Putnam County’s youth up front on the offensive and defensive lines and its rushing attack were key to Friday night’s scrimmage victory over Greene County.
After trailing at halftime, the War Eagles fought back in the second half to defeat the Tigers, 27-14. In the final two quarters, Putnam outscored Greene County 24-0 to secure the victory.
Despite the scrimmage not counting towards Putnam County’s record, head coach Joel Harvin was pleased with his team’s effort, especially those upfront on the offensive and defensive lines.
According to Harvin, several of the War Eagles’ starters in the trenches are facing injury, so they had to use a few underclassmen. He said as the game went on those younger players started to shine.
“Going into it, we were a little banged up on our offensive and defensive lines. We had a couple of freshmen start up front on both lines,” Harvin said. “Coach [Terrance Banks] at Greene, he’s done a good job with a lot of kids returning that have a lot of [scholarship] offers and are getting a lot of looks. They’re every bit as advertised, so the challenge for these ninth graders was a good look.”
Greene County took advantage of Putnam County’s offensive and defensive lines struggling in the first half. The Tigers’ front five on offense created wide gaps for their running backs to rush through, while on defense, their front seven gobbled up the War Eagles’ run game.
However, as the game went on, those upfront for Putnam County – on both sides of the ball – started to play with more confidence. That resulted in them basically shutting the Tigers down in the second half.
“They got thrown into the fire quickly,” Harvin said. “We also [as a team] had a lot of mental errors going in. That is going to happen in a scrimmage game anyway. But it’s magnified more when you have ninth graders playing that were thrown in there at the last second because of injuries.”
Those underclassmen on the lines of scrimmage weren’t the only players to excel. There also were several offensive skill players that ran the ball well for the War Eagles on Friday.
While Rashod Daniel will be the featured back in the offense, the scrimmage was a chance for other players such as Tyson Waller, Bryson Foster, Sharod White, and Zacoree Wallace to get a few reps.
“Tyson Waller is a name that sticks out. He probably had the longest rush of the night for both teams, right at 50 yards. He had a pretty good night,” Harvin said. “We kind of had a crew of running backs run the ball. I think we had about eight or nine to 11 guys touch the ball in some type of way.”
Putnam County’s quarterbacks, Branan Griffin, and Jamarion Robertson, also ran the ball a few times. Griffin, who started for the War Eagles, rushed for 15 yards on four carries, while Robertson had a team-high 55 yards on four rushes, averaging 14 yards per attempt. He also had a 29-yard TD rush.
According to Harvin, underclassmen running backs Kaleb Lawrence and Tre-Lei Calhoun provided some spark for the offense during the second half when each team put in the backups.
“They were able to bust some big ones,” Harvin said. “Overall, we had quite a few guys touch the ball. Kaleb came in with the younger guys and took it around a little bit. Tre-Lei also came with the younger guys and scored a touchdown and converted a two-point conversion, so we’re going to try and pull him up to get a few more reps with the other group to see what he’s capable of.”
Robertson, Lawrence and Calhoun each reached the end zone for Putnam County. The other six points came on a pair of field goals from War Eagles’ freshman specialist Alex Jimenez.
Defensively, veterans such as Robertson, Waller, Daniel, and Mark Watkins had big nights. Also, younger defenders Japeth Nelson, Jayson Smith and Bill Waters, were productive against Greene County.
“Obviously, it’s a scrimmage. You’re not going to be perfect, but there are some things we need to fix. Easy fixes, though,” Harvin said. “We can get that corrected. Moving forward, we’re just looking forward to playing ball.”
Putnam County has an official bye this Friday in Week 1; however, the War Eagles will travel to Milledgeville on Friday to scrimmage the Baldwin Braves, who they defeated last year at home on Al Reaves Field.