Patriots win offensive slugfest over Eagles

night in highly anticipated matchup between the Class 1A No. 7 Eagles and the Class 3A No. 14 Patriots.

The two teams scored 147 points in winning their openers last week and as expected, points were not a problem. The Patriots won the battle up front and won both the turnover and penalty battles and sent the Eagles home with their first loss of the season 57-34.

The Patriots dominated the rushing stats by rolling up 355 yards on the ground, while they limited the Eagles to just 83 rushing yards. Combine the rushing disparity with the Eagles committing two first half turnovers and racking up 100 yards in penalties on the day and it was apparent who came out on top.

“We told the team that the team that made the least mistakes was going to win. We had those two interceptions in the first half, we missed some assignments and had too many mistakes,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said.

Owen Valley showcased its running game early. After the teams traded punts on their opening possessions, Owen Valley went 69 yards in eight plays to score on Kyvan Bandy’s one-yard touchdown and Kyler Walker added the PAT kick for a 7-0 Owen Valley lead.

The Eagles answered with a 60-yard touchdown drive of their own as Wyatt Mullin scrambled up the middle for a 24-yard touchdown and Wyatt Kendall’s extra point tied the score at 7-7.

The first Eagle turnover led to more Patriot points as Owen Valley intercepted a Mullin pass, setting the hosts up at the Eagle 27-yard line and just four plays later, Brody Lester scored a seven-yard touchdown and another PAT had the Patriots in front 14-7.

The Patriots picked off another Eagle pass on the next possession, but had the ball backed up deep in their own territory at the six-yard line.

Ten plays later Lester found Eli Hinshaw for an eight-yard pass into the end zone. The Patriots picked up chunk runs of 18, 18 and 17 yards during the drive and were helped by a roughing the passer and a facemask penalty by the South defense. The PAT kick made the score 21-7.

The Eagles seemed to turn the tide as Wyatt Switzer took the kickoff and raced 90 yards, but a penalty nullified the play and the Eagles ended up punting the ball back to the Patriots. Owen Valley wasted little time using a six-play 57-yard drive to score. This time Lester found Brayden Phillippe from 12-yards out for a scoring toss, but the PAT kick failed and the Patriots had a 27-7 lead.

After the previous kickoff return, Owen Valley head coach and South Putnam graduate Rob Gibson was overheard explaining not to kick the ball to Switzer. They chose to kick it the other way, but the result was not what the Patriots intended. Peyton Crickmore fielded this kick and weaved 88 yards for a touchdown and cut the lead to 27-14. That would end the scoring in the first half.

“This was a great game if you like offense. We can put points on the board and they can too,” Sorrell said.

The Eagles would put their most impressive offensive drive together to open the second half. South marched 53 yards in 11 plays as Mullin picked up his second rushing touchdown of the night, this one from three yards out, but the kick was blocked and the Eagles trailed the Patriots 27-20.

The Patriot offensive line took command on the next drive. Owen Valley went 72 yards on 13 plays, 12 of them running plays and Christian McDonald capped it off from a yard out. Lester then hit Hinshaw for the two-point conversion pass and a 35-20 lead.

South could not get a first down on the next series and went back in punt formation but ran the ball instead and turned the ball over on downs at their own 36-yard line.

On the next play, Hinshaw raced 36 yards for another score and a 42-20 lead early in the final period.

Lightning struck twice for the Eagles, Crickmore received the kickoff and danced his way for an 83-yard touchdown return to cut the lead to 42-26 after the Patriots blocked their second PAT attempt.

“Peyton had a really good game, Wyatt (Switzer) had a good game. We have some special players, but they executed better. They are a really good team, they were physical. Robbie has a really good team,” Sorrell said.

The fourth quarter saw more offensive highlights as the Patriots picked up a pair of Bandy touchdowns as they continued to pile up rushing yards, while South Putnam was able to close the gap late with scoring drive that ended with Switzer hauling in a six-yard pass from Mullin for a score. Kaden Childress added a two-point run and the final score ended at 57-34.

McDonald led all rushers with 165 yards, while Crickmore had just 34 yards to lead the Eagles. Mullin did throw for 141 yards and a score as well as rush for 30 and two touchdowns to lead the way for South.

“Don’t take anything away from Owen Valley they are really good. All our goals are still out there. We can still win our side of the conference, win the county and get the bucket. We can win our sectional. That is all out in front of us,” Sorrell said.

The Eagles will try and take the next step in that plan as they play their home opener next Friday against county rival, North Putnam.

“North will bring a good game plan against us, but we should have a big crown and we just have to be better,” Sorrell said.

1st Quarter

OV – Kyvan Bandy 1 run (Kyler Walker kick), 7-0, 5:17.

SP – Wyatt Mullin 24 run (Wyatt Kendall kick), 7-7, 2:21.

2nd Quarter

OV – Brody Lester 7 run (Kyler Walker kick), 14-7, 11:54.

OV – Eli Hinshaw 8 pass from Brody Lester (Kyler Walker kick), 21-7, 5:43.

OV – Brayden Phillippe 12 pass from Brody Lester (kick failed), 27-7 1:47.

SP – Peyton Crickmore 88 kickoff return (Wyatt Kendall kick), 27-14, 1:32.

3rd Quarter

SP – Wyatt Mullin 3 run (kick blocked), 27-20, 7:21

OV – Christian McDonald 1 run (Hinshaw from Lester pass), 35-20 :12.

4th Quarter

OV – Eli Hinshaw 36 run (Kyler Walker kick), 42-20, 10:49.

SP – Peyton Crickmore 83 kickoff return (kick blocked), 42-20, 10:33.

OV – Kyvan Bandy 10 run (Mcdonald run), 50-20, 5:56.

OV – Kyvan Bandy 2 run (Kyler Walker kick), 57-20

SP – Wyatt Switzer 6 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Kaden Childress run), 57-26, :06.

Individual Statistics

Rushing: South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 14-30, Luke Switzer 7-19, Peyton Crickmore 3-34, Owen Valley: Christian McDonald 25-165, Brody Lester 19-74, Eli Hinshaw 3-60, Kyvan Bandy 5-39, Chris Zellstra 2-17.

Passing: South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 18-27-2 141. Owen Valley: Brody Lester 7-10-0 54.

Receiving: South Putnam: Drew Hill 6-49, Wyatt Switzer 6-45, Peyton Crickmore 4-40, Logan Tomaw 1-5, Luke Switzer 1-2. Owen Valley: Eli Hinshaw 3-44, Tim Harden 2-2, Braden Phillipe 1-12, Christian McDonald 1-(-4).