JCHS boys top Stars

BERNE — The Patriot boys soccer team is back on the right track. The girls are in the midst of a streak they’d like to break.
Colton Bartlett scored twice for the Jay County boys as they picked up their second consecutive win by a 3-1 score Saturday over the host South Adams Starfires. The girls team went without a goal for its third straight game as SAHS turned in its best effort of the year in a scoreless tie.
“It’s real nice,” said JCHS boys coach Alan Bailey, whose team opened the season with six consecutive losses before beating Blackford Thursday. “It’s nice to get that win, two in a row. I think we’ve got ourselves (squared) away with our lineup. I think we’re going to be good now.”
And while ties are never the goal, the result of the girls game was a step in the right direction for the Starfires.
They had dropped their first five games, including a 10-1 loss Thursday against Norwell.
“We’ve been giving up about nine per game,” said South Adams girls coach Charles Wendel. “We’ve been struggling. We had five starters go down the first three games. We’ve finally got some of them back now and things are starting to fall into place.”
Bartlett, who left the game late with a cut on his chin, set the tone in the opening minutes. The Patriots pushed the ball up the right side and Bartlett chipped a shot across to the left corner for a 1-0 lead with 33;24 on the clock.
The senior connected again about 10 minutes later when JCHS (2-6) earned a corner kick. Alex Dunn took the kick from the right side and Bartlett deflected it into the next for his second goal of the game.
Ainsworth, another senior, extended the lead to 3-0 with 20:17 on the clock with a high shot to the right corner from about 20 yards out.
“He’s playing really hard right now,” said Bailey of Bartlett. “I think the seniors kind of saw a little bit of desperation and they became leaders … Now they’re starting to push us. That’s definitely a good thing that’s going on right now.”
Bailey said he feels a couple of lineup changes have helped get his team going in the right direction. Sophomore Dylan Swingley has moved to the left wing, and Brandon Poore and Trey Teagle has switched places along the back line.
“Swingley on my left wing, his foot skills are good. He’s got a nice strong ball, and he’s playing well,” Bailey said. “Poore is a little bit stronger on the inside and Teagle is a little bit quicker on the outside, so that’s helped us a lot. It just seems like were a little bit quicker right now with those two little changes we’ve made.”
South Adams (3-6) had opportunities to put the ball in the net, including a pair of shots in the opening six minutes of the second half by Blake Bauman. His header in the first 30 seconds went just over the top, and he was wide right on a shot a few minutes later.
JCHS goalie Austin Cowan robbed Bauman of a goal with 7:31 remaining with a tremendous diving save toward the left post. But in the closing seconds, the Starfire senior was able to cash in.
Bauman was tackled within the 18-yard box with just 3.7 seconds remaining, giving SAHS a penalty kick. He took the shot himself and converted it to the right corner for a 3-1 final score.
“If Blake’s your option, it’s easy to cover us,” said SAHS boys coach Tom Sprunger, who was without injured senior Zack Sharp. “If you give us two options, then it’s a little tougher. … It was great (for Blake to get the goal).”
Jay County dominated the girls game on the field, keeping the ball on its offensive half of the field for about 70 of the 80 minutes. But the Patriots could not take control on the scoreboard.
“We had at least 15 shots,” said JCHS girls coach Abby Champ, whose team also played to a scoreless tie Thursday against Oak Hill. “We had multiple one-on-ones and we didn’t convert.
“Every time it’s different. … A couple of those were just bad luck, they just hit the cross bar wrong. They were great shots, they just didn’t fall our way. Some of them, they just get in a hurry … and they go wide or they go high because they’re not squared up.”
JCHS (1-4-3) just missed on several opportunities in the final 10 minutes, the first when Tiffany Huelskamp’s shot went off the left corner of the goal with just 9:35 let. Mallory Poole charged in for a put-back attempt, but goalie Brianna Nevil made the save.
The Patriots had a couple of opportunities miss wide to each side with six minutes left, and then Nevil saved a LeAnn Horn shot at the 1:39 mark. They continued to bombard the goal with the defense pushed up in the final minute, but a Nikka Chaney shot from deep on the right side went off the cross bar and Nevil rejected the follow-up as time expired.
“She didn’t start out as our goalkeeper this year, but we lost some speed up front, so I put Jessie Beavers, our usual goalkeeper, up there, and Bri has just done an amazing job,” said Wendel of Nevil. “She’s the one who’s directing traffic back there. She’s my most experienced girl. She just gives a full effort every game.”[[In-content Ad]]