PIEDMONT – Late Putnam City mistakes and offensive struggles helped Piedmont beat the Pirates, 21-14, Friday (Nov. 8) on a cold and rainy end to the regular season.

With the win, Piedmont captured third place in 6A-II-1 over the Pirates, who finished fourth.

Piedmont is used to running the ball behind senior Jayden Fuston and the flexbone offense. Because of the weather conditions, Putnam City kept it on the ground as well with junior Rodgerick Sloan.

Sloan outgained Fuston 179-134 in the loss, but Sloan was kept out of the end zone.

“We gave it away,” Putnam City coach Willis Alexander said. “When we when we had the ball, we could have punched it in and go score.

“We gotta learn how to make the most of our opportunities offensively. We can’t keep putting the defense back out there.”

Both defenses pitched a shutout in the first quarter as each defense drove down the field. The results were a turnover on downs, a punt and a fumble by each team.

The Pirates’ first score with 7:59 left in the second quarter when a bad snap rolled away from Piedmont junior punter Ethan Burns into the end zone. Pirate junior Thomas Stone jumped on the football to make it 7-0.

Piedmont tied the game at 7-7 with :33 left before halftime after a seven-minute drive was capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Grayson May.

After the break, the Wildcats used a 6-minute drive to take the lead. Piedmont drove 80 yards with Fuston getting a majority of the touches. Junior Carter Hainrihar scored from 12 yards out to make it 14-7 with 5:21 left in the third quarter.

Putnam City answered on the next drive after starting near midfield. Fueled by Sloan’s running and helped out by a defensive pass interference call, the Pirates tied the game 14-14 on a 14-yard touchdown catch by Visanio Boyd, Jr. The junior caught the strike from sophomore Denymn Friday in the corner of the end zone.

Piedmont’s offense stalled on the next possession, but the Pirates also stalled just past midfield with 5:53 left in the game.

The Wildcats took the lead for good, with Fuston leading the way. The Pirate defense had four penalties the extended the drive with two facemask penalties and an offsides penalty that helped the Wildcats covert a fourth-and-1. The second facemask penalty was combined with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on PC that put the ball at the PC 4-yard line.

Fuston scored on the next play to make it 21-14 with 1:15 left.

Now, the Pirates had to go the air, although Sloan had three runs for positive yardage on the final drive. Putnam City got to its own 47-yard line but a Friday heave down the field was incomplete as time expired.

The Pirate defense was without standout senior linebacker Brayden Knox during part of the second half. Alexander said Knox “tweaked his ankle.”

“When Brayden went out, that hurt us,” Alexander said. “But, I gotta think of the kid’s future.”

UP NEXT

The Pirates (6-4, 4-3) will host Bartlesville (3-7, 3-4) next Friday (Nov. 15) in the first round of the Class 6A-II playoffs. The Bruins finished the season by winning its final three games with a 30-20 win over Ponca City and blowout wins over Putnam City West (40-9) and Capitol Hill (62-0).

6A-II DISTRICT 1	DISTRICT RECORD	OVERALL RECORD	POINTS
Choctaw	7-0	8-2	97
Stillwater	6-1	8-2	83
Piedmont	4-3	6-4	21
Putnam City	4-3	6-4	22
Southmoore	3-4	4-6	-20
Lawton Eisenhower	3-4	4-6	-23
Northwest Classen *	1-6	2-8	-80
U.S. Grant *	0-7	0-10	-100

	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City (6-4, 4-3)	0	7	7	0	14
Piedmont (6-4, 4-3)	0	7	7	7	21