Fall sports are a strong start

The fall sports season is behind us. Well, almost anyway.
The South Adams High School football team continues to carry the torch for area schools as it prepares to travel to Southwood to play in the sectional championship game for the third time in four years.
But regardless of what the scoreboard reads on Friday night, the open to the 2013-14 school year has already been a strong one for Jay County, Fort Recovery and South Adams.

The right direction
This was the kind of season Patriot fans had been looking for ever since the team’s first, and only, sectional championship in 2007.
Jay County strung together four victories in a row, matching the longest streak in three decades, won six games at home and picked up its first tournament triumph in six years. Along the way, Patriot fans were treated to the best single-season rushing effort in school history as J.D. Mangas racked up 1,803 yards. And on defense Eric Hemmelgarn made 27 tackles for a loss while Toby McCallister picked off four passes.
While JCHS fell short of its goal of playing this week for a sectional title, it still took a big step in the right direction this year. Hopefully, it can continue that progress in 2014.

A return to state
Fort Recovery senior Elle Sutter has been the leader for the Tribe cross country team almost since she stepped onto the course for the first time.
It was midway through her freshman year that she seemed to figure things out, dropping time in chunks during the final month of the season. She qualified for the state meet that year.
After coming up just short as a sophomore and junior, it was great to see Sutter come through in her senior season and earn a return trip to the state finals. She finished 55th in the Division III race Saturday, closing out her high school career on the biggest stage in Ohio cross country.

Jay’s first title
What the Patriots girls soccer team accomplished this season had been a long time coming.
Since the program started in 1997, Jay County had played for the sectional championship eight times. But it had never won the title until finally breaking through against Yorktown this year.
Gabbie Mann scored 12 minutes into the second half, and the JCHS defense and goalie Lilly Rogers did the rest in a 1-0 shutout of the Tigers in the sectional championship game. The tension and excitement were palpable on the sidelines in the final minutes, and the celebration after the final buzzer was worthy of an accomplishment 17 seasons in the making.

Streak continues
No Jay County squad has been more successful over the last decade than the girls cross country team. And the Patriots continued that success this season.
With sophomore Megan Wellman and senior Abigail Johnson leading the way, JCHS held off Muncie Burris for its eighth straight sectional title. That is the fifth-longest streak in the state.
The Patriots went on to a second-place regional finish to earn their eighth straight semi-state berth. Now they must look beyond the sectional and regional with a goal of giving themselves a chance to accomplish what the South Adams boys did this year.

Among the best
The South Adams boys cross country teams have been strong for several seasons.
Two years ago, Evan Liechty broke through with an individual state berth. And the team finished just outside the top 10 in the semi-state in 2011 and ’12.
This year, the Starfires pushed themselves to a different level. With Sawyer Miller, a two-time state medalist in wrestling, setting the tone, SAHS won the sectional championship, came up a tiebreaker short of the regional title and then earned just the third state berth in any sport in school history.
South Adams was one of the smallest schools at the state finals, where it finished 17th out of 24 teams. Among the teams it beat were goliaths Valparaiso, Homestead, South Bend Riley and Evansville North, proving once again that athletes from little schools in small towns can accomplish big things.[[In-content Ad]]