Lions maul JCHS

The Leo Lions put on full display Friday night the reason they are being recognized among the best teams in Class 3A.
They scored 28 points in the opening quarter.
Their top two running backs racked up more than 190 yards on just nine carries.
And they totaled nearly 450 yards of offense.
It was an overpowering effort that left the host Jay County Patriots at 1-3 after a 59-6 defeat.
“We said coming in, ‘That’s the best team we’ve played’. No disrespect to Delta, but that team is pretty good,” said JCHS coach Steve Boozier, whose team dropped its season opener 58-7 to Delta. “That’s a program that was way down for a while … and (now) that team has a chance to make a run in 3A. They’ve been in their system for a few years … That program is where we want to get. … They’re by far the best team they’ve played.”
Leo proved the point early and often, with Kyle Marzec breaking a 41-yard run on the opening play of the game.
The next play was a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Leiter to Gage Corner, and the Lions went on to score six more TDs in the opening half.
Four of those came from Connor Kacsor on runs of 1, 21, 19 and 55 yards. Taylor Horn scored on a 1-yard TD run, and Mike Shawd added a 3-yard TD run.
Marzec carried the ball just twice, but he racked up 76 yards. And Kacsor, who had over 500 yards in the Lions’ first three games, gained 116 yards on just seven attempts.
Both starting running backs were pulled from the game after Leo took a 42-7 lead with eight minutes left in the second quarter.
“Kyle Marzec is a good one,” said Lions coach Jared Sauder, whose team was 12th in Class 3A voting by The Associated Press this week. “He’s really just as fast as Connor (Kacsor) is. … He’s good at cutting and he has good vision. They are both excellent backs.
“Defenses can’t take away both of them. … We can keep them off balance a little bit.”
Jay County’s bright spot in the opening half came on the second play of the second quarter when Zach Cash took the ball on a run up the middle. He got through the line and then bounced to the outside, where he found nothing but daylight. He ran 60 yards down the left sideline to convert the Patriots’ only touchdown of the game.
“He made a nice cut,” said Boozier of Cash, who finished with 70 yards on seven carries. “That play was set up by some of the outside stuff we were doing … We executed that play perfectly. We’ve just got to put more of those plays together. I think that will happen.”
Other than the Cash scoring run, JCHS struggled to get anything going on offense.
It managed just 92 totaled yards and less than two yards per carry on the ground. Quarterback Brock McFarland completed 3-of-6 passes for 23 yards, but was also sacked five times.
Leo, meanwhile, was able to gain yards with a variety of running backs. In addition to 49 yards on four rushes by Leiter, Mike Shawd picked up 73 yards on eight carries and five other players gained at least 10 yards.
Overall, the Lions averaged 10.6 yards per carry, a credit to their offensive line play.
“Those guys played very well,” said Sauder. “We kind of take pride in playing physical and getting after it. Those guys did that tonight.
“I think physically we were able to push the ball. I know (the Patriots are) a young team. They had a great effort. … We have, at any time, nine or 10 seniors on the field. I know Jay County has a lot of sophomores. That’s going to make a big difference.”
Jay County turned in a couple of exciting plays late, with Cody Nelson scooping up a Lions’ fumble and returning it 47 yards before getting knocked out of bounds.
“We put some guys who haven’t played very much in. James Drayton came up and made a great tackle. Cody Nelson, who’s a first-year senior who hasn’t played very much, scooped up that fumble,” said Boozier. “I saw Vance Guntle make a great tackle … on the goal line. Some of our guys that don’t get a lot of playing time got in their and (made the most of) and opportunity.”
The recovery and return by Nelson set the Patriots up to attempt a field goal on the final play of the game. Alex Dunn came up just short on the 42-yard attempt as his kick, which was right down the middle, hit the cross bar and bounced back onto the field.[[In-content Ad]]