South Putnam rolls past Sheridan to earn semi-state appearance

Total domination.

Backed by 324 yards and six touchdowns by sophomore running back Ty Benton, the South Putnam football team absolutely ran away from Sheridan, 60-19, in the Class A Regional at South Putnam. The regional title is the first for the Eagles since 2002 and improves Chuck Sorrell's team to 11-2 on the season. South Putnam will now take on Providence next week in the Class A South Semi-State. 

"I'm really thankful to my offensive line. They really contributed to my touchdowns and yards. Parker Harris, Lucas Hall, Gus Monday, Rylan Rumley, Keenan Mowery-Shields and Preston Pelfrey, thank you guys," Benton said after the victory. 

Benton said the motivation for tonight came from a few weeks ago when he watched former South Putnam and Manchester player Lucas Lorian's film.

"A few weeks ago, I was looking at Hudl and looking at Lucas Lorian and seeing he had six touchdowns. I was thinking back to the Owen Valley game, and I had four, and I was close. I wasn't totally sure if tonight was going to be the night, but I was hoping. After I got my sixth, I was begging the coaches to let me back in and get the record, but Coach Sorrell said no. It's a good decision because if I get hurt and our second string is out, it wouldn't be good for state," Benton said.

Sorrell had nothing but praise for his sophomore sensation, as well as the offensive line.  

"He has been getting better every week. When you have a really good offensive line, it just took opportunities for our backs to see how good they can be. You know they came in to stop power and counter, and they couldn't stop power and counter tonight. Our offensive line and defensive line is the strength of our team, and we have said it all year. We have some things to fix on defense. I told our guys in the pregame that our five guys on the offensive line and our two tight ends were bigger and stronger than their guys, that we had to get under their pads and drive them off the ball, and we did," Sorrell said. 

Benton wasted little time imposing his will, as he took a handoff on the first play from scrimmage 66 yards, and a successful two point conversion put the Eagles up 8-0 20 seconds into the game. 

After an interception by the Eagles, quarterback Wyatt Mullin found a seam and went in from 36 yards to push the lead to 16-0. 

Sheridan would respond with a touchdown from Owen Bell, cutting the deficit to 16-6, but the Eagles answered right back with a 77 yard scamper from Benton. Sheridan scored to cut the deficit to 24-13, but that was as close as the Blackhawks would get, as South Putnam added two more touchdowns to stretch the lead to 40-13 with under three minutes left in the first half. Benton would add one more touchdown before the half, sending the Eagles to the locker room ahead 46-13. 

"We knew they were going to come out and fight, play hard and they tried early, but I think we were just bigger, faster and stronger than them. I think we are more athletic, and right now, South Putnam is a little bit better football team than Sheridan," Sorrell said. 

The halftime break did little to slow down the Eagles, as Benton added a 13-yard touchdown to put South Putnam ahead 53-13 and start a running clock early in the third quarter. Benton's final touchdown was an 80 yard run for the final score of the game. 

With the win behind them, Sorrell turned his attention to the future.

"There's two games left. We had some people upset with me today because we didn't do a pep session. This is not our ultimate goal. Maybe it's confidence, maybe too cocky, but this is not our ultimate goal. We knew if we played well tonight, we would win this game. I didn't think it would be like this. This community loves football. This was two football schools that played, and, fortunately, we were the one that came out on top. I say it all the time, most people don't leave South Putnam. Most everyone here played here and got to see the success they had in 2002. Hopefully, we can keep it going, and be a little better than the 2002 team and be more similar to the '86 team," Sorrell said, referencing the 1986 team, which beat North Judson, 29-21 in the state final.