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Eagles get back on track in big victory
The South Putnam Eagle football team had lost two games in a row heading into Friday night’s Western Indiana Conference inter-divisional matchup with the Edgewood Mustangs, but the Eagles celebrated their homecoming with a physically-dominating 45-13 win to improve their record to 3-2 on the season.
The Eagles amassed an astounding 528 yards on the ground led by Kyle Shaffer’s 323 yards on 31 carries. Dalton Scott added 139 yards on just eight carries.
“It starts with Kyle Shaffer and his offensive line. Dalton Scott ran well. Our running game was really something,” South Putnam head coach Nathan Aker said.
The Eagles’ rushing attack was so dominant that they only attempted two passes during the contest and picked up 20 first downs. Shaffer scored four touchdowns on the night, while Scott scored two of his own.
It wasn’t just offensively that South dominated.
They dominated the line of scrimmage early on by tackling the Mustangs for a loss on five of their first six rushing attempts. The defensive line scored a touchdown on the first series as Drew High took an Edgewood fumble 15 yards for the opening score of the game. Devon Workman kicked the PAT for an early Eagle 7-0 lead.
The defense then forced a punt that was blocked to give South good field position at the Mustang 23-yard line to set up the next score.
“The line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball really played well. (Defensively) It starts with those guys up front. Josh Bills, Averie Fields, Cody Wyatt, Drew High. They took advantage of their work in the weight room and took over,” Aker said.
The blocked punt set the Eagles up for their second score. South only took two plays to score. A 17-yard run by Christian Zeffel setup a Shaffer six-yard touchdown run. After another Workman PAT kick, the Eagles led 14-0. Zeffel getting his first start at quarterback for the injured Allen Plunkett really played well, his coach said.
“Christian came in and managed the game and didn’t put the ball on the ground and really played well,” Aker said
A Scott 4-yard score put the Eagles up 20-0, then Shaffer sprinted 63 yards with his second touchdown of the game. The two teams traded missed field goal attempts prior to crowning Kailee Hawkins as queen at halftime.
Edgewood intercepted an Eagle pass on South’s first possession of the third quarter, but Hunter Higgins responded by intercepting a Mustang pass on the next possession and Scott then carried the ball twice on the ensuing possession, scoring from 11 yards out. The Eagles had command of the game at 33-0.
Shaffer would score twice more in the second half. He scored late in the third quarter with a 21-yard run and then capped it off with a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs would score twice in the second half.
“We did what we wanted,” Aker said. We have a had a tough couple of weeks and we came out ready to play. There were a lot of distractions this week and [the players] surprised me. It was cool walking through the gate tonight. Their breathing was intense. I knew then we were ready to play,” Aker said.
The Eagles will put their 3-2 record on the line next Friday as they host the West Vigo Vikings.
Edgewood 0 0 7 6 — 13
South Putnam 14 12 13 6 — 45
SP — Drew High 15 fumble recovery (Workman kick), 7-0, Q1 10:37.
SP — Kyle Shaffer 6 run (Workman kick) 14-0, Q1 8:28.
SP — Dalton Scott 4 run (PAT kick failed) 20-0, Q2 7:31.
SP – Shaffer 63 run (pass incomplete) 26-0, Q2 6:06.
SP – Scott 11 run (Workman kick) 33-0, Q3 9:04,
SP – Shaffer 21 run (pass incomplete) 39-0, Q3 4:03.
E – Andrew Graef 1 run (Stillions kick) 39-7, Q3 1:04.
SP – Shaffer 4 run (PAT kick failed) 45-7, Q4 8:55.
E – Graef 1 run (run failed) 45-13, Q4 4:29.
E SP
First downs 14 20
Rushes-yards 41-169 49-528
Passing yards 50 0
Comp-Att-Int 4-23-1 0-2-1
Total offense 64-219 51-528
Punts-Avg. 5-22.8 1-33
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-1
Penalties-yards 8-90 4-40
Individual statistics
Rushing — Edgewood: Andrew Graef 25-144, Brandon Perryman 1-11, Chase Oltman 12-6,
unknown 3-8. South Putnam: Kyle Shaffer 31-323, Dalton Scott 8-139, Connor Cain 4-22, Colin
Adams 4-27, Christian Zeffel 1-12.
Passing — Edgewood: Graef 4-23-1 50. South Putnam: Zeffel 0-1- 0 0, Shaffer 0-1-1 0.
Receiving — Edgewood: Sam Jeatran 2-27, Tyler McGlothlin 1-11, unknown 1-12.