Jay drops ACAC opener

MONROE — Adams Central didn’t let the loss of its top running back stop it from pounding the football.
The Flying Jets racked up 488 rushing yards — 297 in the first half alone — en route to a 48-12 walloping of Jay County in the Patriots’ first game in the Allen County Athletic Conference.
“Obviously it’s a very disappointing loss,” said JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the ACAC. “We did not play well, especially defensively. We were very fortunate they opted to punt inside the 50 on their first drive and it never looked like we were going to stop them again.”
When Carter Sharp went down with an ankle injury on the opening drive for Adams Central (1-3, 1-0 ACAC), Stephan Eicher and Koty Frauhiger filled the void, rushing for 258 and 95 yards respectively.
Frauhiger scored his first of two touchdowns on a 17-yard run with 5:58 left in the first half to give Adams Central a 14-point lead. Nearly three minutes later, Eicher broke through the Jay County defense for a 78-yard score.
“I was very pleased with our offensive game,” said Adams Central coach Michael Mosser. “It was something we had been looking for for a long time. That is something I was really pleased with.”
Meanwhile, Jay County’s offense was stagnant in the first half, as the Patriots went to a new look in an attempt to work more toward the sidelines.
“We’ve had problems getting to the perimeter out of the (Wing-T),” said Millspaugh, who used a trips formation with two wideouts and a tight end on one side and a single running back in the backfield. “We’ve also had problems throwing the ball.”
Jay County ran its new formation in each of its first three drives, but to no avail. The Patriots gained only two total yards on those three drives — two ended in punts and the other on an interception.
It wasn’t until after Frauhiger’s touchdown that the Patriots returned to their bread and butter formation, but even then, Jay County had a tough time moving the football.
The Patriots went into the locker room trailing 21-0 with just 17 yards of total offense, and only ran eight plays from scrimmage in the second quarter.
“I think our defense really showed up in that second quarter and even in the first,” Mosser said.
Hoping to right the ship after halftime, Jay County saw its deficit balloon to 28 on the opening kickoff of the second half.
Adams Central’s Hunter Bates fielded Jacob Ferguson’s kick near the sideline at his own 15, ran to the middle of the field, cleared the Patriot kickoff coverage and took it to the house for an 85-yard return touchdown.
Instead of keeling over, however, the Patriot offense showed signs of life after freshman Cole Stigleman put his team in good field position with a kick return to midfield.
Senior running back Andrew McShane carried the ball five times for 22 yards on the drive, and Drew Huffman broke a 23-yard run inside the Jets 10-yard line.
Joey Link, who made his first appearance of the season at quarterback, capped off the 53-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard QB keeper to a wide-open right side of the end zone when his fakes in the backfield fooled the Jets defense.
“I was impressed with their fakes,” Mosser said. “They are one of the best faking teams I have seen. That really caught us off guard.”
Huffman led Jay County with 109 yards on eight carries, and McShane fought for 49 yards on 12 carries.
But Adams Central marched on, scoring on the ensuing drive when quarterback Andrew Hammond found Aaron Kaehr open on the right sideline.
Following a QB sneak on a fourth-and-1, Hammond rolled out to his right and threw to Kaehr inside the Patriot 20. Kaehr then dodged a would-be tackler and tiptoed to the end zone for a touchdown.
Huffman and the Patriots responded, when the junior fullback found an opening in the Adams Central defense and broke off a 56-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 35-12 with 2:34 remaining in the third.
“I was pleased with how we responded in the second half,” Millspaugh said of the run game. The Patriots had 187 rushing yards in the final 24 minutes. “I thought they did a nice job.”
Adams Central tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one on a 6-yard run by Frauhiger and the other on an 81-yard burst by Eicher, who broke free at his own 35 and then outran the Patriot defense on his way to the end zone.