South Putnam defense paves way in 28-6 win over North Putnam

North Putnam's Wes Murphy is swallowed up by South Putnam defenders Keenan Mowery-Shields (56), Zach Dorsett (33) and Aiden Beadles (11) during the second half of Friday night's intracounty game. The Eagle defense gave away several personal foul penalties but also recorded five turnovers and held the Cougars to 175 yards of offense in a 28-6 win.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

BAINBRIDGE – There will be much to ponder for both South Putnam and North Putnam after Friday night’s 28-6 win for the visitors.

While both teams continued their opposite trends to start the season as the Eagles moved to 3-0 and the Cougars to 0-3, both sides left the field with questions needing answered.

South Putnam’s defense was strong for a third-straight week but the offense, despite piling up 390 yards, struggled to run effectively, picking up 111 of its 159 rushing yards in the final three series of the game, while numerous personal fouls gave the hosts an extra 145 yards to work with.

“We played pretty good on defense,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said. “We did give (North Putnam) some breaks with personal fouls and some penalties we can’t have as the season moves along.

“When we got something going on offense, we shot ourselves in the foot. That’s probably the worst an offensive line has blocked in five years and but we ended up blocking enough to win the game and sometimes that’s what it’s all about.

“The kids buckled down in the second half and we got a victory,” Sorrell added.

North Putnam, for its part, ran into the turnover bug again as the Cougars gave the ball away five times and only averaged 2.27 yards per play on offense.

“Obviously hats off to South Putnam as they’re a winning football team for a reason,” North Putnam head coach Scott Moore said. “We had to figure some things out on offense, got a score and started the second half with a really nice drive, getting down to the redzone, but shot ourselves in the foot.

“We played our butts off on defense, playing four quarters of defense, something we didn’t always do even in our wins last year. We gave ourselves opportunities in the second half but had some dropped passes and missed throws that, if we capitalized on, we could have made it a one-score game again.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t, and until we start making those big plays, that’s going to be the difference against good teams,” Moore added.

After trading possessions three times, the first key moment of the game came on North Putnam’s second possession when Paxton O’Brien was stripped of the football and Kolby Harcourt recovered for the visitors.

Despite starting at the Cougar 27, the Eagles came away empty handed as a bad snap on a 31-yard Wyatt Kendall field goal attempt saw the kicker tackled for a loss and a turnover on downs.

“We felt good about our defensive game plan and hats off to our kids for executing it,” Moore said about getting several key stops. “We played to our assignments, didn’t have mental breakdowns and flew around to the ball.”

The hosts, however, saw a penalty and a bad snap lead to fourth-and-29 from their own one yard line and a short punt set up the visitors again with a short field.

South Putnam missed one chance to score but capitalized off a 22-yard pass from Wyatt Mullin to Wyatt Switzer as Harcourt plunged in from two yards out for a 7-0 lead two plays later.

The Eagles would add a second score before the first quarter ended as Mullin went four-of-four on the next series, hitting Switzer on back-to-back passes for 36 and 32 yards, the latter for six and a 14-0 lead.

After a North Putnam punt, the visitors started the next drive at midfield but stalled at the Cougar 12-yard line on fourth-and-four, turning the ball over on downs again after another short field after being denied on fourth-and-two at the hosts’ 25-yard line.

North Putnam finally found an offensive groove, aided by an Eagle personal foul that turned second-and-28 into a converted fourth-and-one, as the Cougars picked up two first downs and scored when Christian Kramer hit Brogan Woodall for a 42-yard strike to cut the deficit to 14-6.

“North Putnam did a good job in getting into 60 formations and (Wyatt) Mullin was pretty aggressive,” Sorrell said about the coverage breakdown. “We didn’t cover on the backend but that’s something we’ll fix at film in the morning.”

The hosts nearly got the ball back immediately only for Caiden Switzer to be ruled down before fumbling the ensuing kickoff.

South Putnam turned the reprieve into points as the Eagles picked up three first downs and Harcourt punched in from a yard out to make it 21-6.

North Putnam picked up 20 yards on the first play of the next drive and a personal foul saw the Cougars move deep into Eagle territory but Kramer was intercepted by Mullin as time dwindled down and the visitors took their two-score lead into halftime.

The Cougars started the second half at their own 13-yard line but put together a solid drive with three first downs, followed by another South Putnam personal foul, that moved the ball to the Eagle 29 yard line.

Two penalties on the hosts stalled the drive out though the visitors were forced to punt after a three-and-out with another personal foul putting North Putnam near midfield when Wes Murphy had the ball ripped out and Preston Pelfrey recovered for the Eagles.

Murphy atoned on the next play by recovering a Mullin fumble but the Cougars went nowhere and punted away.

Both teams turned the ball over on downs to start the fourth quarter but with time ticking away, Kramer forced a fourth down pass downfield into the waiting arms of Caiden Switzer and South Putnam sealed the win three plays later.

After a 15-yard pass to Bransyn Hanley for a first down, Mullin kept the ball on the zone read and punctured the Cougar defense for a 64-yard score to make it 28-6.

A pair of personal fouls against the Eagles allowed North Putnam to move near midfield on the next drive but the visitors only allowed two yards before forcing a punt.

Mullin snagged his second interception of the night on the next Cougar possession before the visitors picked up three first downs to ice the game.

Scoring

1st Quarter

SP — Harcourt 2-yard run (Kendall kick) 2:50 0-7

SP — W. Switzer 32-yard pass from Mullin (Kendall kick) 0:15 0-14

2nd Quarter

NP — Bro. Woodall 42-yard pass from Kramer (XP blocked) 4:00 6-14

SP — Harcourt 1-yard run (Kendall kick) 0:54 6-21

4th Quarter

SP — Mullin 64-yard run (Kendall kick) 7:32 6-28

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing

South Putnam — 36-159, 3TD — Harcourt 19-49, 2TD; Mullin 16-117, TD; Kendall 1-(-7)

North Putnam — 37-60 — Kramer 14-(-15); Murphy 13-47; Glaze 6-22; O’Brien 4-6

Passing

South Putnam — Mullin 20-34-231, TD

North Putnam — Kramer 13-39-115, TD, 3 INT; Bro. Woodall 0-1-0

Receiving

South Putnam — W. Switzer 7-146,TD; Hill 5-29; Dorsett 4-35; Hanley 2-19; Harcourt 2-2

North Putnam — Murphy 6-39; Bro. Woodall 3-54, TD; N. Bryan 2-12; Glaze 1-5; O’Brien 1-5