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Eagles confident they can win
Seventeen years ago today, the South Putnam defeated Frankton 26-22 to win the fifth regional football championship in school history.
The Eagles of legendary coach Mark Wildman had a stocky lineman on that team named Nathan Aker.
Fast forward to tonight, when Aker will lead the Eagles in the regional championship game against visiting Indianapolis Lutheran as head coach.
The Eagles of 2001 won that regional, and went on to win the regional and semistate the next year. They have not reached the semistate since.
Aker is hoping to keep that history alive as his 2018 squad welcomes the Saints, who are 9-3 with losses to Beech Grove (a 4A team that won six games), Triton Central (ranked second in Class 2A) and Indianapolis Scecina (playing in a Class 2A regional tonight).
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to bring home the program’s seventh regional championship,” Aker said. “[Former North Putnam] coach [Dave] Pasch continues to do a great job at Lutheran, and this year is no exception. They have an explosive offense and a physical defense.
“I have a great deal of respect for Coach Pasch and the job he has done turning that program into a state power.”
The Eagles and Saints are no strangers to each other. They have met each year in the one “controlled” pre-season scrimmage. That night each year in mid-August, temperatures are normally in the 80s or 90s and the only people in attendance wearing long pants are the game officials.
Tonight at game time, the temperature is expected to be 33 degrees with an 11 mph wind making it feel like 25.
The Eagles couldn’t care less.
They’re just glad to still be playing.
“We’ve been very pleased with the playoff run thus far and expect our guys to continue to turn heads across the state,” Aker said. “We’ve had really good practices for the past month or so, with the expectation that our edge in preparation and depth will continue to pay dividends. This playoff run should continue to earn respect for our kids and program as well as the tough Western Indiana Conference.”
Aker has trumpeted all season to his players how the team’s tough schedule (toughest in the state for Class A teams) would benefit them come tourney time.
South Putnam’s seniors had reached the sectional finals two other times in their careers, and saw the season end on that night both times. The tough schedule did not accomplish its goal.
They were glad to change that statistic last week.
“Last year at the end, we knew going into the off-season that winning the sectional was what we wanted to work for,” two-way senior star Dalton Scott said. “We are humble and ready to keep on winning.”
After beating two-win Cloverdale and winless Owen Valley to start the season, the Eagles lost six straight games before getting to play Owen Valley again in the WIC crossover game.
South was outscored 226-48 during that six-game losing skid, but Scott noticed a different attitude on the team than in similar situations in the past.
“Before we would kind of start getting down and arguing among each other,” Scott admitted. “This group has always stayed together, and we knew that to win a sectional we would have to stay together. There was never a time when I doubted we would get it done.”
Scott passed the 1,000-yard mark in rushing last week, and has carried the ball 217 times for 1,022 yards and 14 touchdowns. He has also caught a team-high 27 passes for 247 yards and three more scores.
Combined with 10 two-point conversions, Scott has scored 134 points this season.
Scott is one of only 113 players in the state to reach 1,000 yards.
Not bad for his second-best side of the ball.
“I’ve just been believing in my line and following my blocks,” he said. “They lead me to the touchdowns. I still like playing defense better.”
Defensively, Scott not only calls the signals from his middle linebacker position but has made 101 total tackles (49 solo and 52 assisted), 31 of those resulting in losses with 2.5 quarterback sacks.
Scott and his classmates are well-acquainted with Lutheran from the scrimmages, and he sees a difference in this year’s version of the Saints.
“From the film we’ve watched, it looks like they are a little bit down this year so that’s to our advantage,” he said. “They don’t play anybody like we do, so going into the game we’ve got a shot. Every game is the same, and we have to dominate up front like we’ve been doing.”
While junior starting quarterback Devin Cashion was injured and replaced by sophomore Riley Stone, senior center Darnell Bennett has been a rock-solid constant in the middle of the line.
Besides Scott, coach Aker frequently credits line play for resulting in success.
Bennett enjoys his time spent with fellow linemen Conner Hilburn and Parker Hacker, both sophomores protecting Stone or whoever may be at quarterback and opening holes for Scott and the other running backs.
“It’s pretty cool to have them beside me dominating and having fun,” he said. “Winning the sectional is really fun, since we’ve overcome so much adversity and come together as a group. It’s a little weird having the change in quarterbacks, because they all have a different cadence when giving signals.”
Bennett agreed that the middle of the season was tough.
“You wonder if [the losing streak] is ever going to end, and if we’re even going to get to the sectional championship with everyone healthy and ready,” he said. “It’s a tough six games, that’s for sure. We really fought to win the sectional.”
Bennett obviously watches the line play more than anything else on film, and thinks his team matches up well with the Saints.
“They’re really not bigger than us up front,” he said. “We have to keep our pad level down and keep pushing. Practices have been great this week, and it’s a winnable game for us.
Senior linebacker Austin Wilson has actually made it to the sectional championship each year of his career. He did not play last year, having gone to military training the summer before and needing a break.
Wilson is glad that he returned to the field this year, and is happy his team was finally able to bring home the sectional trophy.
“Being a part of this team is a family, and it really means a lot to us,” he said. “There are a lot of similarities between the military and playing football.
“You can carry over how to work together as a team and overcome obstacles like losing six games in a row,” Wilson added. “Something like that can put a damper on a team. You start to doubt yourself, but military training has helped me to overcome those thoughts and push through.”
As an outside linebacker, Wilson takes advantage of all the attention opponents put toward Scott.
“Playing by Dalton is fun, and we do really well together,” he said. “Sometimes you get double-pulled and one of us gets hit, we can play off that. Having Layton Workman and Colton Grundlock with us allows us to help each other out too.”
Wilson agrees with his teammates that the Eagles can win tonight.
“We just have to play as well as we’ve been playing,” he said. “We have to stick together and keep our heads up if something bad happens.
“I knew when I came back this year that winning the sectional was possible,” Wilson said. “For our senior group, that’s always been our goal.”
The Eagles were able to play two their three sectional games at home, and Aker is thrilled with the chance to play at Mark Wildman Field again.
“We are really looking forward to playing at home again,” he said. “The atmosphere was outstanding last week and it should only get better this week. We are looking forward to a packed house [tonight].”