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Cougars rally from 14-point deficit to stun No. 6 Mounties
NEW MARKET — In another season, a one-two punch that 2A No. 6 Southmont hit North Putnam with around halftime might have been a knockout blow to the Cougars.
The Mounties scored on either side of the break a mere 41 seconds apart, taking their first lead of the night before doubling the gap two minutes before the end of the third quarter, putting the visitors on the ropes.
Where others might have faltered, the current North Putnam squad stood up, dusted itself off and delivered a haymaker finish, scoring three times in the fourth quarter, to unseat 2A No. 6 Southmont 32-27 Saturday evening.
“We’ve been preaching all offseason and into the fall that this group is different,” North Putnam head coach Scott Moore said. “We’ve gotten ourselves into a place as a program with our work ethic where we don’t fold tent or cave in when we get into a game like this.
“I’m so proud of the guys for battling. Southmont is a great team, we gave them some short fields and they capitalized but I’m proud of the guys for feeling that, that their hard work pays off and the attention to detail can lead to the outcome in these kinds of games.”
Inclement weather on Friday night saw the contest pushed to a 5 p.m. start on Saturday and while both teams had solid starting drives, both turned the ball over on downs in the end.
North Putnam delivered the first big play of the night when Kaden Helderman was lost in coverage by Southmont and, after hauling in a pass from Christian Kramer, the senior receiver evaded the last defender on the way to a 76-yard score and a 6-0 lead.
The Mounties advanced into Cougar territory again through the end of the first and start of the second quarter but lost the ball on downs, only for Kramer to be intercepted on the next play by Alex McMasters.
McMasters would tie the game three plays later after hauling in a pass from Heath Tolliver, breaking a tackle and scampering 76 yards for a score.
Another good drive from the visitors was ended by an interception by McMasters but North Putnam forced a three-and-out with the ensuing punt only reaching the Southmont 36-yard line.
“We had a couple of miscues on routes,” Moore said about the interceptions. “Christian tried to force some things. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times between those turnovers and penalties.”
The Cougars retook the lead seven plays later when Wes Murphy ran in from eight yards out with 1:46 until the halftime break.
McMasters popped up again to make life hard for the visitors, taking the kickoff all the way to the North Putnam 15-yard line and four Avery Stadler runs later, the hosts tied the game up with a one-yard plunge 26 seconds before the intermission.
Cale Chadd sparked the home team into life to start the second half with another lengthy kickoff return, this time to the Cougar 21-yard line, where Stadler needed one carry to give the Mounties a 20-13 lead.
North Putnam reached the Southmont 15-yard line on its next drive but a holding penalty and back-to-back incompletions saw the ball turned over on downs.
The Mounties countered with a 10-play drive that ended with Chadd running in from 17 yards out to double the lead to 27-13 with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
“We kept trying to make adjustments because we know (Southmont) is a well-oiled machine offensively,” Moore noted. “(Mountie head coach Desson) Hannum does a good job of finding the kinks and figuring out what he can get.
“We kept trying to adjust and mix some things up, trying to keep things fresh on a hot night. Later, we were able to get some timely stops.”
Thanks to a personal foul on the following return, the visitors started on their own 13-yard line but quickly moved the ball down field in response.
A 39-yard completion from Kramer to Murphy put North Putnam in scoring position and Kramer punched the ball in on an eight-yard run to trim the deficit to 27-20 with 11:33 to play.
With good field position, the hosts picked up a pair of first downs to move into North Putnam territory but two negative plays led to a fourth down in which Tolliver was sacked by Caiden Hankins to turn the ball over on downs.
With only 6:24 to work with, the Cougars moved quickly from their own 36-yard line, getting three plays of 10 yards or more to reach the Southmont 20-yard line.
Kramer hit Griffen Starr for 10 yards following a short loss but Murphy was short of a first down, setting up fourth-and-one, a play Kramer not only converted but scored on to bring the visitors to within one.
The Cougars called timeout and opted to go for the conversion but Kramer was stalled out at the goal line and the try failed, leaving the visitors trailing 27-26 with 2:27 to play.
“We talked it over as a staff, called a timeout, brought the kids over and asked if we wanted to go for it right now and the answer was a resounding ‘Yes,’” Moore said about going for two. “The ball crossed the line but (Christian’s) knee was down just before then and we were ready to live with it.”
Southmont recovered the onside kick attempt and needed a first down to ice the game but after a Stadler carry and timeout, North Putnam received a gift when Tolliver muffed the snap and Hank Wood pounced on the loose ball.
With 48 yards to cover and 2:16 to do it in, the Cougars reached the Mountie 11-yard line in four plays.
The next snap went awry, however, and Kramer was forced to backtrack to recover the ball, losing 14 yards in the process and forcing the visitors to burn their final timeout.
Kramer recovered most of the lost yardage on the next play and got nine more yards on the following run to set up fourth-and-two.
North Putnam kept the ball in Kramer’s hands and the junior delivered, powering in for the go-ahead score with 23 seconds to play, though the initial conversion was wiped out due to a penalty and the second failed.
“We had a play that was working and, if we didn’t make it on the prior play, we had no timeouts, so we would have been rushed in trying to get the field goal team ready,” Moore said about going for it on fourth down. “Playing the odds, we’re going to put the ball in Christian’s hands more often than not and we were able to get it punched in.”
The kickoff from Chew was well placed, forcing Southmont to fall on the ball at its own 18-yard line where Tolliver had one pass batted down, a second nearly intercepted and a third finally snagged out of the sky by Kramer to seal the comeback win.
“We just kept believing,” Moore said about completing the rally. “We kept making adjustments on defense, the ball hit the ground, we recovered and went down to win the game.”
| North Putnam | 6 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 32 |
| Southmont | 0 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 27 |
Scoring
1st Quarter
N — Helderman 76-yard pass from Kramer (XP no good) 4:42 0-6
2nd Quarter
S — McMasters 76-yard pass from Tolliver (Conversion failed) 10:19 6-6
N — Murphy 8-yard run (Chew kick) 1:46 6-13
S — Stadler 1-yard run (Petroski kick) 0:26 13-13
3rd Quarter
S — Stadler 21-yard run (Petroski kick) 11:45 20-13
S — Chadd 17-yard run (Petroski kick) 1:51 27-13
4th Quarter
N — Kramer 8-yard run (Chew kick) 11:33 27-20
N — Kramer 11-yard run (Conversion failed) 2:27 27-26
N — Kramer 3-yard run (Conversion failed) 0:23 27-32
Statistics
| … | North Putnam | Southmont |
| Total Offense | 72-460 | 50-313 |
| Rushing | 191 | 192 |
| Passing | 269 | 121 |
| 1st Downs | 19 | 11 |
| 4th Downs | 3-5 | 0-3 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 2 |
| Penalties | 7-63 | 7-55 |
Rushing
North Putnam — 48-191, 4 TD — Kramer 35-144, 3 TD; Murphy 11-46, TD; Sullivan 1-1; Starr 1-0
Southmont — 40-192, 3 TD — Stadler 24-119, 2 TD; Tolliver 8-26; Chadd 6-39, TD; Howell 2-8
Passing
North Putnam ¬— Kramer 14-24-269, TD, 2 INT
Southmont — Tolliver 4-9-121, TD, INT; Team 0-1-0
Receiving
North Putnam — Starr 8-102; Helderman 2-108, TD; Murphy 2-39; O’Brien 2-20
Southmont — McMasters 2-118, TD; Clark 1-6; Dinius 1-(-3)