South Putnam continues to roll

Oct. 27, 2023.

For South Putnam head football coach Chuck Sorrell, that date was the turning point for his program.

On that night, the Eagles lost 21-14 to Lutheran, who went on to win the Class A state championship. 

"These seniors were freshmen then and lost in a game that could have gone either way. Lutheran went on to win the state championship. The same thing happened the next year at Providence, and they went on to win the state title. I think they just got tired of losing to the state champion every year. We got beat three years in a row by the state champion," Sorrell told The Putnam County Post. 

After falling to Providence in the Class A semi-state in 2024, the Eagles went 13-2 last year and defeated Pioneer to claim the state championship. This season, South Putnam has gone 10-0 and dismantled Cascade, the defending Class 3A state champion, 56-33 in the opening round of the Class 2A Sectional 38 tournament last week. The Eagles have won 18 straight games and their starting defense has allowed only 19 points this season, all of which came last week. 

Sorrell said the experience his senior class gained from playing many football games during their careers has also helped, especially considering what might await South Putnam if they make another deep postseason run.

"I think it helped that we played 14 games three years ago, 15 games last year and we have played probably the two most physical teams we will play so far. We will see what happens the next five weeks, but I don't know if we will see a team more physical than Cascade. Lutheran is sitting right in front of us and is the least talked about undefeated team in the state. They are probably happy about that, and they are 10-0. The South is tough. You have to beat a lot of good football teams to get there," Sorrell said. 

And, should it get back to Lucas Oil Stadium, it has a chance to go down as the best senior class in the history of South Putnam football, according to their coach. 

"This senior class has the opportunity to leave as the best senior class ever. 

It always feels good to be compared to Coach Wildman. His team is name is on the field. He won two, three or four sectionals and two, three or four regionals. We have an opportunity to do the same thing with three sectionals, three regionals, two semi-states and two state championships. That's never been done here and has never been done in the county. It hasn't been done by a lot of schools. That would be a great feat for this class, and they have worked hard their whole careers and will for the next five weeks if we get that opportunity," Sorrell said. 

In the win over Cascade, senior running back Ty Benton rushed for 285 yards and six touchdowns on 24 carries and reeled in a 53 yard touchdown reception from Drew Cline. 

Asked about his running back's performance, Sorrell could only shake his head and smile. 

"He ran through guys, and he made guys miss. He only needs about half an inch and he's gone. There were certain times he put his head down, other times he would juke and he is a very special back. He will leave with just about every record at South Putnam, which is crazy considering he doesn't play four quarters and doesn't get the ball but 15 to 20 times. He is a special kid and player for us and the credit goes to him," Sorrell said. 

The game against Cascade was the first time South Putnam's starting defense allowed points during the season, something that didn't necessarily surprise the veteran coach. 

"We scored, got a stop and scored again before they finally got one. I knew they'd get one or two on us, and they got three on our first team. There's not a lot of football teams that will hold that team to 19 points, much less 33 in a game. They are a physical football team, and they are a state champion for a reason. We were a little better than they were last Friday night, and we will get better," Sorrell said.

He admitted Cascade's uptempo, no-huddle offense presented problems for his defense at times.  

"It was hard to get calls in. It goes back to our veterans and they started to call the defense. They know if we call something for a series, we run it the whole series. They were smart enough to call it and get us off the field. All in all, we made them drive the football down the field and we never made mistakes. The goal is to score more than they do, and we did," he said.

Despite allowing points, South Putnam was able to do what it has done all season -- own the second quarter. 

"There's moment we look really good. We are really good in the second quarter at the moment. Defensively, we have not given up much in the second quarter, and offensively, we score a lot in the second quarter. Hope that continues this week and we can get off to a good start against Greencastle," Sorrell said. . 

The Tiger Cubs enter with a 5-5 record after defeating South Vermillion last week and a talented quarterback in Cole Stephenson, who has committed to Lehigh University. 

In Week Two, South Putnam defeated Greencastle 60-0. 

Sorrell noted differences between the Greencastle team he previously saw and this year's installment. 

"Cole is running the ball and they are running for 150 yards a game the last few weeks. We can't just dare him to run the ball. We have to cover the pass and cover the quarterback run game. He has a record he's trying to beat that everyone knows about, so not sure how much he will run against us," he said. 

And, what will it take for the Eagles to win? 

"We have to win the line of scrimmage, make Greencastle block us and not let them block us and we need to get pressure on Cole. If we get turnovers, we need to turn those into points," Sorrell said.