GREENSBURG — The South Decatur running game proved to be unstoppable in Friday night’s football contest against Oldenburg Academy.
Damon Allen, who finished with 200 rushing yards on 16 carries, did most of the damage early by going for 178 of those rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He added a third score in the second half as the Cougars routed the Twisters 48-13.
Allen’s running mate, Tyler Bushhorn, finished with 104 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.
South Decatur coach Tony Bell was pleased with the running attack.
“It has been a building process since the beginning of the season,” Bell said. “It has been taking its strides and was productive on the field. A lot of credit goes to the five guys up front. They were blocking consistently, and they would not have had the yardage if it weren’t for them.”
Allen’s first touchdown came on a 47-yard run just one minute into the game to give the Cougars (3-2) a 7-0 lead. The Twisters responded right back on a Mike He one yard run, but the missed extra point left the Cougars with a 7-6 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Bushhorn run it in from three yards out to expand the lead 14-6. Allen’s second touchdown came off a huge run off the right side of the field as he blasted for 70 yards to widen the lead to 21-6.
Oldenburg kept it a ball game as He scored his second rushing touchdown from three yards out to cut the lead 21-13.
The second half was a much different story defensively for South Decatur. The Cougars kept the Twisters off the scoreboard. Jordan Ortman, the Cougars quarterback had three interceptions defensively in the second half as the Twisters were forced to throw the football.
Ortman finished with 68 yards passing and also added a rushing touchdown.
“He is one of our do-it-all guys for this team,” Bell said of Ortman. “We talked about everyone doing their job consistently on defense. We had some freelancers in the first half that would try to make plays on their own that put some guys out of position. We adjusted our defensive assignment accordingly.”
Allen’s third touchdown came early in the third quarter when he ran three yards up the middle to put the game out of reach.