Patriots fall to Woodlan

Just when Jay County thought it had stopped the run, Woodlan threw the ball.
Then, the Warriors went back to pounding away on the ground.
Woodlan powered for 238 rushing yards and added 210 more through the air in a 34-7 victory Friday over the Patriots.
“Jay County did a good job of stacking up the line,” said Woodlan coach Sherwood Haydock, whose team improved to 5-1 on the season and 2-1 in Allen County Athletic Conference play. “We worked all week against that 3-3 stack … So good thing for us our passing game worked.
“If we couldn’t have thrown the ball tonight it would have been a close game.”
The Patriots (2-4, 1-2 ACAC) and Warriors both turned the ball over on downs on their opening drives, with Woodlan rushing the ball eight times and Jay County running the ball on 10 plays. It was on the Warriors’ second drive that they mixed in the pass. And it worked.
Woodlan senior Rick Ehle completed nine of his 14 passes on the night, including three scores. He found his classmate, tight end Anthony Hutson, for a 28-yard TD in the final minutes of the opening quarter, then connected with him again on the Warriors’ first drive of the second for a 14-0 lead.
“We caught them in the right defense and got two touchdowns on it,” Haydock said of his team’s first two scores.
The passes to Hutson, however, caught Jay County coach Tim Millspaugh and his coaching staff off guard.
“Watching their film, breaking it down … Their tight ends were not a part of their pass package,” Millspaugh said. “They would put two receivers (on one side of the field), and if they were throwing it, that is who they were throwing it to.”
Jay County answered midway through the second quarter when senior Andrew McShane punched it in from the 4-yard line. His team-leading fourth touchdown of the season capped off a seven-play, 74-yard drive that included 37 rushing yards from Cole Stigleman and a 33-yard pass to Cameron Kunkle from Nick Clemens. Kunkle, a senior, led the Patriot defense with 12 tackles.
Stigleman, a freshman, totaled 132 yards on 21 carries, and Clemens, a senior, was 7-of-11 passing for 86 yards. Both Stigleman and Clemens notched career-highs.
“I was very pleased with how we moved the ball most of the evening,” said Millspaugh, adding the Patriots’ 116 passing yards was a bright spot for the home team. Jay County, which had 314 total yards, had not finished a game with more than 100 passing yards in each of the last two seasons.
Woodlan went back to its smash-mouth football with running back Mitchell VanBrocklin. The 6-foot, 2-inch, 240-pound junior carried the ball 26 times for 208 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown run up the gut to give the Warriors a 21-7 lead at halftime.
But after intermission, Jay County had back-to-back possessions halted deep in Woodlan territory. Stigleman returned the opening kick of the second half to the Patriot 40-yard line, and then he and his teammates marched to the Warrior 13-yard line — the key play was a 24-yard wheel pass from Joey Link to Levi Stant on fourth-and-4 — before turning it over on downs.
Woodlan extended its lead to 24-7 with 1:30 left in the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Quentin Graber, and the ensuing Patriot drive was stopped at the Warrior 22.
“Offensively we got the ball down in the red zone and we didn’t win,” Millspaugh said. “Against a quality football team like that, you have to execute in those situations. When we go back to look at the film, it will be interesting to see how many miscues (we had) in situations that were favorable to us.”
On the next play, Ehle found Trevan McCarter on a slant over the middle, and then the Woodlan freshman broke free for a 78-yard score.
Jay County threatened on its next drive, going from its own 34-yard line down to the Woodlan 6, but Justin Durkes stepped in front of a Nick Clemens pass at the 1-yard line and ran it back to the house, Fortunately for Jay County, the score was negated by a personal foul.
With 3:41 left in the contest, Woodlan returned to its power run game, moving the ball into Patriot territory before settling for a 37-yard field goal with six seconds on the clock.
“I was really proud of the character of our team, especially at the end,” Millspaugh said. “Our kids never gave up and we were really pleased with the effort and attitude we got out of them.”