Ty game: Strong 2nd half from star back helps S. Putnam beat Pioneer for 1A title

Val T.
12 hours ago
6 min read

VanMeter runs for 151 yards, 2 TDs; McFatridge becomes 4th Pioneer back to rush for 1,000 yards

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

2025 Class 1A State Runner Up Pioneer Panthers

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pioneer football team’s defense was ranked eighth in the state in defensive scoring average coming into the Class 1A state championship game against South Putnam at Lucas Oil Stadium Friday, and the first half was more of the same.

They held South Putnam junior running back Ty Benton, who ranked second in the state with 2,452 yards rushing, to just 11 yards.

South Putnam did something about it.

Benton carried the ball on each of the first five plays of the second half. The fifth play went for a touchdown, and when combined with a crucial fumble return for a touchdown from Khalil Jefferson, South Putnam broke the seal on a 55-29 win.

South Putnam finished 13-2 and won their second state title in school history. The other came in 1986.

Benton finished with 140 yards rushing, and the balanced Eagles added 189 yards passing to go with their 272 yards rushing. Blake Witt touched the ball three times on offense – two carries and a reception – for 87 yards and two scores. Brier Cook, Keenan Mowery-Shields and Hayden Tincher also had touchdown runs, and Bransyn Ensor had a touchdown reception.

Noah VanMeter ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, and Phillip McFatridge ran for 117 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries for Pioneer, who had their 12-game winning streak snapped and finished 13-2. Micah Rans also had a touchdown run.

The 2025 Pioneer Panthers wait to take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for the class 1A state championship game on Friday

But Pioneer committed three turnovers that South Putnam converted into 14 points. Meanwhile, South Putnam had no turnovers.

McFatridge’s rushing total was significant. He finished with 1,039 yards for the season to become Pioneer’s fourth 100-yard rusher. VanMeter finished with 1,600 yards, Shiloh Rine with 1,169, and Rans finished with 1,096.

Rans was named the mental attitude award winner in a postgame ceremony.

“I thought our guys fought until the end,” Pioneer coach Adam Berry said. “It wasn’t because of a lack of effort. Obviously, South Putnam earned it, but we also didn’t help ourselves.”

With the game tied 14-14, Benton broke to the outside for a 39-yard run on the first play of the second half. Runs of 2, 5 and 5 yards followed. Then came a 15-yard touchdown run, which featured a sharp jump cut to the inside to get him in the clear.

“I looked up at the scoreboard, and it said 35 yards rushing, and that’s not who we are,” South Putnam coach Chuck Sorrell said. “We are a balanced team. We’re going to throw the ball, which kept us in the game tonight, but we live and breathe through Ty Benton and our offensive line and Brier Cook and our offensive line, and we had to get them going. And I said, offensive line, it’s up to you to go win this game. … We had a lot of yards rushing in the second half. Ultimately, I think we wore Pioneer down. I think they’re a good football team. They gave us everything we wanted that first half.”

On the third play of the next drive, Pioneer called for a double handoff. Quarterback Rans handed to right wingback Rine, who was to hand off to left wingback McFatridge. But the ball never got to McFatridge as Rine was hit and the ball to the turf.

Jefferson picked it up and ran 32 yards for a touchdown.

“We were running our counter criss-cross,” Berry said. “Looking at the replay, the hole was there but just got tripped up a little bit. The ball gets on the ground and scoop and score. And football and sports are all about momentum. And when you’re going against a great team, it’s hard to come back from.”

After a Pioneer three-and-out, South Putnam would drive from their own 20 to the Pioneer 20. But after two holding penalties and a stop for no gain on quarterback Drew Cline, South Putnam faced a second-and-29 from the Pioneer 39.

Cline responded with an 18-yard pass to Jefferson. Then came a pass interference penalty on Pioneer. That made it third-and-1 from the 11. A seven-yard run from Benton gave South Putnam a first down on the 4. Three plays later, Keenan Mowery-Shields slammed his way in from the 1.

Liam Rouch blocked the extra point, but the lead was 34-14.

Van Meter’s 33-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter trimmed the lead to 34-21, but South Putnam answered with 21 unanswered points on a 1-yard touchdown run from Cook, a 27-yard run from Witt after the Eagles stopped VanMeter on fourth-and-1 from the 49, and a 14-yard run from backup quarterback Hayden Tincher that Cline set up with an interception and 47-yard return.

McFatridge completed the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run with 3:53 left. Cole Franklin added a two-point conversion run.

The 55 points were the most Pioneer has allowed since a 60-18 loss to North Judson in October 2024.

“They made adjustments, and I just think their size got to us a little bit,” Berry said. “Their offensive line, across the board, was just bigger than us, and they were able to get the push, and we just weren’t closing as hard.”

Pioneer took the opening drive and went 73 yards in 15 plays. McFatridge unleashed a 30-yard punt on the sixth play of the drive, but when South Putnam was called for an illegal substitution penalty, Berry accepted the penalty and decided to go for it on fourth-and-6 from their own 48.

Rans converted the first down on a sneak.

Rans added a 16-yard run later in the drive, and he finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

South Putnam followed with a drive that was as instantaneous as Pioneer’s was prolonged: Cline hit Witt with a wide receiver screen, and Witt raced down the left sideline for a 59-yard touchdown.

Rine fumbled after a hit from Mowery-Shields, and Witt recovered. South Putnam had to punt, however, and Pioneer responded with an 88-yard touchdown drive.

VanMeter had a 37-yard run to start the drive, and McFatridge added a 24-yard run. VanMeter would eventually score from the 1 to give Pioneer a 14-7 lead.

“I thought our line blocked extremely well,” Berry said. “We challenged them this week. They didn’t have their best game last week (against South Adams in the semistate). I thought they were firing off well. I thought we were getting our kickouts. I thought our backs ran hard. It just wasn’t quite enough.”

Facing a second-and-17 from their own 34, Cline hit Benton for 26 yards on a screen pass.

Later in the possession, after a four-yard tackle for loss by Pioneer outside linebacker Eli Guffey on Benton and an illegal formation penalty, South Putnam faced second-and-19.

Cline dropped back and threw deep to the end zone. Both Bransyn Ensor and Witt appeared to run to the same spot along with a Pioneer defender. Ensor outleaped everybody for the 27-yard touchdown that tied the game.

“The first half, I thought our defense played really well, and … we were doing what we wanted to offensively,” Berry said. “And we just talked about how we had to have a quick start in the second half.”

Sorrell spoke of the defensive challenges facing Pioneer’s multiple wing-T weapons.

“Pioneer’s good,” Sorrell said. “Coach Berry does a great job. I can see this being a rematch somewhere down the road. We had to account for all of it. We had to account for every gap, and the times we weren’t in our gap, they made us pay.”

Afterwards, Berry reflected on his team’s journey. Three years ago, when the current seniors were freshmen, the team went 2-8. They improved to five wins in 2023 and eight wins in 2024.

“This one’s going to sting for awhile,” Berry said. “But as we move on, we’re going to realize what this group did. A lot of these guys played on Friday nights a lot of games. And they put Pioneer football back on the map. Hopefully, our underclassmen see that. Hopefully, our middle school and elementary kids see that and realize it can happen.”

South Putnam 55, Pioneer 29

South Putnam 7 7 20 21 – 55

Pioneer 7 7 0 15 – 29

First quarter

PIO – Micah Rans 1 run (Phillip McFatridge kick)

SP – Blake Witt 59 pass from Drew Cline (Aden Beasley kick)

Second quarter

PIO – Noah VanMeter 1 run (McFatridge kick)

SP – Bransyn Ensor 27 pass from Cline (Beasley kick)

Third quarter

SP – Ty Benton 15 run (Beasley kick)

SP – Khalil Jefferson 32 fumble return (Beasley kick)