Jets ground Jay

The Patriots felt they were prepared for the Adams Central running game.

They just couldn’t stop it.

Drew Schultz powered through and Logan Macklin zipped around the defense in scoring three touchdowns apiece Friday night in beating the Jay County High School football team 70-42.

“This is as disappointing of a loss as I can remember as a coach,” said JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh. The 112 total points scored was the second highest-scoring game in school history behind the 117 points in a 63-54 loss to Muncie Southside on Sept. 19, 2008.

“If you would have said we were going to put up 70 I would have said no,” said Adams Central coach Michael Mosser, whose team ran over the Patriots (2-2, 1-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) to the tune of 497 rushing yards. “We really wanted to come in and set the tone offensively. I felt like we could run on these guys and we did that.”

Macklin zipped around the right side of the line for a 44-yard touchdown with 5:01 to play in the opening quarter. Macklin, who totaled 226 yards on 16 carries, started as a wing back on the left of the formation, crossed with the other wing in the backfield and broke free at the Jay County 35-yard line.

It was those misdirection plays that helped the shifty 5-foot-7-inch, 145-pound junior to get to the edge and accumulate most of his yards. He broke open a 54-yard carry later in the first quarter, and had a 41-yard scamper during the third quarter. He found the end zone from the 2 and 9 yards respectively for his final two touchdowns.

“The thing that is really frustrating and really disappointing,” Millspaugh said, “I would like to say the cross play … that we weren’t aware of them possibly doing that. They ran it very successfully against us the last two years. We worked on it all week, but you’d never know that from the game.”

Complementary to Macklin is Schultz, a 6-foot-2-inch, 240-pound senior. He bruised through the Patriot defense, more often than not requiring multiple defenders to bring him to the dirt. Schultz carried the ball 28 times for 163 yards and three touchdowns. All three scores were in the first half, including one as time expired in the second quarter.

Mosser credited Macklin, Schultz and quarterback Parker Bates — he had nine carries for 76 and a touchdown as well as completing his only pass attempt, a 9-yard TD — for leading the Jets (2-2, 1-0 ACAC).

“I think Drew did an outstanding job of doing what we needed him to be able to do; carry this team as a senior,” he said. “He’s a load.

“Macklin is our finesse guy. He makes moves out there that I can’t … I don’t know where that comes from. It’s not coaching, let me tell you that. Just give him the ball and let him go and you’re going to see something special.”

Jay County was able to move the ball as well to the tune of 365 yards of total offense. Schlechty had 97 hard-earned yards and three touchdowns. In addition to his first-quarter score, he had TD runs of 8 and 2 yards in the second and third quarters respectively.

Quarterback Holton Hill completed nine of his 14 pass attempts for 151 yards. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Parker Grimes, the first of Grimes’ career, in the second quarter. A conversion pass to Ryan Schlechty cut a 29-14 deficit to seven points. As time expired at the end of the third quarter, Hill had a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Schlechty that made it 57-36.

At the end of the game, backup quarterback Landon Grimes hit Elijah Corwin for a 28-yard touchdown. It was the first varsity score for both players.

“I was pleased with our ability to move the ball,” Millspaugh said.

Cole Stigleman, who was sidelined with a back injury, made his season debut and caught two of Hill’s passes for 69 yards.

“We were able to kind of pound it a little bit inside and give them enough running game that they had to honor it, so we were able to be pretty effective in the passing game,” Millspaugh added. “The thing I am pleased about, I feel like we have a few weapons, and as we continue to work Cole back, that’s just one more weapon.

“I do think the guys that we have … that we can score a lot of points on most teams that we play.”