Saints continue dominance of Eagles in battle of No. 1s

Two No. 1 football teams in the state battled in a two-day marathon football game at South Putnam High School on Friday night and Saturday afternoon due to a weather delay.

The Class 2A No. 1 Indianapolis Lutheran Saints defeated the Class A No. 1 South Putnam Eagles 34-12 for the victory.

The Saints scored the first five touchdowns of the game and defeated the Eagles for the third time in three years, the last two years ending the Eagles’ season in the sectionals. The Saints picked up their 45th consecutive victory as they are proving they are one of the top teams in the state regardless of class affiliation.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 1-1, while the Saints improved to 2-0 on the season.

“(Lutheran) is a good, a good football team. There is a reason it’s won 45 games in a row. It is probably the best team in Class A, Class 2A and maybe 3A. The kids are well-coached, and they’ve got some dudes,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said.

The Saints made a point early. After stopping the Eagles on South’s first drive, Braylon Ridner took a punt return to the house from 54 yards out and led 6-0 just 1:37 into the game.

South picked up a first down on its next possession, but had to punt it away again and this time Lutheran used good field position to drive 59 yards in six plays.

The drive had multiple penalties on both sides, but Jackson Willis hit Hudson Mills from 16 yards out to take the lead after converting a Willis to Landyn Hazelwood pass for the two-point conversion. Lutheran led 14-0 with just under five minutes to play in the first quarter.

“(Lutheran) came out and hit us. We didn’t play with gap integrity, our offensive line was not stepping and getting where they’ve got to get, allowing penetration. We made a few coverage mistakes,” Sorrell said.

South’s offense was still sputtering a little bit, and the Saints forced another three-and-out and began driving. The drive took only about three minutes of clock time, but about 16 hours in real time as the lightning in the area sent the teams to the locker room with 1:44 left in the first quarter.

The two schools patiently tried to wait out the storm, but even after returning to the field late in the night, the weather persisted and the game was postponed around 10 p.m. with the remainder of the game to be played on Saturday.

The Saints picked up right where they left off as, two plays into the re-start on Saturday, Ridner scored from four yards out and Lutheran led 21-0 early in the second quarter.

Lutheran continued to control the game, forcing another Eagle three-and-out, and the Saints went to the air on all four plays of a quick drive to score on a Willis to Hazelwood 23-yard scoring strike and a good two-point conversion gave the Saints a 28-0 lead.

Rinse and repeat, the Eagles failed to pick up a first down and the Saints got the ball back after a good punt return. Two plays later, Ridner hauled in another pass from Willis for a score, this time from 22 yards out and a 34-0 lead with 7:37 left in the first half.

“It was not a big issue. You sign up to play four quarters of football regardless of when those four quarters are. We had a couple of kids not come back today, but I thought we played and coached for four quarters,” Sorrell said of the delay.

The Eagles finally found some life offensively, mainly through the air. After being pinned at their own four-yard line after a bobbled kickoff return, the Eagles drove 96 yards in 12 plays. South put points on the board as Wyatt Mullin hit Stiles Stauch with a seven-yard scoring strike and cut the lead to 34-7.

The Eagles stopped the Saints on the next drive and picked up a couple of first downs, but a desperation pass at the end of the half was intercepted by Lutheran to stop the Eagle drive.

Lutheran looked to knock the Eagles out on the first series of the second half, but the Eagles forced a fumble as the Saints were at the one-yard line and Lucas Hall recovered in the end zone to thwart the Saints.

South put together a good drive that ended in Saints territory on an incompletion following a holding call that pushed the Eagles back, continuing a trend of costly penalties on the Eagles in their first two games.

The Eagle defense came up big again with their backs to the wall. Lutheran drove to the Eagle nine-yard line before Drew Cline picked off a Willis pass in the end zone to give the Eagle offense another chance.

South again found some rhythm and drove inside the red zone but an illegal formation penalty and another holding penalty pushed it back again and gave the Saints the ball back. Lutheran ran only three plays before punting back to the Eagles who took over offensively on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The most consistent drive of the afternoon for the Eagles resulted in a touchdown. A 12-play, 63-yard drive saw the Eagles get a touchdown on a one-yard plunge by Brier Cook and with 7:35 left the Eagles trailed 34-12.

“At times we did both well, run and pass. We just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. A holding penalty or a false start. We have to get that cleaned up,” Sorrell said.

Neither team threatened in the final couple drives of the game with the Saints kneeling to end the battle of No. 1s with the 34-12 victory.

Both teams played at a quick pace resulting in 122 plays run from scrimmage and 642 yards of total offense.

The Eagles will host North Putnam next Friday in the first Western Indiana Conference matchup for South Putnam.

1st Qtr

ILHS – Braylon Ridner 54 punt return (run failed), 6-0, 10:23.

ILHS – Hudson Mills 16 pass from Jackson Willis (Isaiah Jones pass from Jackson Willis), 14-0, 4:52.

2nd Qtr

ILHS – Braylon Ridner 4 run (PAT kick good) 21-0, 11:16.

ILHS – Landyn Hazelwood 23 pass from Jackson Willis (PAT kick good), 28-0, 8:46.

ILHS – Braylon Ridner 223 pass from Jackson Willis (run failed), 34-0.

SP – Stiles Stauch 21 pass from Wyatt Mullin (run failed), 34-6, 4:00.

4th Qtr

SP – Brier Cook 1 run (run failed), 34-12, 7:35.

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Lutheran: Braylon Ridner 27-182, Jackson Willis 11-6, South Putnam: Ty Benton 17-81, Wyatt Mullin 5-(-3), Brier Cook 8-33.

Passing: Lutheran: Jackson Willis 10-13-1-152. South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 20-44-1 191.

Receiving: Lutheran: Braylon Ridner 3-40, Hudson Mills 1-16, Isaiah Jones 1-5, Javarrea Cooper 2-49. South Putnam: Bransyn Hanley 10-79, Keenan Mowery-Shields 2-18, Stiles Stauch 4-41, Ty Benton 2-32, Hayden Tincher 2-14, Blake Witt 1-7.