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FOOTBALL PREVIEWS: South Putnam Eagles
Although it was another good season, South Putnam’s 2021 campaign felt a little flat by the end, having lost handily to Linton at the end of the season and exiting the postseason after being roughed up by Parke Heritage.
Though the Eagles repeated as Putnam County and WIC champions, the goal will be to have a better showing than the 8-3 season from a year ago, especially with a new sectional that will put the team to the test like never before.
South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said the squad took on several larger schools knowing it had a tall task ahead of it at the end of the year, noting that while there were some additional challenges during the scrimmage against Sullivan, the team overall looked good heading into the season.
“All summer really have been in base defense with a strength right call and while I won’t say we didn’t game plan for a scrimmage, we want our first win to be against Cloverdale,” Sorrell said about some of the issues in scrimmaging the Golden Arrows. “Sullivan came out in a formation to the boundary and we were lined up wrong, something we’ll fix this week and we’ll have our strength calls in much better shape.
“The teams we played all summer prepare us for the teams like Sullivan and North Putnam, teams that want to spread you out. We’re not built this time on big guys but fast and stronger guys, guys that get to the ball fast, something we preached all summer and something the guys did a good job of Friday night.”
Wyatt Mullin returns as signal caller for the Eagles, having missed a chunk of his freshman season due to injury but still passing for 748 yards on 52-of-92 attempts in five games, tossing nine touchdown passes against four interceptions.
Mullin will have top target Peyton Crickmore (46 rec., 514 yards, four touchdowns) back along with Wyatt Switzer (13 rec., 164 yards, one touchdown), Drew Hill (11 rec., 289 yards) and Zack Dorsett (eight rec., 125 yards, touchdown) as well as Caiden Switzer and Logan Tomaw out wide while Luke Switzer returns after rushing for 540 yards on 128 carries and eight touchdowns.
“It’s nice to have all six skill positions all having played last year in significant roles but we also have two or three more guys that want those spots, so we’ll be able to rotate in at any time,” Sorrell said. “Every receiver caught a ball in the scrimmage; what they did with those balls was up to them but they had a chance, if they had the right block or made the right move, to be able to score.
“We’re not just going to be throwing to one guy all the time and Luke has shown for a while now what he’s got, so if everyone else is covered, he’s still there to gash teams.”
Up front, Brock Heaven leads a line that includes Ethan Harcourt, Preston Pelfrey, Gus Mondy and Parker Harris, a unit not as experienced as Sorrell was expecting but one that has the size and speed to keep creating running lanes while keeping Mullin upright.
Harcourt, Dorsett and Kyle Glasson make up the defensive front with Aiden Beadles and Kolby Harcourt at linebacker spots, Luke Switzer in an outside backer role while Hill, Fisher Jones, Cayden Witt, Conner Arnold and Caden Switzer hold down secondary roles.
“Aiden is key to what we do on defense,” Sorrell said. “We’re happy with what our defensive line has done, as they really allow us to go after the ball and be fast by plugging the inside gaps.
“The guys up front had a good summer defensively and it’s going to be tough for teams to run in the A and B gaps; teams are going to have to run off tackle to beat us and the big schools we scrimmaged challenge us to do just that.
“Kolby stacks as a linebacker behind Ethan so we have the Harcourts controlling the A gaps,” Sorrell added. “We have some good players on the back end with Fisher, Caden Switzer, Cayden Witt, Conner and Drew while Luke at the spur spot helps set the edge and turns guys back into the other six players.”
Wyatt Kendall will handle punting and kicking duties with Tomaw as long snapper and an assortment of returners with Hill and Wyatt Switzer leading candidates early on.
“Wyatt has been to a lot of team camps and we’ll see what we get out of him,” Sorrell said. “Our goals are not to punt as our offensive guys keep telling me to go for it.
“Wyatt and Drew are learning how to find the open holes as returners and while Drew was playing for the first time in a while last year, he’s a good layer that has the potential to be a really good football player.”
Sectional realignment threw South Putnam into a dangerous mix with the likes of Indianapolis Lutheran and Covenant Christian, the past two state champions with the latter knocking the Eagles out of the state tournament in the regional round two years ago, along with Parke Heritage and North Central, both sectional champions from a year ago.
Sorrell said the players understood that it would take the best they had to lift a sectional title but also knew that, should the team make it through, their chance to make a deep postseason run grew exponentially and the goal was to hang on to both its county and conference titles while building up a head of steam in the final weeks of the season.
“Now that our sectional is the toughest in Class A, we kind of see week eight as the start of our tournament as both Heritage Christian and Linton will probably be ranked in Class 2A,” Sorrell said. “It’s a gauntlet to win a state championship but whoever gets out of the sectional has a real good chance to go to Lucas Oil.
“We have at least three of the top-10 teams in the state in our sectional, five teams that have won a sectional the past couple of seasons and two state champions. We go in ever year with goals of winning the country games, winning the conference and winning a state title.
“Winning our conference means beating 2A and 3A schools but it’s a goal Greencastle and North Putnam also have,” Sorrell added. “If we do win the conference, it helps put ourselves in a position to win a sectional, something South Putnam has a history of doing and something we don’t want to end.
“If you win this sectional and don’t get to state, it would probably be a disappointment but those are the three goals we have and that starts this week. Cloverdale is going to give us problems; we have to respect them as they have worked hard like we have this summer and it’s nice to see them compete as their goal is to beat us like our goal is to beat them.”