Jay runs over Eagles

The nearly 200-mile drive back to Gary is probably going to feel a bit longer for the Eagles.
Bowman Academy came to Portland Friday night with an explosive offense, having scored at least 30 points in each of their previous three games.
The home-standing Patriots had been shut out on offense twice.
By the time the opening quarter was over, Jay County had already scored more points than it had in its first three games combined and it used a dominating ground game to roll to a 59-28 victory.
“Last week, that was gut-wrenching. That hurt. … I was stunned. For the kids to be resilient and come back and fight against that (is a credit to them),” said JCHS coach Steve Boozier. “I’m proud of them.”
“A win is good. (Against Blackford) we said a win is a good even if it’s ugly. This wasn’t an ugly win. This was a great win.
“This was just a great effort all across the board.”
The Patriots had struggled to move the ball in the season-opening loss to Delta and last week’s 42-2 defeat at Franklin County. But they ran the ball at will against Bowman Academy, racking up 365 yards on the ground.
Cade Price led the team in yards on the night thanks to a couple of big runs, including one of 59 yards for a touchdown, in the fourth quarter. He averaged just over 10 yards per carry, gaining 183 on 18 attempts and scoring three times.
Blake Crouch got in the end zone four times for Jay County — on runs of 3, 17, 7 and 7 yards — and racked up 144 yards on 26 carries.
“It’s like trench warfare,” said Boozier the battle at the line of scrimmage. “You’ve got to win six feet, but when you win six feet you’re going to get big gains.
“Price and Crouch both ran their guts out. They did a nice job. They ran well. They blocked well. They read their blocks well.”
Price also led the defense with 10 tackles, and Brock McFarland and Jason Houston added five apiece.
JCHS, which is 3-1 in the record book for the first time since 1988, wrested control immediately when Eric Beougher successfully recovered a squib kick. It methodically marched the ball 39 yards in nine plays — none covering more than 7 yards — and grabbed the lead on Crouch’s first TD run.
Jay County squib kicked the ball again on its second kickoff, but the Eagles were able to cover the ball.
They showed their fire power, with Antonio Pipkins and Cornelius Strickland hooking up on a 50-yard TD pass for a one-play drive.
Price responded with a long kickoff return to set up a two-play scoring drive by the Patriots, and then Chase Louck recovered another squib kick.
“In all honesty they weren’t planned onsides as much as they were just squibs,” said Boozier. “We wanted to keep (the ball away from Strickland). … The goal is to not let them get a return, and get (the ball) if you can. It was just a great effort by our kids.”
They marched 43 yards in eight plays for their third TD of the opening period — JCHS has scored just two TDs in its first three games — and then added another early in the second for a 28-6 lead.
The Patriots kept a two-score lead the remainder of the game, and the 59 points is their highest output since topping Connersville 60-14 in 1998.
“This was my defense that I put in,” said first-year Bowman Academy coach Robert Gross, who told his team after the game that he took responsibility for the loss. “It worked the first two weeks. We got killed last week. … Right now I’m dumbfounded. I don’t know what else to say.”
Boozier said he was most excited about his team’s reaction to its own blocking, especially on Price’s 58-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
The junior broke around the left side and had only one man — Strickland, who was the state runner-up in the 100- and 200-meter dash in the spring — to beat. Lucas Wiemer stepped in, making the perfect block on Strickland to clear the path for Price.
“Lucas Wiemer had a textbook block on the best athlete that we will face all year and just drove him down field,” said Boozier. “When you’ve got the best athletes in your school coming off the sidelines excited about blocking, that’s when this offense starts rolling. And that’s what we were getting.”
Pipkins totaled 320 yards on just 12 completions for the Eagles, but completed just 12-of-25 passes and was intercepted twice.
 Three of his passes went to Strickland for 124 yards. Jalen Knight had four receptions for 107 yards, including a 75-yard TD.[[In-content Ad]]