YUKON — Putnam City fell behind early to Yukon and mistakes hampered a Pirate comeback in a 48-35 loss to the 6A-I Millers Friday (Aug. 29).

 ”It was a one score game back-and-forth for a while,” Putnam City coach Willis Alexander said via phone. “(We) had opportunity to tie the game up and on 4th-and-1, we jump offside, momentum killers, drive killers, things like that.”

Early on the Pirates defense struggled with Yukon junior Daniel Yebit, who had two back-to-back touchdown catches in the first quarter to make it 14-0.

The next Putnam City drive ended when Miller senior Gavin Thornhill intercepted a tipped ball and ran it back 41 yards to make it 21-0 with 4:19 left in the opening quarter.

The Pirates (0-1) clawed back in it with two scores before the quarter was over. Senior Savion James got behind the Yukon secondary and senior transfer quarterback Schuylar Turnbull hurled a 41-yard touchdown pass with 1:24 left.

On the first play of the next possession, the Pirate defense added a touchdown. Senior Dejon Ackerson knocked the ball loose from Yukon sophomore Zayden Khalil while flinging him down after a short gain. Senior Steven Matthews, Jr. scooped up the ball and sprinted down the Yukon sideline to cut the deficit to one score. The Pirates missed the extra point and Yukon led, 20-13.

At the end of the third quarter, Yebit grabbed his third touchdown pass, this time from 35 yards out. Senior Destry Lujan converted for two points and Yukon led, 28-13, at the end of the first quarter.

The Millers extended the lead to 35-13 after Lujan scored on a 1-yard dive. with 2:16 left before halftime.

The Pirates answered back with two scores from Turnbull in less than a minute.

Turnbull ran 53 yards to the end zone on a third-down play to make it 35-20.

On the ensuing kickoff, senior Bishop Moore forced Yebit to fumble and junior Jonnas Stinson-Powers jumped on it.

That led to a Turnbull 6-yard score. He also converted for two points and PC was within a touchdown at 35-28 at halftime.

Neither team scored in the third quarter but the Millers scored at the beginning of the fourth when junior quarterback scored from two yards out.

Over eight minutes later, Jones connected with sophomore Zayden Khalil for a 16-yard score.

With 1:30 left in the game, Turnbull and James had a 12-yard connection to make it 48-35.

Alexander said the game wasn’t similar to last year’s loss to Yukon in the opener because the offense was better.

“ (Yukon) explored a lot of areas that we are green in right now, right? We only had three kids on the field that was started last year. That’s a lot to replace,” Alexander said.

The stout Pirate defense has different personnel this year and senior Tripp Alexander was recovering from an injury.

Alexander said Turnbull played well in his first game with a new team and a new offensive coordinator. He transferred to Putnam City from 2A Millwood.

“ I think he did some things, but we missed a lot of opportunities,” Alexander said.”They attacked us where they needed to on defense.”

Turnbull was 11-of-24 with 171 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. Turnbull also rushed 15 times for 105 yards.

James had three catches (two for touchdowns) and 68 yards. Fellow senior Thomas Stones added three catches for 47 yards.

On defense, junior Evan Metoyer led the team with 11 tackles. Ackerson added a sack to his forced fumble. Junior Jairus Polly added an interception.

UP NEXT

The Pirates host sister school and Putnam City West Thursday (Sept. 4) at 7 p.m.

The Patriots (0-1) fell to 5A Southeast, 21-13, Friday.

	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City (0-1)	13	15	0	7	35
Yukon (1-0)	28	7	0	13	48