Different states, same objective

It took the Patriots seven Class 4A seasons to win their first sectional championship.
They have no intention of waiting that long again.
Fresh off a 49-36 victory over a 17-win New Haven squad in the opening round on Tuesday, Jay County is focused on another title as it heads into Friday’s sectional semifinal game against the Wayne Generals.
“We definitely want a repeat sectional championship,” said junior guard Brock McFarland. “Definitely.”
The Patriots (18-3) and Wayne (8-11) are more than familiar with each other, having met less than three weeks ago. But the tournament rematch promises to be quite different from Jay County’s 60-44, regular-season win as both teams will have changes in personnel.
The Generals will be without leading scorer Ronald Lucas, who played against JCHS on Feb. 11 but has since been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons. He was averaging 16.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
“We’ve had to change some things around late in the season,” said Wayne coach Aaron Rehrer, whose team lost its final three games of the season to the Patriots, Whitko and Canterbury. “Our kids have been battling. … We’ve got a group of kids that really work hard. They’ve stayed together and stayed positive.”
Jay County will expect to have Kegan Comer at full strength for the entire game this time around. He injured his knee missed most of the second quarter against the Generals before returning the play in a knee brace during the second half.
When Comer went down, McFarland took control of the game. He repeatedly got to the basket and drew fouls, finishing 15-of-16 from the line en route to a 34-point effort.
With the defense likely to have an eye on him after that performance — it was the fifth-highest scoring effort in JCHS history — McFarland said he’ll be looking to take advantage by getting his teammates good shots.
“They’ll probably try to lock him down,” said Cade Price. “We just have to cut as hard as we can and try to get open, and try to get him open too.”
“The rest of us just have to step up,” added Scott Schwieterman, who led the Patriots with 19 points in their victory over New Haven. “We’ve got a lot of weapons.”
McFarland leads JCHS at 14 points and six rebounds per game. Comer follows at 13 points per game, and Schwieterman is just short of double figures at 9.2.
With Lucas gone, the scoring load for the Generals falls to Justin Mitchell and Kendan Lewis. Both scored in double figures against Jay County in the first meeting, and they average 16 and 13.1 points per game respectively.
Mitchell is also the team’s rebounding and assist leader at 5.8 and 3.4 per game. Chris Niemeyer follows with averages of 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds.
“We’ve got to keep them from splitting us,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. “I’m not sure we’ve played a quicker kid than (Mitchell). ... He can get to the rim any time he wants. We’ve got to keep him in front of us ... And then Kendall Lewis can shoot the three, but he’s also a really good athlete who can get to the rim and cause us a lot of problems.”
Rehrer has similar concerns about the Patriots, who racked up 29 free-throw attempts against his team during the regular season.
“Our guards have to do a better job of keeping them in front,” he said. “McFarland, the 34 points he had, we would either reach or gamble or he would just get by us and he would get to the basket. … That’s what happens against a team like that. When you reach and gamble, they’re going to make you pay.”
Teagle said he feels the Generals weren’t at their best when they visited Jay County three weeks ago. They had close losses to No. 9 Homestead (63-59) and New Haven (70-66) this season, and Teagle expects a similarly difficult battle Friday night.   
“We’re going to get Wayne’s best shot,” he said. “I think they played flat the day the played us. I think it’s going to be a real struggle. We’re going to have to play well.”[[In-content Ad]]