Receiving -- NP: Bell 2-15, Judy 1-26, Murray 1-6. C: Edwards 2-12, Mourey 2-10, Mantooth 1-0, Fox 1-9, Alderson 1-7.