Soccer split

Both schools walked away with a positive result Saturday.

For Jay County, it came in the boys soccer game as the Patriots got back on track at the conclusion of their sectional preview week. Having split games with sectional foes Union City (a 9-3 win) and Blackford (a 4-1 loss), they dominated the second half to top the visiting South Adams Starfires 5-1.

The South Adams girls have had a difficult season, losing their first seven matches. Saturday they were able to celebrate their first victory of the year 1-0 over the Patriots.

"I'm very happy. We've been working all year (for this)," said SAHS coach Charles Wendel. "This was the turning point I've been looking for all season."

The turning point for the JCHS boys (6-2) came at the intermission when they changed their alignment.

The Patriots led 1-0 but weren't getting the kind of offensive looks they wanted. So they switched to a two-forward set and immediately saw the move pay dividends.

Just 40 seconds into the second half Ben Brandt tossed the ball in from the right side to Brad Horn, who played a high ball to himself near the end line. He worked in from the right side, shot and watched the ball bobble through goalie L.J. Moser's arms and into the net.

Five minutes later Patrick Johnson got free on a breakaway. His shot glanced off the left post, but Jeremiah Cotherman was there for the follow and a 3-0 JCHS lead.

"We put in another forward because they were playing their backs back so deep that Brad (Horn) couldn't get cut loose," said Bailey. "We went to a 4-4-2 ... and that kind of split their defense up and opened things up a little bit."

No defense could have stopped the fourth Jay County goal. Cotherman started the play with a crossing pass from the left side, and Horn nailed a perfect header to the left corner of the net.

"That's one of the prize goals in soccer, when you can get that nice cross into a header," said Bailey. "We put a lot of effort into that in practice, working on our crosses ... Brad did a nice job on that.

"It was a perfect pass, right where he wanted it."

Johnson, who had several shots go off the posts and crossbar, got the Patriots' final goal off an assist from Brandt.

South Adams (1-7) managed just two shots on goal, including one late from Zach Sharp, and JCHS goal Adam Daniels saved them both.

"We've made huge progress over the season," said SAHS coach Tom Sprunger of his group that includes just one senior. "They're doing wonderful. ... They're the best squad I've ever had at (playing) an 80-minute match. You saw them down 5-nil, they didn't stop attacking."

The only goal of the girls game came midway through the opening half.

Tori Smith broke through the left side of the Patriot defense and goalie Mollie May came out to fill in the gap. May deflected Smith's shot only to have Katrina Hawkins get to the loose ball near the right post and knock send it back in for the 1-0 lead.

"We got caught out of position and made our goalie come out to cover for a defender and left the goal open," said JCHS coach Abby Champ. "We had people so far out of position. Nobody was playing their positions consistently. ... We were frazzled and never got settled down."

South Adams (1-7) had 14 shots on goal - May made several outstanding saves to keep the margin at 1-0 - compared to just five for the Patriots and controlled the ball for much of the game.

Smith, who had three shots on goal, led the effort as she repeatedly broke down the right side of the Jay County defense during the second half.

"She handles the ball really well," said Wendel of the freshman. "Today their passes were good. They were talking a lot. They had great control the whole game. We were really proud of them."

The Patriots (2-4) seemed to struggle to keep the ball on their offensive half of the field. Even when they were able to get a shot - Sammi Compton had three and Mariana Garcia and Mallory Poole each recorded one - South Adams almost immediately turned the tables and took the ball all the way down to the other end.

"Thursday night (in a 4-0 loss to Oak Hill) we did the same thing," said Champ about her team's lack of aggressiveness. "We kept talking about the Norwell game (a 2-0 win). We were really aggressive, played a great game and that's the game that we've been training for. ... Today we weren't attacking the ball."[[In-content Ad]]