South Putnam waltzes past Brown County to clinch WIC Small School Division

You would think it would be tough to win a football game when your opponent runs almost three times as many offensive plays as you do.

In South Putnam’s case, it didn’t matter as the Eagles rolled up 17.3 yards per play on only 23 offensive snaps to defeat the visiting Brown County Eagles 75-12 on Friday night. South finishes the Western Indiana Conference portion of their season 5-0, while improving to 6-1 on the season. Brown County fell to 0-7 and 0-4 in the WIC.

The Eagles rolled up 162 yards on 11 carries rushing and 235 yards on an efficient 9-of-12 night by Wyatt Mullin. The Eagles also scored twice on defense and once on special teams to rack up the impressive win.

“We know we can run the ball, we wanted to get Mullin going. He played really well, had a couple of sophomore throws he might want back, but was really good,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said.

The passing game paid immediate dividends as Mullin hit Kaden Childress with a 55-yard touchdown pass on South’s first play from scrimmage and a quick 7-0 lead.

Brown County answered with good kick return and drove 56 yards in seven plays, most of the damage in the air as Kody Shugars hauled in a 44-yard pass from Noah Lewis for a score. The PAT kick was blocked and South still led 7-6 as the flood gates opened.

“We need to work on a few things like our kickoff coverage and our play in the secondary. We jumped a lot of routes we shouldn’t have,” Sorrell said.

Fisher Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for a score and then after a Brown County three-and-out, Jones scored again on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Mullin as the Eagles led 20-6 after one quarter.

Luke Switzer got going in the second quarter, scoring on his second touch of the night, going 80 yards for a touchdown before Jones picked up his third touchdown of the night on a 13-yard pass from Mullin and the Eagles were cruising at 34-6.

Brown County gave the Eagles the ball on their five-yard line after a bad punt snap and Peyton Crickmore immediately scored from five-yards out as the home team led the visitors 41-6 with still more than half the second quarter to play.

The host Eagles took advantage of the time left and scored three times in the final 2:24 of the first half. Drew Hill took a pass from Mullin and raced 49 yards for a score while Braden Staley took the next Brown County pass and intercepted it for a 36-yard touchdown and a 54-6 lead.

Brown County had another bad punt snap giving the ball to South on the seven-yard line. Kaleb Owens rushed the ball twice and scored in the final seconds to give the Eagles an insurmountable 61-6 lead at halftime.

South’s defense scored on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Crickmore intercepted a Lewis pass and raced down the right sideline for a 68-6 lead as Fisher Jones switched places with Wyatt Kendall as kicker and holder to knock down the PAT kick.

Brown County would get a score to open the fourth quarter on a four-yard Ben Wagle run, but South would immediately answer, getting Caden Witt a rushing attempt that ended in a 51-yard touchdown run while Jones added another PAT kick and set the final margin at 75-12.

“Good win, but it gets tougher. We have two state-ranked teams (Heritage Christian and Linton) coming up. This let us work on some things and we got healthy,” Sorrell said as the Eagles will travel to Class 2A No. 8 Heritage Christian next Friday and then finish with Class 2A No. 1 Linton in the final game of the season.

1st Qtr

SP – Kaden Childress 55 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Wyatt Kendall kick), 7-0, 11:37.

BC – Kody Shugars 44 pass from Noah Lewis (kick blocked), 7-6, 7:23.

SP – Fisher Jones 83 kickoff return (Wyatt Kendall kick), 14-6, 7:08.

SP – Fisher Jones 34 pass from Wyatt Mullin (kick failed), 20-6, 4:30.

2nd Qtr

SP – Luke Switzer 80 run (Wyatt Kendall kick), 27-6, 10:41.

SP – Fisher Jones 13 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Wyatt Kendall kick), 34-6, 7:47

SP – Peyton Crickmore 5 run (Wyatt Kendall kick), 41-6, 7:10

SP – Drew Hill 49 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Wyatt Kendall kick), 48-6, 2:24.

SP – Braden Staley 36 interception return (kick blocked), 54-6, 2:03,

SP – Kaleb Owens 1 run (Fisher Jones kick), 61-6, :16

3rd Qtr

SP – Peyton Crickmore 34 interception return (Fisher Jones kick), 68-6, 10:06.

4th Qtr

BC – Ben Wagler 24 pass from Noah Lewis (pass failed), 68-12, 10:39.

SP – Caden Witt 51 run (Fisher Jones kick), 75-12, 8:27.

Rushing: Brown County: Tommy Buccos 9-(-1), Noah Lewis 7-(-6), Garrett Braden 2-3, Ethan Scott 2-(-33), Landon Scott 1-1, Ben Wagler 1-4, Vince Carfiro 2-(-13), South Putnam: Luke Switzer 2-74, Kaden Childress 1-6, Peyton Crickmore 1-5, Kaleb Owens 2-7, Caden Witt 1-51, Stephen Benton 4-19.

Passing: Brown County: Noah Lewis 23-37-2 239. South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 9-12-1 235.

Receiving: Brown County: Kody Shugars 7-124, Ben Wagle 7-62, Landon Scott 5-9, Brady Bond 4-44. South Putnam: Drew Hill 4-97, Fisher Jones 3-76, Kaden Childress 1-55, Logan Tomaw 1-7.