FOOTBALL CLASS A SECTIONAL NO. 45: Eagles trounce Mustangs behind five Mullin TD passes, dominant defense

South Putnam's Zach Dorsett (33) was quick to greet Fountain Central in the opening round of Class A Sectional No. 45 play Friday, making the first play a loss for the Mustangs as the Eagles eased their way to the sectional semifinal following a 54-7 win.

Banner Graphic/CODEY EMERSON

South Putnam has great expectations for its squad in the Indiana High School football tournament.

The Eagles made a statement to open the game and dominated throughout for a 54-7 victory over the Fountain Central Mustangs to open IHSAA Football Class A Sectional No. 45 play.

The Eagle defense was a fortress, while its offense was operating on all cylinders and the special teams made big plays showing why the tournament aspirations are so high.

The Eagles held the Mustangs to just 27 total yards in the first three quarters and started the game on defense with two tackles for loss and a blocked punt to establish the tone.

In addition to the defensive domination, Wyatt Switzer caught three touchdown passes, Ty Benton found the end zone three times, twice on the ground, as quarterback Wyatt Mullin efficiently led the way tossing five touchdown passes.

The win was the Eagles' seventh in a row to improve to 8-2 on the season. The Mustangs ended their campaign at 4-6.

“I felt we were really prepared for what they were going throw at us offensively and defensively. (Fountain Central) played hard, hats off to them. We were a better football team, and I told our kids from the beginning of the week that we had to prove that we were the better team,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said.

Fountain Central started the game with the football, but Zach Dorsett opened the game throwing the Mustangs for a six-yard loss and Keenan Mowery-Shields followed that with a quarterback sack.

The Eagle pressure forced an incompletion and Mowery-Shields blocked the Mustang punt with the Eagles taking over at the one-yard line. Ty Benton immediately scored and Keegan Reid added the PAT kick as the Eagles led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.

“Keegan had one (punt) go through his arms. We worked with him on keeping his hands together and he got one. He is such a coachable kid,” Sorrell said.

The Eagles immediately stopped the Mustangs but couldn’t capitalize on their ensuing possession as a sack and a holding penalty stymied the drive, but the Eagle special teams came up big again.

Switzer lined up appearing to be a quarterback, but quick-kicked an excellent punt for 57 yards to pin Fountain Central inside the 20-yard line.

“We played well in all phases. Our offense, our defense, our special teams. We wanted to establish we were better, and we did,” Sorrell said.

The defense stopped Fountain Central again in just three plays and turned the game over to its explosive offense.

Benton scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on the first play of that possession as he exploded for a 43-yard touchdown run and South had a 14-0 lead.

The Eagles’ Hunter Weddle then corralled a deflected Mustang pass for an interception a couple of plays later and the Eagles wasted little time converting the turnover as Mullin kept the ball and raced 21 yards around the left side for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead.

Fountain Central fumbled the kickoff and South’s passing game took advantage on the next series. Mullin completed 4-of-5 passes with the last one finding Switzer for a 12-yard score to stretch the lead to 26-0.

The second quarter proved to be a repeat of the first. Switzer caught his second scoring pass of the game as he got behind the Mustang defense for a 26-yard pass from Mullin and Reid kicked another PAT for a 33-0 lead early in the second period.

The Eagle defense again proved impenetrable, South took over at midfield and the trademark explosiveness of the Eagles showed immediately.

Bransyn Ensor blew past the defenders and hauled in a rainbow from Mullin down the right sideline for a 50-yard scoring strike and a commanding 40-0 lead.

South Putnam wasn’t quite done in the first half. The Eagles made a statement by driving 62 yards in six pass plays late in the half as Switzer got another score, catching a slant pass from Mullin for his third touchdown reception and a 46-0 lead with just :24.1 left in the first half, a score assured the Eagles would force a running clock in the second half that would shorten the game.

“We got the ball to our skill guys. We want to get the ball to five or six guys with a chance. A few of them made big plays,” Sorrell said as the Eagle speed was on display all night.

South left no doubt on the opening possession of the second half. Benton showed off his receiving skills on the drive as the running back caught two passes for 55 yards, including a 23-yard reception for the score as Mullin had his fifth scoring pass of the night and the Eagles led 54-0 as the third quarter ended.

Fountain Central was able to muster a late drive to avoid the shutout. The Mustangs took advantage of the Eagles pulling their starters drove 89 yards following the only Eagle turnover of the night to score on an Eli Foxworthy five-yard run.

Those 89 yards made up the bulk of the Fountain Central offense on the night and that set the final score of 54-7.

“We know what we have in our defense. It always looks better in the scorebook if you get a shutout, but they got a late one. We know how good we can be,” Sorrell said.

South will continue to try and advance as it will travel to Covington next week for the semifinal game against the Trojans.

1st Qtr.

SP – Ty Benton 1 run (Keegan Reid kick), 7-0, 10:27.

SP – Ty Benton 43 run (Keegan Reid kick), 14-0, 4:52.

SP – Wyatt Mullin 30 run (kick failed), 20-0, 3:15.

SP – Wyatt Switzer 12 pass from Wyatt Mullin (pass failed), 26-0, :50.

2nd Qtr.

SP – Wyatt Switzer 26 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Keegan Reid kick), 33-0, 10:36.

SP – Bransyn Ensor 50 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Keegan Reid kick), 40-0, 9:06.

SP – Wyatt Switzer 11 pass from Wyatt Mullin (kick failed), 46-0, :24.

3rd Qtr.

SP – Ty Benton 23 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Blake Witt run), 54-0, 5:23.

4th Qtr.

FC – Eli Foxworthy 5 run (Conner Paxton kick), 54-7, 2:18.

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Fountain Central: Noah Dodson 12-24, Eli Foxworthy 13-37, Asher Davis 1-(-15), Dakoda Willoughby 9-22, Levi Alexander 1-5, Caylum Wills 2-10; South Putnam: Ty Benton 7-64, Wyatt Mullin 2-13, Kason Ames 2-8, Wyatt Switzer 1-2, Jaxon Vanduyn 2-8.

Passing: Fountain Central: Eli Foxworthy 4-12-1 16; South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 19-26-0 263, Drew Cline 3-3-0 29.

Receiving: Fountain Central: Dakoda Willoughby 1-0, Noah Dodson 2-11, Asher Davis 1-5, South Putnam: Wyatt Switzer 8-121, Bransyn Ensor 5-76, Hayden Tincher 2-9, Ty Benton 3-54, Blake Witt 1-3, Stiles Stauch 2-24, Khalil Jefferson 1-5.