Nightmare ending

There was plenty of magic for the Patriots during the first half of their holiday-themed homecoming.
They got a little St. Patrick’s Day good luck from a Muncie Southside fumble deep in its own territory. And J.D. Mangas and Tyler Back each delivered Christmas gifts in the form of a 92-yard run and a 27-yard field goal.
But the evening ended in a Halloween-style nightmare.
A an 11-point lead slipped away in the fourth quarter and an interception halted Jay County’s final drive as it lost Friday night’s homecoming game 20-17 to the Rebels.
“It was a tale of two halves, obviously,” said JCHS coach Steve Boozier. “We didn’t necessarily need points in the second half as much as we needed first downs. We thought if we come out and get first downs, get a drive and maybe even get a score then that really gets them on their heels. And we didn’t do that.”
Instead the Patriots (2-3) opened the second half with a three-and-out, and had the same result on each of their next two possessions.
The Rebels (3-1) fumbled away their first second-half possession, but capped an 11-play drive with a 6-yard McKenzee Nash touchdown run to pull within five points just over a minute into the final period. And after the third JCHS three-and-out, they went to work again.
Timber Hatfield and Braiden Reynolds connected on the key play, a 30-yard pass down the left sideline. Nash scampered around the left side for his second touchdown four plays later, and a Hatfield two-point conversion put Southside up 20-17 with 6:50 to play.
Jay County’s second-to-last drive stalled when three straight running plays were stopped at the line of scrimmage, and its final comeback attempt ended when Reynolds picked off quarterback Nick Clemens in the final minute.
The Patriots’ ball-control style of offense left them out of their element when they had to try to hurry down the field in the final two minutes.
“In football, when you decide to go with a certain style you know you can’t get yourself in bad situations,” said Boozier. “We ate the clock the whole first half. In the (fourth quarter) we couldn’t do that because we got down.”
Nash and Hatfield led Southside to the comeback win, with the former picking up 99 rushing yards on 22 carries. Hatfield, who scored on a 44-yard run in the second quarter, was 7-of-11 passing for 123 yards and added 56 yards on the ground.
“That was a huge win,” said Rebels coach Mike Paul, whose team gave up a four-point halftime lead in a loss to Connersville in its last game. “I’m real proud of the kids for not quitting. When you’re down by 11 at halftime it’s real easy. … They hung in there. I’m proud of them.”
Jay County started to build its lead after Mangas broke his 92-yard run up the middle on the final play of the opening quarter.
The long play set up a 5-yard scoring run by Zach Metcalf, and the Patriots recovered a Southside fumble on the ensuing kickoff. They were in the end zone four plays later on a 16-yard run by Mangas, who finished with 192 yards on 20 carries.
The Rebels closed the gap on Hatfield’s long scoring run, but JCHS extended its lead to double digits at 17-6 when Back hit the 27-yard field goal on the final play of the opening half.
“We played our game,” said Boozier of his team’s effort in the first 24 minutes. “We ran the trap and the power, we kept them off balance. We felt like we could go to either play the whole half. Our kids blocked well and ran well.
“In the second half our kids ran hard … we just had individual breakdowns here and there. …  You can’t have those individual breakdowns. It takes 11 guys in unison to run a play.”[[In-content Ad]]