Cougars lock up WIC Small School Division title after downing Eagles

NASHVILLE — It was a long, but a very successful, trip for North Putnam to Nashville Friday night as the Cougars took on the Brown County Eagles in a Western Indiana Conference football game.

The Cougars methodically pounded the Eagles throughout the game to pick up a 55-6 victory.

North held the hosts to -40 rushing yards on the night and, short of a couple of pass plays, Brown County could not manage much offense as the Cougar defense swarmed and consistently threw the Eagles for losses.

North Putnam is now 7-1 on the season and 4-0 in the WIC, winning the Small School Division title. Brown County fell to 4-4 and 0-4 in conference action.

“I thought we played pretty well. This is a long trip down here, it’s fall break. This is a tough trip for the team,” North Putnam head coach Scott Moore said.

The Cougars wasted little time in establishing their dominance. They received the opening kickoff and marched 66 yards in nine plays to score on a Christian Kramer one-yard run. Following Brayden Chew’s PAT kick, North led 7-0 early in the game.

The Eagles appeared to counter that drive as, after a good kickoff return, Brown County marched inside the Cougar 10-yard line before Wes Murphy thwarted the Brown County threat as he intercepted a Noah Lewis pass at the three-yard line.

The Cougars then methodically marched 97 yards on 12 plays. Again, Kramer took the ball into the endzone himself from one yard out. That touchdown staked the Cougars a 14-0 lead.

After forcing a three-and-out, the Cougar offense had a hiccup after getting into the red zone as Kramer had a pass picked off near the goal line and Brown County seemed to have some life, but the Cougar defense killed that thought.

North stopped the Eagles and Brown County tried a fake punt pass that failed. It only took one play to score from there as Kramer went to the air and found tight end Paxton O’Brien for a 15-yard touchdown pass and after another Chew PAT kick, the Cougars led 21-0.

On their next possession, the Cougars drove down the field, mixing runs and passes, until Murphy got a three-yard touchdown run and it looked bleak for the Eagles as North led 28-0 with just 3:06 left in the half.

Brown County finally found some offense and moved the ball 60 yards with almost all of that through the air.

Lewis was able to find AJ Bell behind the defense for a 30-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-6 heading to the locker room.

North, on its first possession of the second half, overcame a holding penalty to have Kramer find O’Brien again, this time from 44 yards out, and the PAT kick made it 35-6 early in the second half.

“I thought we ran the ball well. We moved the ball and were efficient. We have a couple of things we could work on,” Moore said.

The Eagles again could not move the ball on offense. After picking up a couple of first downs via penalties, Kaden Helderman ended the Eagle threat as he picked off a pass and raced 50 yards to set up the Cougars in the red zone.

Two plays later, Kramer got his third one-yard touchdown run of the game and North led 42-6.

Another minimal drive by Brown County gave the Cougars the ball back and Kramer raced 53 yards to set up a Griffen Starr 4-yard run and a commanding 48-6 lead.

“We knew (Brown County) had some experienced guys out there capable of making plays. Short of a couple of long plays, we played them well. That does give us a few things to shore up,” Moore said.

With the running clock through most of the second half, the Cougars began substituting liberally and the younger members of the team got into the action as Owen Thurman hit Noah McConnell from six yards out to set the final margin at 55-6.

“We have had a successful JV year, and those kids came in and played well and got a score,” Moore said.

The Cougars will be watching the sectional draw on Sunday and then will wrap up the regular season next Friday as they host County rival Greencastle for the last Putnam County Bucket game of the fall.

Scoring

1st Qtr.

NP – Christian Kramer 1 run (Brayden Chew kick), 7-0, 8:49.

2nd Qtr.

NP – Christian Kramer 1 run (Brayden Chew kick), 14-0, 11:30.

NP – Paxton O’Brien 15 pass from Christian Kramer (Brayden Chew kick), 21-0, 6:21.

NP – Wes Murphy 3 run (Brayden Chew), 28-0, 3:06.

BC – AJ Bell 30 pass from Noah Lewis (kick failed), 28-6, :09.

3rd Qtr.

NP – Paxton O’Brien 44 pass from Christian Kramer (Brayden Chew kick), 35-6, 9:04.

NP – Christian Kramer 1 run (Brayden Chew kick), 42-6, 4:21.

4th Qtr.

NP – Griffen Starr 4 run (kick failed), 48-6, 9:49.

NP – Noah McConnell 6 pass from Owen Thurman (Brayden Chew kick), 55-6, 4:23.

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing: North Putnam: Christian Kramer 17-192, Wes Murphy 10-51, Griffen Starr 3-25, Chase Barber 1-(-4), Owen Thurman 1-2, Brown County: Landon Scott 3-1, Noah Lewis 8-(-40), Bahoti Fulton 2-7, Greyson Mitchell 4-14, Quentin Bell 1-(-3), Finn Treacy 3-(-19).

Passing: North Putnam: Christian Kramer 8-12-1 146, Owen Thurman 1-1-0 6, Brown County: Noah Lewis 12-24-1 151, AJ Bell 1-2-0 12, Quentin Bell 0-1-1 0, Finn Treacy 0-2-0 0.

Receiving: North Putnam: Brody Kinkead 1-11, Kaden Helderman 1-53, Paxton O’Brien 2-59, Chase Barber 3-20, Wes Murphy 1-2, Noah McConnell 1-6. Brown County: AJ Bell 4-98, Kody Shugars 4-8, Quentin Bell 5-45, Logan Sallee 1-12