Jay enters as underdog

Saturday is when dreams can become a reality.
It’s when far-off goals set during summer practices are suddenly right in front of you.
It is the day when two area teams will have the chance to prove themselves to be on a different level, truly among their states’ elite.
The Jay County boys and Fort Recovery girls basketball teams are both in a position to make March 12, 2011, a day they will never forget.
The Patriots open the day early, playing the No. 10 Kokomo Wildkats at 10 a.m. in the semifinal round of the Class 4A regional tournament at Marion. If they are able to knock off the regional favorite, they would advance to play either Northrop or Pendleton Heights for the regional title at 8 p.m.
For the Indians, the hopes and dreams ride on a single game, as they battle the sixth-ranked Africentric Early College Nubians in the Division III regional championship at Lexington, Ohio, at 1:30 p.m.
Victories would put each of the team’s in their state’s final four — JCHS with a berth in the semi-state and FRHS with a trip to the state finals.
Jay County enters the regional as the clear underdog.
Based on the Sagarin Ratings, the Patriots are given the worst chance (5.1 percent) of any Class 4A school to win their regional tournament. They and Concord are tied with just a 1 in 1000 chance to win the state title.
Meanwhile, Kokomo is the most dominant regional favorite with a 57.4 percent chance to come home from Marion with the championship.
JCHS (17-6), however, is more than happy in that role. It was the underdog, or at least viewed as such, in every sectional game.
But it still came out on top by rallying from a 10-point deficit to beat host Huntington North, which handed Kokomo one of its two losses this year, and then leading most of the way in its semifinal and championship victories over Homestead and Fort Wayne South Side.
“They’re pretty confident in their abilities,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. “They know if you execute … you always have a chance to win the basketball game. We can’t control Kokomo’s athleticism, but we can control how we react.”
Part of the Patriots’ confidence comes from their recent run of success.
Since losing 4-of-7 games from late December through mid-January, including back-to-back defeats to Winchester and Centerville, Jay County has won 10 of its last 11. That stretch includes a current run of seven straight victories, and five in eight days culminating in the sectional championship.
Senior Drew Houck said the Patriots’ improvement since its difficult stretch, during with they were missing Scott Schwieterman (IHSAA suspension) Garrett Krieg (concussion) for three and four games respectively, has been as much mental as physical.
“When things weren’t going so well, we kept our composure,” he said of his team’s sectional run. “We weren’t as hurried. We weren’t as rushed. We didn’t force things …
“Coach talks about mental toughness all the time … When we were down 10 points to Huntington North is a perfect example. We just stuck with it … and came back and pulled off a win.”
And if JCHS can draw on recent experience if it is able to overcome the Wildkats and advance to Saturday night’s championship game at 8 p.m. It played two games in a single day just two weeks ago, defeating Bellmont and Norwell on the final day of the regular season.
“It helps us out a lot because we know what regional is going to feel like,” said JCHS senior Garrett Krieg of the double-header he and his teammates played after both games had been postponed earlier that week. “If we win the first game, we know how the second game is going to feel.”
Senior D.J. Balentine leads Kokomo (20-2), which earned its last regional win 2005 and last regional title on the way to the state finals in the last year of single-class basketball in 1997, averaging 16.4 points per game to go along with 87 assists and 47 3-poiners. Six other players average between 6.5 and 9.0 points per game. The Wildkats opened the season with nine straight victories, and won their three sectional games by an average of 23.7 points.
“The first thing we always talk about is defense, but I think in this game the first thing you’ve got to talk about is offense,” said Teagle, who has watched the tape of 17 of the Wildkats’ 22 games. “You’ve got to take care of the basketball. You can’t turn the ball over at the top of our offense where they have a chance to go in transition. I think that’s going to be the most important thing.
 “We have an incredible challenge ... In fact, when I saw Kokomo this summer … I thought they had the chance to win a state championship.”
Brock McFarland, averages 13.6 points per game to lead the Patriots, and his classmate Kegan Comer is also in double figures at 11.3. Krieg finished at just under 10 points per game.
Schwieterman was at 7.5 points and 7.9 rebounds for the season, but racked up 15 points in the sectional semifinal round and 18 in the championship win over South Side.
“Every thing impresses me about them,” said Kokomo coach Brian McCauley. “I’ve got a ton of respect for coach Teagle. He’s an outstanding coach. …
“They’re very disciplined offensively and defensively. They’re very skilled. They understand their roles and exactly what coach Teagle wants them to do and they don’t deviate from that. They understand the game of basketball …
“And they’re just your typical Jay County team. They’re very hard-nosed, physical and aggressive.”
JCHS’s last trip to the regional in the single-class format was in 1996. That team defeated Pendleton Heights by seven in the semifinal round before falling 52-51 to Anderson in the championship.
The Patriots won four sectional titles in five seasons in Class 3A from 2003 through 2007, advancing to the regional championship game twice. They lost by three to an Elmhurst team led by future Indiana University and Buffalo Bills wide receiver James Hardy in 2003, and defeated Wawasee on the way to the 2006 state championship game.
The only other teams in the county to win regional titles were the 1946 and ’48 Portland Panther squads.
 “It would be amazing,” said McFarland of the possibility of experiencing a regional championship as a sophomore. “It would be even better sending Garrett and Drew out their senior year winning the regional. I think it would mean a lot to them. It would mean a lot to all of us if we win.”[[In-content Ad]]