Saturday’s conference title no small matter

Why is being in a conference important?
Saturday’s girls soccer game was the perfect illustration.
Jay County hosted South Adams in the first game of a doubleheader, with the boys teams to follow.
They have met each other for as long as both schools have offered soccer as an IHSAA sport. But the game this time meant a lot more.
The Patriots took an early 1-0 lead before having a series of shots just miss the mark. Deep into the first half, they still only had the slight one-goal advantage.
SAHS was putting up a much stronger fight than it had the previous season when Jay County scored 22 seconds into the game and had a 4-0 lead in the first five minutes.
Eventually the Patriots took control, jogging off the field with an 8-1 victory and then gathering as a group in the practice area.
There, coach Giles Laux unzipped a duffle bag and started tossing small gifts in blue wrapping paper to each of his players. When they opened the packages, each girl found a reward for a goal reached — an Allen County Athletic Conference championship T-shirt.
The Patriots put on the shirts for team pictures — first serious, then goofy — and celebrated their accomplishment together.
“It meant a lot more to us knowing that we’re under the pressure and we have a lot more to play for,” said junior goalie Lilly Rogers, comparing the ACAC game to her freshman season when Jay County played as an independent. “It was awesome to know that we could have the chance to be able to win a conference title.”
JCHS had been in a conference for the first 35 years of its history, first the Classic Athletic Conference and then the Olympic Athletic Conference. But the OAC began to crumble 15 years ago when half of its membership left to join a more Indianapolis-centric group.
Huntington North departed a few years later, leaving Jay County, Anderson Highland, Muncie Southside and Connersville as a four-team group. And when Highland merged with Anderson in 2010, the conference was forced to fold. Three teams was simply not enough. (Muncie Southside has since suffered a similar fate, merging with Muncie Central last year.)
Having conference rivals to play and championships to compete for may seem like a small matter, but it’s not.
“What it does add to your season is more goals,” said  Laux, whose team is seeking its third straight sectional title this year. “Of course we want to be playing 100 percent at the end of the season for the tournament run. …
“This is something that helps build up to that. We’re using it as a stepping stone.”
Rogers noted that no matter the game, conference or non-conference, the Patriots set team goals. There are things they want to focus on in their quest for the sectional hat trick.
And of course every athlete wants to win every game. But without a conference championship on the line, Saturday’s battle wouldn’t have meant much.
It seems logical that without something specific to play for, other than pride, it would be hard to get excited about every game over the course of the year. The tournament isn’t seeded, so there is no real impact when a run-of-the-mill regular-season game is lost.
Being in a conference can give athletes that little bit of extra motivation.
“They don’t get paid. They don’t get a scholarship. These are student athletes who are doing it for the love of the game,” said Laux. “And to have these little stepping stones, milestones, short-term goals, it’s easier to build up to the big picture …”
That big picture is to make another strong run in the postseason tournament.
A conference title doesn’t quite carry the same weight as the sectional. There is no win-or-go-home pressure looming.
But it gave the Patriots a good reminder about what it’s like to play with something tangible on the line.
“I don’t think anything will ever really compare to sectional, but knowing that midway through the season we’re at the point where we could win conference is definitely a motivational booster,” said Rogers. “It’s definitely a step to know that we’re doing stuff right and we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”