Cougars suffer first loss to Cadets

CLAYTON – Two 5-0 teams, both with high expectations, squared off on a rare Saturday afternoon when North Putnam traveled to Cascade.

What most thought would be a four-quarter battle turned into a nightmare for the visiting Cougars as they couldn’t stop the Cadets on the ground in what ended as a 56-21 win for the home squad.

Cascade continued its undefeated season at 6-0 while North Putnam suffered its first loss and is 5-1.

The game started out back-and-forth between the two talented teams. After a turnover on downs to begin the game by North Putnam, Cascade got on the board first with a 33-yard run by Toby Savini.

The Cougars responded with a lengthy 92-yard drive of their own capped off by a two-yard score by Christian Kramer.

Savini found the end-zone yet again on a 25-yard score but the Cougars responded right back.

A one-play, 70-yard screen pass to Kaden Helderman made it 14-14 with 3:06 left in the opening quarter.

After that, it was all Cadets.

Long, explosive scores would tell the story for the rest of the game for the Cadets, whose dynamic ground attack ended the game 385 yards on the ground.

Along with Savini’s touchdowns of 33 and 25 yards, Cascade scored on plays of 17, 10, 58, 47 and 48, with the longest score coming last with an 82-yard pass when Braxton Lewis broke multiple tackles and carried Cougar defenders into the end-zone.

“Cascade is obviously a good football team and they showed that,” Cougar coach Scott Moore said. “We knew they’d be fast off the ball and I thought we were in position to make some plays but we just didn’t make them.

“It’s disappointing because we knew what to expect and still let them do whatever they wanted on the ground.”

Junior QB Brady Trebley only threw five times, but completed four of those throws for 109 yards, three of which found the endzone.

North Putnam had moments where they could’ve gotten back in the game. Trailing 35-14 late in the second quarter, the Cougars lost a fumble as they were marching into Cadet territory.

Along with the lost fumble, Kramer threw two interceptions on the afternoon.

Kramer did throw for 212 yards while running for 84 more as the state-leader in total yards did his best to try and keep his team in the game. Helderman had a good game and led the Cougars with six catches for 126 yards.

“This is something we have to learn from,” Moore said. “It’s our first loss and there’s plenty of football left to be played. We love to play physical and when we’re not the more physical team things like this can happen.

“We know that West Vigo, who we have at home next week, loves to run the ball too so that’s have to be something we clean up. It comes down to staying the course with these guys and now dwelling on this loss. This one hurts, but we know we’re still a good football team.”

The Cougar will be back at home against West Vigo next week. The Cadets will take their 6-0 record and host Northview next week.

Scoring Plays

1Q

CAS: Brady Trebley 33-yard run, XP Good, 9:00 7-0

NP: Christian Kramer 2-yard run, XP Good, 5:42, 7-7

CAS: Toby Savini 25-yard run, XP Good, 3:27, 14-7

NP: Kaden Helderman 70-yard pass from Kramer, XP Good, 3:06, 14-14

CAS: Toby Savini 17-yard pass from Brady Trebley, XP Good, 12.2, 21-14

2Q

CAS: Toby Savini 10-yard pass from Brady Trebley, XP Good, 5:19, 28-14

CAS: Tyler Hege 58-yard run, XP Good, 4:03, 35-14

CAS: Dayton Mink 47-yard run, XP Good, 1:02, 42-14

3Q

CAS: Luke Farmer 48-yard run, XP Good, 10:54, 49-14

NP: Christian Kramer 1-yard run, XP Good, 4:38, 49-21

4Q

CAS: Braxton Lewis 82-yard pass from Brady Trebley, XP Good, 11:06, 56-21

Team Stats

Individual Stats

Rushing: NP (Christian Kramer 20-84 2 TD, Wes Murphy 6-28, Caiden Hankins 1-(-1); CAS (Dayton Mink 16-137 TD, Tyler Hege 7-101 TD, Brady Trebley 10-65 TD, Luke Farmer 1-48 TD, Toby Savini 2-29 TD, Daemon Mason 1-5)

Receiving: NP (Kaden Helderman 6-126 TD, Griffin Starr 4-24, Wes Murphy 3-20, Paxton O’Brien 3-21, Chase Barber 1-11); CAS (Braxton Lewis 1-82 TD, Toby Savini 2-27 2TD, Tyler Hege 1-0)

Passing: NP (Christian Kramer 17-29 TD, 2INT); CAS (Brady Trebley 4-5 109 3TD)