Eagles finish regular season by cruising past Clovers

South Putnam receiver Blake Witt found himself in space for a 24-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, one of two scores on the night, as the Eagles rolled past Cloverdale 38-0 to end the regular season.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

CLOVERDALE — While some glances might have been turned toward the impending IHSAA Football State Playoffs beginning next week, South Putnam and Cloverdale only had eyes for one another to start Friday’s regular season finale.

By halftime, the tune had changed considerably as the Clovers, having lost starting quarterback Landon Duncan in the first half, opted to use JV for the rest of the game and, once the Eagles had established a running clock, did likewise as the visitors won their sixth-straight game 38-0.

“(Cloverdale) is a good team and has come a long way since three or four years ago,” South Putnam head coach Chuck Sorrell said. “(Clover head coach Tyler) Lotz has got this team playing hard.

“Our goal was to take Tayt (Jackson) out of the game and they did some stuff that made them run the ball inside. (Levi Johnson) had some good runs on us, so when we got back into our base front, we held up well.

“It did get chippy as Cloverdale wants to beat us,” Sorrell added. “They might push us a little bit, we might push them a little bit, but at the end of the day, we took care of business tonight, getting a shutout that wasn’t easy because they have a good chance to win their sectional.”

“We have improved but we didn’t play our best football in the first half,” Lotz said. “We approached the second half more from a standpoint of keeping everyone healthy and keeping everyone we’ve got because sectionals are right around the corner.

“There was no point to keeping guys out there and letting them get beat up any more than what was happening.”

South Putnam made a quick start, pounding away on the ground with Ty Benton and Wyatt Mullin until Mulling threw his first pass of the night, a 45-yard score to Wyatt Switzer for a 6-0 lead.

Forcing a quick three-and-out, the Eagles used a 10-play drive to double the lead when Mullin hit Blake Witt for a 30-yard score on fourth-and-one, the second conversion on the drive, to make it 12-0.

“We work on some two-point plays all week,” Sorrell said about going for two on the opening scores, both times coming up short. “Hat’s off to Cloverdale. We thought we could lineup in a seven-man front and get three yards on them.

“That’s something we have to work on this week. We should be able to get three yards on anyone but Cloverdale held their ground and we have to get more physical at practice.”

Witt was quick to cut the next Cloverdale drive shot with an interception of Duncan that got the ball to the Clover three-yard line. Two plays later, Mullin snuck in for a 19-0 advantage with 3:28 left in the opening quarter.

The hosts had their best drive of the night on the next possession, riding the legs of Johnson 10 times in 14 plays, getting down to the South Putnam two-yard line.

A bad snap and broken play saw Cloverdale dinged for holding and while Johnson got it back down to the two on a pair of runs, Duncan could not find an open receiver on fourth down, turning the ball back over to the Eagles.

“We ran the ball pretty well,” Lotz said about the drive. “We tried a couple of different things, some play action and that didn’t go our way tonight.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and keep finding ways to get better.”

After a trade of punts, a two-play drive saw the visitors extend their lead when Mullin followed a Benton 20-yard run with a 65-yard scoring run and a 26-0 lead.

“Keegan (Reid) kicked the ball well when we asked him to,” Sorrell noted as the Eagles converted extra points on their third and fourth scores. “The kicking game is getting better and that helps us as we go along in the tournament.”

The following possession for Cloverdale was a disaster as Duncan was knocked out of the game on an incompletion, though South Putnam kept the hosts’ drive alive after being called for roughing the passer.

Jackson moved back to the quarterback position but a bad snap left him exposed and he left for a play after being banged up on the tackle.

Evan Mann then stepped in, only for another bad snap to cost the Clovers considerable yardage and a short punt two plays later gave the Eagles a late chance to add to the lead.

Mullin completed four of his five passes in the two-minute drill, finding Witt for a 24-yard score after escaping a sack, as South Putnam went into halftime with a 32-0 lead.

“In the past, Tayt was our quarterback, but we really didn’t want to be that team,” Lotz said about the players adapting to the flurry of quarterback changes. “It was close to halftime, so we ran the clock out and went with JV from there."

Cloverdale opened by receiving the second half kickoff but with several players ailing, the hosts opted to use their JV and reserves for the remainder of the contest.

South Putnam, trying to shuffle in its own reserves on the opening drive, quickly got the running clock going after Benton scored on a 10-yard run and sent its own JV in for the remainder of the night.

Most of the second half was spent on the ground though there was time for interceptions for Eagles Khalil Jefferson and Wyatt Speth as well as Mann for the Clovers.

“Both our JVs played really well,” Sorrell said about the second half effort of the teams. “Both programs are getting better and Cloverdale is going to be tough to beat in the tournament."

1st Quarter

SP — Switzer 45-yard pass from Mullin (Conversion failed) 9:48 0-6

SP — Witt 30-yard pass from Mullin (Conversion failed) 4:31 0-12

SP — Mullin 3-yard run (Reid kick) 3:28 0-19

2nd Quarter

SP — Mullin 65-yard run (Reid kick) 5:28 0-26

SP — Witt 24-yard pass from Mullin (Conversion failed) 0:24 0-32

3rd Quarter

SP — Benton 10-yard run (Conversion failed) 8:30 0-38

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing

South Putnam — 33-259, 3 TD — Benton 10-96, TD; W. Mullin 9-102, 2 TD; Speth 8-37; Hall 2-20; D. Mullin 2-4; Mowery-Shields 1-0; Vanduyn 1-0

Cloverdale — 32-53 — Johnson 20-73; Horsley 7-(-1); Jackson 2-(-2); Mann 2-(-18); Duncan 1-1

Passing

South Putnam — 11-18-162, 3 TD, INT — W. Mullin 10-15-159, 3 TD; D. Mullin 1-2-3, INT; Witt 0-1-0

Cloverdale — 1-9-7, 3 INT — Mann 1-3-7, 2 INT; Duncan 0-6-0, INT

Receiving

South Putnam — Switzer 3-71, TD; Witt 3-68, 2 TD; Dorsett 1-8; Ensor 1-8; Benton 1-3; Hall 1-3; Tincher 1-1

Cloverdale — Mourning 1-7