Taking a look at the tourney

The Jay County High School girls cross country team has won five straight sectional titles.
The boys soccer team has won three in a row.
Will they both add to their streak? And will another area team break through for a title?
With sectional playing opening Tuesday for soccer, and a week later for cross country, let’s take a look at the how the tournaments stack up for some area squads.

The change to a …
… two-class system in soccer leaves the JCHS boys with a bit more difficult road in the sectional tournament.
For most of their run in the Blackford sectional, the Patriots’ opponents were the host Bruins, South Adams and Union City. Now they are in a group that includes Yorktown, which has won three sectional titles in the last four years, and Muncie Central, which won three straight sectional crowns from 2007 through ’09.
Jay County (8-3-3) will open tournament play Tuesday in the semifinal round against Muncie Southside, a team it defeated 7-3 on Monday. The Patriots are 2-0-1 against sectional opponents this year, having also defeated Delta 2-1 while tying Muncie Central 3-3 in the season opener.
Yorktown has the best record among the sectional group at 8-3-1.

South Adams has …
… a chance to make some noise in the cross country tournament series, although a sectional title will be hard to come by.
Both the Starfire boys and girls teams finished undefeated during the Allen County Athletic Conference regular season, and the boys also finished first in the Bellmont Invitational, Bi-County Conditioner and Spencerville Invitational.
South Adams has never won a sectional championship in cross country, and Homestead stands in the way of breaking that streak. The Spartan boys are ranked ninth in the state, and the girls return four of the top six runners from their 2010 title team.
But both Starfire squads should advance to regional competition. And Evan Liechty, Brody Shane and Hannah Moore could all be contenders for state berths.

The girls soccer …
… sectional tournament at Yorktown is wide open.
Among the contenders in the Class 2A Sectional 15 group, Jay County defeated Delta 3-2 on Sept. 20. Two days later, Yorktown  blanked the Patriots 2-0. And then Tuesday, Delta knocked off Yorktown 2-1 in a penalty-kick shootout.
Jay County, which has never won a sectional title, has the best record in the group at 9-6.
The Patriots open tournament play Tuesday against Muncie Central (3-8), a squad they also take on tonight in the regular-season finale. If they claim consecutive wins over Central and then beat Muncie Southside the semifinal round of the sectional, they would tie the school record for wins — 12 — set in 2002.
Jay County last played for the sectional title in 2005, falling 3-0 to Marion.

Jay County’s girls …
… cross country team served notice that it remains the favorite to win a sixth straight sectional title by finishing ahead of the host Eagles at Saturday’s Delta Invitational.
The road to a fourth straight regional championship, however, will be a bit more difficult.
While finishing ahead of Delta, the Patriots trailed regional rival Pendleton Heights by 21 points on Saturday. Jay County held a nine-point advantage over the Arabians at the top two positions, but trailed them by a combined 30 points at the No. 3, 4 and 5 spots.
Regardless of whether the Patriots are able to close the gap and knock off Pendleton Heights, they should advance to the semi-state for the sixth straight season. And there, Katie Simmons hopes to achieve a career goal.
Simmons, a senior, hopes to finish in the top 15 at the semi-state to earn a trip to the state finals. She has already broken the JCHS record twice this season, most recently with a time of 19 minutes, 15.23 on Saturday.
Darby Mountford of South Bend St. Joseph was the final state qualifier from the New Haven semi-state last season with a time of 19:11.9.[[In-content Ad]]