South Putnam wins battle in skies against Brown County

Two Eagles were clashing on Friday night and one of them went home proud while the other had several feathers missing and was wounded.

The Eagles of South Putnam hosted Brown County in a Western Indiana Conference football game and the hometown Eagles soared to a 59-6 victory over the Eagles from further south.

South Putnam dominated the game in all three phases as they scored 45 first half points and allowed the running clock to come into play in the second half to shorten the game.

The victory improved South Putnam to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. Brown County dropped to 4-3 and 0-3 in the WIC.

“Our goal is that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that we battle each other and get better. We have to be very physical, demanding, and picky in those practices. We have to make those practices harder than the games the next few weeks,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said after picking up his 50th career win on the night.

The Eagles welcomed back Wyatt Switzer for his first game of the year and he gained 24 yards on three receptions on South’s first possession but coughed the ball up as they were driving to score.

The fumble would only be a temporary setback for South Putnam as Drew Cline intercepted a Noah Lewis pass and four plays later Ty Benton scored from six yards out as South led 6-0.

South Putnam blocked a Brown County punt on the following possession and Switzer redeemed himself by hauling in a Wyatt Mullin pass for a 20-yard touchdown while Benton tacked on the conversion run as South led 14-0.

“We get Wyatt back and that makes a big difference to get one the best players in Class A football on the field,” Sorrell said.

Brown County turned the ball over on downs on its next possession and Bransyn Ensor took a short pass from Mullin and exploded into the end zone from 37 yards out to boost the score to 20-0 with only :11 left in the first quarter.

South’s defense came up big on the next possession. Brown County’s Lewis dropped back to throw and under heavy pressure, overthrew a receiver and Blake Witt made him pay by taking an interception to the house from 55 yards away. Keegan Reid added the PAT kick, and the Eagles led 27-0.

“Our defense is getting better. We have eight or nine freshman and sophomores playing a lot. We are learning and getting better,” Sorrell said.

The pick-six opened the flood gates as the Eagles next three possessions were touchdowns, each drive three plays or less after stuffing Brown County’s offense.

First Benton went 47 yards for a touchdown on the first play of one possession., Khalil Jefferson hauled in an 11-yard score from Mullin and, in the last minute of the first half, Benton scored his third touchdown of the night, this one was from two yards out.

Those three scores set the hosts up to lead 45-0 at halftime and that results in a second half running clock being used.

South received the second half kickoff and Switzer fielded it, racing 80 yards for an apparent touchdown, but a flag for an illegal block nullified the score.

South Putnam was still set up in good field position at the Brown County 25-yard line and, on the second play of the drive, Kason Ames took it around the left side to score on a 25-yard rushing touchdown and an Eagle lead of 52-0.

“We played really well in all phases. Our offense was explosive, our defense is getting better, we had a shutout till late. Our special teams with the blocked punt, the kickoff return was pretty good. We have to work on our kicking game (South missed three PAT kicks) and shore a few things up,” Sorrell said.

The final quarter saw Robert Spetch get some carries in the Eagle backfield and the sophomore added a three-yard touchdown run and the PAT kick was good go up 59-0.

Brown County finally found the end zone. AJ Bell was able to take a contested pass from Lewis and race in for their lone score and the final margin of 59-6 was set.

“We’ve got a laundry list of playmakers. Getting Wyatt (Switzer) back and putting him back with Bransyn is dynamic. Add Khalil, Ty and Wyatt (Mullin), getting them the ball is going to make us really tough to defend,” Sorrell said.

The hosts rolled up 280 yards on just 33 plays on the night. They might have picked up more yards, but the end zone kept getting in the way while South Putnam’s defense limited Brown County to just 62 total yards and forced four turnovers on the night in the dominating win.

South Putnam will now travel to Owen Valley next Friday night and closes its regular season with a match against county and conference foe Cloverdale.

1st Qtr.

SP – Ty Benton 6 run (pass failed), 6-0, 6:29.

SP – Wyatt Switzer 20 pass from Wyatt Mullin (Ty Benton run), 14-0, 4:10

SP – Bransyn Hanley 37 pass from Wyatt Mullin (kick failed), 20-0, :11.3.

2nd Qtr.

SP – Blake Witt 55 interception (Keegan Reid kick), 27-0, 9:17.

SP – Ty Benton 47 run (kick failed), 33-0, 5:04.

SP – Khalil Jefferson 11 pass from Wyatt Mullin (kick failed), 39-0, 4:11.

SP – Ty Benton 2 run (kick failed), 45-0, :39.5.

3rd Qtr.

SP – Kason Ames 25 run (Keegan Reid kick), 52-0, 9:51.

4th Qtr.

SP – Robert Speth 3 run (Keegan Reid kick), 59-0, 8:32.

BC – AJ Bell 38 pass from Noah Lewis (kick failed), 59-6, 3:59.

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Brown County: Greyson Mitchell 13-23, Noah Lewis 11-(-18), Tommy Buccos 2-3, Kody Shugers 1-1, Bahoti Fulton 1-3 South Putnam: Ty Benton 6-65, Wyatt Mullin 1-2, Kason Ames 3-34, Robert Speth 8-42, Jaxon Vanduyn 3-12.

Passing: Brown County: Noah Lewis 4-15-3 50, AJ Bell 0-1-0 0, Quentin Bell 0-1-0 0, South Putnam: Wyatt Mullin 8-10-0 116, Drew Cline 0-1-0 0, Dallas Mullin 1-1-0 9.

Receiving: Brown County: Asher Stringer 1-0, Quentin Bell 1-2, Kyle Cobb 1-8, AJ Bell 1-38, South Putnam: Wyatt Switzer 4-44, Bransyn Hanley 2-49, Khalil Jefferson 1-11, Blake Witt 1-12, Eli Owen 1-9.