Remembering the run

For four weeks in March 2006, nothing was more important in Jay County than basketball.
Fans showed up at the high school in the wee hours of the morning to lineup to buy tickets. They made the short trips — five times to Hartford City — and the long ones — to Lafayette for the semi-state and Indianapolis for the state finals — their numbers growing each time.
They waved towels, held their breath with every shot and cheered at the top of their lungs when the ball went in.
It’s been a decade since the Jay County High School boys basketball team won six tournament games to reach the Class 3A state championship, but the experience is still often on the minds of the players and coaches who made it happen.
“It doesn’t seem like 10 years at all,” said coach Craig Teagle as he chatted about the tournament this week. “I think probably my best memory is just from the sectional on how supportive the community was, how the team came together.”
Coaches and players alike remember that team as one without a star — the leading scorer averaged fewer than 12 points per game — but with a group of talented players who all understood their jobs.
Teagle lists them off by heart:
•A steady-handed point guard in junior Scott Bruggeman.
•Three strong shooters in seniors Tyler Rigby, Zac Green and Randy Evans.
•A commanding presence in the post in junior Corey Comer.
•A defensive bulldog in senior John Retter, and another stopper in sophomore Clint Muhlenkamp
•And a capable back-up for Bruggeman in sophomore Luke Goetz.
There were others — Billy Wellman, Luke McClung and Rhett Retter all saw the court in the tournament — but it was those eight players who were the core.
“We were a team,” said Retter, emphasizing that last word. “Any one of our first six, seven guys could all score 10 points a game. I think we were dedicated to the roles we knew we could do and that’s what we stuck with.”
“I think the biggest part of our success was everybody bought into the system and everybody knew what their role was,” echoed Muhlenkamp. “I felt like nobody tried to get away from ... what they knew their part was.”
And in each game, there was a new hero.
First Rigby, the leading scorer at 11.8 points per game and the eventual winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award, torched Elwood in the opening round of the sectional tournament.
Then Bruggeman hit a game-winning hoop with three seconds remaining in overtime in the sectional semifinal against Tipton, saving the tournament run from ending after just one win.
With the sectional title on the line, it was Comer who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half as the Patriots fought off Mississinewa by five.
In the regional semifinal against Tippecanoe Valley, Green hit all of his 11 free-throw attempts to lead a 28-of-32 effort for the team and finish with a team-high 17 points in a 63-57 win. With JCHS trailing by nine in the regional championship game, Evans caught fire from long distance and scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter of a comeback victory.
And in a rollicking semi-state at Lafayette Jefferson, Rigby gave up the opportunity for the game-winning shot when the defense swarmed him and instead passed to Comer in the paint. He flipped a shot over the front of the rim and in with 1.6 seconds remaining for a 53-52 overtime win over Plymouth to send Jay County to the state finals.
It was that game, in front of a packed house of Patriot fans, that stands out in many of the players’ memories.
Goetz recalls arriving while the Class 1A game between Tri-Central and Oregon-Davis was winding down.
“We just walked in through the tunnel and all our fans saw us standing there, and they just erupted with cheering,” he said. “That’s something I’d never experienced and probably never will (again). The whole run was a great experience.”
The fans remained on their feet throughout the game, and they mobbed the floor after Comer hit his game-winning shot.
“To be a part of something that loud, that was probably the most incredible game to be a part of,” said Muhlenkamp. “State was awesome, but having the high school environment with the gym felt louder.”
“I think even if we had lost that game ... that would have been the best moment, just being a part of that atmosphere,” added Rigby. “That was probably the most fun game to be in as far as the crowd, what it meant. ...
“The moment at that time was so perfect.”
After the game, the fans filled the streets of Jay County to cheer for the team as its bus traveled through Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville, Bryant and Portland before returning to Jay County High School.
And even after the loss the following week in the state championship game against New Castle, they couldn’t have been prouder. They shot off fireworks and filled the gym at JCHS to show the Patriot players just how much they appreciated the journey.
“It’s not even really the basketball,” said Rigby, thinking back, “the first thing that comes to mind is just everybody in the community coming together. The support that we had was kind of ridiculous if you think about it.”
It was not a team anyone had picked to be playing for a state championship.
The Patriots had lost six regular-season games, including three-of-five during one stretch. They had never sniffed a spot in the state poll.
They were not even a defending sectional champion. And they faced more experienced tournament opponents — Wawasee was the defending regional champion and Plymouth had played for the state title in 2005.
“No one really expected it,” said Retter, adding that he’s thankful for Teagle believing in a team that wasn’t the strongest, fastest or most athletic. “I think we all knew we had a pretty good shot at winning sectional. But then going into regional, we were up against some hot competition … and I don’t think any of us really expected to make it past that point.
“I’m still shocked that it even happened.”
Shocked, and thrilled.
The players and coaches discuss the run as if it were yesterday, remembering details of games and names of opponents with ease. Over the course of a decade, not much has faded.
Teagle calls the experience an honor, one the players will be able to “look back all their lives on.”
About that, he couldn’t be more right.
“I think back on that all the time,” said Muhlenkamp. “I’ll take that one to my grave.”