NEW MARKET – Southmont football coach Desson Hannum quickly summed up his Mounties’ 24-14 Monon Athletic Conference loss to North Putnam.
“Execution.”
The Mounties misfired where the Cougars did not.
North Put was 5-of-6 on third downs in the first half. All from seven yards or more.
All helped lead to a 21-7 halftime deficit for South, who fall to 4-2 on the season and 3-1 in the league. The Cougars move to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the Monon.
“They found holes in our coverage and they did a good job converting those third downs,” Hannum said. “They played a good game, but for us tonight it was all about execution. We struggled to run the ball, and that comes down to execution. We had a better second half, but we didn’t execute well enough across the board.”
After the Cougars took the opening drive 10 plays to score, including two big third down plays and a penalty that extended things, South tied the game on their first drive of the second quarter, when Eli Hannum found Kasen Bushong for a 5-yard passing score. The Mounties converted twice on fourth down in that drive, including the scoring play.
But from there on, things were pretty much the visitors domain.
Two scoring drives sandwiched a South fumble, and it was 21-7.
The third quarter was played between the 20s, and the fourth saw three interceptions by both quarterbacks;
South got it to 21-14 when Hannum connected with Neyo Holmes for a 59-yard score after a pick by Bronson Clark, but the visitors took a lot of time off the clock, and got an insurance field goal late.
“Defensively, we have to get off field and offensively we have to sustain drives,” Hannum noted. “Execution makes that happen.”
The Mounties were not able to run the ball, which is the core of the offense.
A total of 23 rush attempts netted 59 yards. Bushong, with three 100-yard games this season and 11 TDs, was marked from the start, and finished with 49 yards on 16 carries.
Hannum finished his passing night 9-of-16 for 116 yards. He had the two scores and the two picks.
For the game, South converted on one third down opportunity and twice on fourth. They had only three rushing first downs.
There were also plenty of penalties to pass around, as the Mounties were flagged for a dozen and the Cougars nine.
“Penalties are all about discipline, and that comes from execution,” Hannum pointed out.
North Putnam finished with 131 yards and 224 passing. Cougars senior QB Owen Thurman rushed for 81 yards and the first score of the game, and was 11-of-17 passing. He had two TDs and two picks. He completed passes to six different receivers.. Jack Brown had the other Mounties’ interception.
“We have to demand more of ourselves,” Hannum said. “We struggled to run the ball, and that happens. You lose sometimes, but what we have to do is get better. We have to learn from what happened and grow from this. It starts with execution.”
The Mounties hit the road next Friday with a trip to Western Boone The Stars are 4-2 overall and 4-0 in the Monon after a win over Frankfort on Friday.
