For the last seven years, head coach Chuck Sorrell has broken his huddles with ‘state champs,’ manifesting this moment for his community ever since being hired for the job. 

A lofty goal for a fourth-year head coach who took over a program that had not won a title in 32 years at the time. Following those seven years of manifesting and 39 years of a title drought, the Eagles delivered a dominant 55-29 triumph over Pioneer to get over the hump.

“It means so much to our players, coaches and community,” Sorrell said. “I’ve been preaching state championships are what we’re after, and we did it tonight.” 

Both teams got it done early, with Pioneer driving down the field behind the legs of quarterback Micah Rans to go up 7-0 on the opening drive.

Soon after, junior ATH Blake Witt would take a screen pass 59 yards to paydirt to knot up the score for South Putnam. 

Big runs by senior Noah Van Meter and sophomore Phillip McFatridge helped set up a Van Meter score to start the second quarter. However, junior quarterback Drew Cline connected with junior receiver Bransyn Hanley for his second score of the day to tie things up before half. 

After the closely–contested first half that saw leading rusher Ty Benton held to just 10 yards, it was all South Putnam out of the locker room as the junior led the way with 66 yards on the opening drive. 

Feeding off of Benton’s scoring drive, the defense fed off the energy with a 32-yard scoop-and-score from senior ATH Khalil Jefferson to go up 28-14 in the blink of an eye. 

“We’ve been winning the second half ever since week one,” Sorrell said. “No matter who plays us, [we must] go out and do our jobs. Hats off to our players for listening to our adjustments.” 

Going into the final quarter with a 34-14 disadvantage, Van Meter found the endzone once more to make it 34-21 early in the fourth quarter. Yet, South Putnam would not succumb to the pressure, scoring three touchdowns in as many minutes to outpace the Panthers to cement the victory. 

Once the clock struck zero, Cline was a near-perfect 8-for-9 for 189 yards and two touchdowns while Benton took 19 attempts for 134 yards and a touchdown. 

With nearly all contributing players being underclassmen, this may just be the beginning of a South Putnam dynasty in 1A. 

“Hats off to our coaches for making adjustments and hats off to our fans for screaming and yelling for the past three hours,” Sorrell said. “It’s been fun; we’re state champions.”