Record margin

BERNE — You can’t always get what you want. But on Saturday night, the Patriots could.
Jay County did whatever it wanted offensively against the South Adams Starfires, with seniors Brock McFarland, Scott Schwieterman and Kegan Comer all reaching double figures in the first half. Junior Trey Teagle joined them in the second half as the Patriots stayed undefeated with an 83-33 win for the widest margin of victory in school history.
“That’ll be as good as we see most of the year,” said SAHS coach Andy Brown, whose team lost its third straight to fall to 2-3. “You play a top-15 4A team, that’s what you’re going to get. They’re going to bring it every night. They really don’t have any weaknesses.
“It’s hard to keep them away from anything. You stop one thing, they beat you with another. ... if you try to focus on taking their guards away, they can look to the post. If you focus on the post, they’ll hurt you from outside.”
The 50-point win surpassed 48-point victories over Union City (105-57) in 1992 and South Adams (67-19) last season. The Patriots have won every game this season by at least 19 points and their 33.25 average margin of victory is the best in Class 4A and ranks third in the state overall.
South Adams scored the first point of the game on a Chase Moser free throw, but the Patriots tallied the next eight. They added an 11-0 run as they racked up 25 points in the first quarter and scored the final eight points of the opening half for a 45-14 lead.
McFarland, who led the team in scoring for the second straight night after putting in 21 points in Friday’s win over Monroe Central, reached double figures on a 3-pointer with 1:14 left in the first quarter. He went on to match his jersey number with 23 points.
Schwieterman (19 points) hit double figures on a pair of free throws 1:37 into the second period, and Comer (14 points) joined him on a drive just two possessions later. Teagle (13 points) cleared the 10-point mark midway through the third quarter on an assist from Comer.
As much as the scoring pleased coach Craig Teagle, he was even happier about the passing. Comer led the way with nine assists, and McFarland and Trey Teagle each added four.
“It’s one of the most unselfish teams I’ve ever coached,” said Craig Teagle. “It’s amazing when you think a kid has a shot and then all of a sudden he drops it to someone with a better shot. They’ve really impressed me with their teamwork.”
The passing led to a 76-percent shooting effort in the first half, and 74 percent for the game.
Schwieterman hit each of his first eight attempts before taking his only miss early in the fourth quarter, Trey Teagle also only missed one shot and Comer added a 7-for-9 effort.
The Patriots, who were up by as many as 53, have shot at least 59 percent in each of their first four games, have cleared 70 percent twice and are at 68 percent for the season.
“We’ve shot it pretty well,” said Craig Teagle. “The thing that we’ve been able to do is penetrate and break down the defense a little bit, and our kids have done a great job stepping in and delivering the ball to people.”
JCHS also dominated the glass 26-14, with Schwieterman grabbing seven rebounds and McFarland adding six.
Moser scored nine points to lead South Adams. Cody Wickey hit a pair of 3-pointers as he added seven.

Junior varsity
Jay County turned the game into a blowout with a dominant third quarter as it defeated the Starfires 45-16.
Zach Pryor scored 16 points for the Patriots (2-2), who were already up by 14 at halftime before outscoring South Adams 17-0 in the third quarter. Pryor scored 14 of his points in the second and third periods.
Nick Clemens also reached double figures with 12 points, and Justin Dirksen added eight.
Chandler Ingle and Marco Vasquez each totaled six points for the Starfires.

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