PATRIOT POWER

HARTFORD CITY — Zach Metcalf averaged better than 9 yards per carry. And he was the Patriots’ No. 3 rusher.
Jay County used the power toss to obliterate the host Blackford Bruins to the tune of 560 rushing yards Friday night. Cade Price had 237 of those yards and Darren Bogenschutz added 142 and four touchdowns as the Patriots rolled to a 40-6 victory.
“It’s unbelievable to me,” said Price, a senior, of the team’s rushing total. “It was a great. We got a great win. It was a team effort.”
The Bruins (0-2) limited Jay County early as the Patriots’ first three drives ended in two punts and an interception. But after Price returned the favor by picking off a Trace Oswalt pass late in the opening period, JCHS found its groove.
Starting with a 29-yard run around the right side by Bogenschutz, the Patriots (1-1) needed just three plays to roll 44 yards to the end zone. Bogenschutz capped the drive with a 12-yard TD run and JCHS dominated the rest of the way.
Two possessions later Price patiently waited for a hole to open, sped past Oswalt and rolled 66 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. Bogenschutz added a 6-yard TD run late in the half for a 20-0 JCHS lead.
Bogenschutz, who scored the Patriots’ lone touchdown on an interception return in their season-opening loss to Delta, played the game of his life as he added two TDs in the fourth quarter. The last one went for 47 yards as he faked out Oswalt at the 35-yard line and then went untouched into the end zone.
“He plays his heart out,” said Price of his teammate, whose 142 yards came on 16 carries. “He’s the hardest working kid I know.”
“It was pretty amazing,” added Bogenschutz of the four-TD game. “I can’t take all the credit for it though. Our line up front was doing a great job.”
The line paved the way for Price, who added a second scoring run in the third quarter and finished with four runs of 25 yards or more. He was on pace to break the Patriots’ single-game rushing record — 308 yards on 32 carries set by Justin Gilbert in 2005 — as he had his 237 yards on 16 carries before being pulled from the offensive side of the ball midway through the third quarter.
Jay County did most of its damage on the ground by utilizing the power toss.
“I was happy with the running game,” said JCHS coach Steve Boozier, who coached at Blackford for eight seasons. “Our linemen blocked well. Our backs ran hard.
“We run trap and power. You’re going to shut down one or the other. … We’re going to take what they give us, and they were giving us the power game tonight. … It’s awful difficult to shut down both of them.”
A dominant running game was exactly what the Patriots were hoping for when they switched they chose to use the Michigan high school version of the Wing-T offense this season.
“We had heard of teams that run this offense averaging 400 yards a game,” said Boozier, whose team averaged 9.3 yards per carry. “That’s one of the reasons we did it.
“I don’t know if we thought we’d get 500 yards … I know it’s a first for me as a coach. I don’t know if it’s a school record or not, but it’s got to be awful close.”
Blackford scored its only touchdown with 9:01 left in the third quarter after the Patriots had began to take their defensive starters out of the game. It drove 53 yards in six place, with Blake Thiery hauling in a 10-yard TD pass from Trace Oswalt.
The Bruins had most of their offensive success through the air, with Oswalt completing eight passes for 104 yards.
The Patriots limited Blackford to just 66 rushing yards on 25 attempts.
“That’s one of the things we thought coming into the season may have to be our strength,” said BHS coach Steve Rinker. “Our line, we’ve got one starter back. … So they’re very, very green. Establishing a running game with that kind of youth is going to be pretty tough.”


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