A No. 6 South Putnam starts fast, picks off 2A No. 9 Heritage Christian

A second-straight all-Eagle battle for South Putnam was a much tougher matchup as the A No. 6-ranked hosts took on 2A No. 9 Heritage Christian.

The home team shot out to a 14-0 lead, led 20-7 after a quarter of play and looked to be cruising to a big win but bogged down offensively in the second and third quarters, seeing a 19-point lead shrink to 10, before a late score and stop cemented a 36-19 win over the visiting Eagles.

Forcing a punt from Heritage Christian to open the game, South Putnam worked from inside the visitors’ half, marching 49 yards in seven plays, with Kolby Harcourt scoring from five yards out to make it 7-0.

The visitors picked up 30 yards on their first play of the second drive and added another first down before quarterback Eli Nix was intercepted by Logan Sillery for a 71-yard pick-six and a 14-0 lead.

Heritage Christian responded calmly, covering 71 yards in 14 plays, aided by a South Putnam offside penalty on fourth-and-eight, with Nix hitting Daniel Pallekonda for a four-yard score to halve the deficit with two minutes left in the first quarter.

The hosts answered quickly, with four-straight first down runs between Harcourt and Wyatt Mullin, the latter capping the 66-second drive with a one-yard run to make it 20-7 after a bad snap on the extra point.

South Putnam continued to run over the visitors but Mullin coughed up the ball just outside the Heritage Christian red zone with Isaac Arterburn recovering.

The visitors punted but halted the hosts on fourth-and-short on the next drive, leading to a series of punts between the teams.

South Putnam added one more score before halftime after Mullin hit Zack Dorsett for a 27-yard score but a second bad snap on the extra point left the score at 26-7.

Heritage Christian picked up chunks of yardage as halftime approached but Nix was intercepted again, this time by Mullin, with just seconds left in the half.

Wyatt Switzer almost landed a sucker punch on the final snap of the half, breaking a pair of tackles to gain 61 yards but was finally corralled, leaving South Putnam holding a 19-point lead at the break.

The hosts received the second half kickoff and Mullin got the ball into Heritage Christian territory with a 46-yard completion to Bransyn Hanley but the visitors stiffened quickly and forced a turnover on downs.

Heritage Christian followed with a six-play drive, the key moment a 38-yard hookup between Nix and Amdrew Sloan that ended with six points to cut the lead to 26-13.

Following a trade of punts, South Putnam followed with a 12-play drive that ended with a 27-yard field goal from Wyatt Kendall at the start of the fourth quarter to push the lead back out to 29-13.

Heritage Christian had some momentum on offense still going and Nix added a third touchdown pass on the night, hitting Noah Dearman for a 19-yard score that made it 29-19 with 10 minutes to play.

South Putnam punted on its next possession and the visitors continued to move the ball, if slowly, down the field.

A key grounding penalty against Nix, who was aiming to avoid a sack by Aiden Beadles, set up third-and-24, a play in which Elijah Pimental, who had given the hosts issues on the ground in the second half, was unable to corral a toss and Kyle Glasson recovered the fumble.

Harcourt would apply the finishing blow seven plays later with a three-yard run to make it 36-19 while the South Putnam defense forced one final turnover on downs to seal the win.