September 30, 2017 at 5:30 a.m.
Fantastic freshman
Arnold makes most of first start in Starfire win
Fantastic freshman
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
BERNE — Some freshmen might panic when thrown into varsity action.
That’s not a characteristic of James Arnold.
Arnold, a South Adams High School freshman, threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, Joe Stuber added three scores on the ground and the Starfire defense forced five turnovers Friday in a 45-28 victory over the Jay County Patriots.
“It felt awesome,” said Arnold, who made his first career start in the place of Nic Stuber, who was knocked out of the game last week against Adams Central with a knee injury. “It always feels awesome to play on Friday nights. When it’s going better it feels great.”
Jay County coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team has now lost four in a row, was brief when speaking about his team’s turnover troubles.
“Extremely disappointed,” he said. The Patriots (2-5, 1-4 Allen County Athletic Conference), had just three turnovers through its first five games but has given the ball away eight times in the last two weeks. “That is not what we do.”
South Adams (6-1, 3-1 ACAC) was clinging to a 31-28 lead to start the fourth quarter but had the ball on its own 40-yard line.
Joe Stuber did the majority of the work on the drive, carrying the ball four times and catching a 24-yard strike from Arnold that got the Starfires to the JCHS 1-yard line. After consecutive plays in the other direction, SAHS faced third-and-goal from the 5.
Arnold rolled to his right, like he had on most of his pass attempts, and connected with Drake Deitsch for a 5-yard touchdown pass and a 38-28 lead with 9:06 to play.
The ensuing Jay County possession stalled on its own 28, only to have the Starfires return the favor by turning it over on downs at the Patriot 10.
Two plays later, however, Christian Summersett intercepted a tipped Holton Hill pass, and Stuber later ran 5 yards into the end zone to put the game out of reach.
Stuber carried the ball 23 times for 151 yards.
Arnold completed 18 of his 23 pass attempts. Miller caught four Arnold passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Arnold hit him in stride for a 53-yard TD in the first quarter, and they connected for an 11-yard score on fourth-and-4 in the second quarter. Deitsch, a fullback, hauled in six passes out of the backfield for 73 yards.
South Adams, which won the first five games of the season before losing to Adams Central on Sept. 22, had 432 yards of total offense.
With Arnold, the Starfires had full use of their playbook. Instead of dumbing down the playcalling for a young signal-caller, Arnold worked the offense as if he had been doing it for years, rather than just quarters.
“I think he is in the argument for the most coachable kid we have on the entire team,” said SAHS coach Grant Moser. “We are really happy with him.”
And Arnold can use his performance in his first career start as a springboard until Nic Stuber recovers.
“It’s pretty nice when you have two quarterbacks who are pretty good and pretty composed and one’s a sophomore and one’s a freshman,” Moser said.
Although South Adams lost three fumbles on its own, the Starfire defense jumped on three fumbles and picked off a pair of Hill passes to turn possessions in the home team’s favor.
“I don’t think people realize how good our defense played tonight because we gave up 28 points,” said Moser, whose team allowed Jay County’s Noah Harris to score on an 84-yard kickoff return. “Our defense was huge. Jay County is a great team offensively. They really are.”
Deitsch and Austin Gorney led SAHS with 8.5 and eight tackles respectively. Gorney — the freshman was one of seven underclassmen starters for the Starfires — had 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.
Hill was 10-of-15 through the air for 128 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown toss to Cole Stigleman.
Stigleman hit the century mark rushing, finishing with 110 yards on 12 carries. He had a 48-yard scamper in the opening quarter that set up the first of Michael Schlechty’s two rushing scores.
“Stigleman is one of the best players in the ACAC without question,” Moser said.
Stigleman also led the Patriots, who host Arlington for homecoming on Friday, with six catches for 76 yards.
All Rights Reserved
BERNE — Some freshmen might panic when thrown into varsity action.
That’s not a characteristic of James Arnold.
Arnold, a South Adams High School freshman, threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, Joe Stuber added three scores on the ground and the Starfire defense forced five turnovers Friday in a 45-28 victory over the Jay County Patriots.
“It felt awesome,” said Arnold, who made his first career start in the place of Nic Stuber, who was knocked out of the game last week against Adams Central with a knee injury. “It always feels awesome to play on Friday nights. When it’s going better it feels great.”
Jay County coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team has now lost four in a row, was brief when speaking about his team’s turnover troubles.
“Extremely disappointed,” he said. The Patriots (2-5, 1-4 Allen County Athletic Conference), had just three turnovers through its first five games but has given the ball away eight times in the last two weeks. “That is not what we do.”
South Adams (6-1, 3-1 ACAC) was clinging to a 31-28 lead to start the fourth quarter but had the ball on its own 40-yard line.
Joe Stuber did the majority of the work on the drive, carrying the ball four times and catching a 24-yard strike from Arnold that got the Starfires to the JCHS 1-yard line. After consecutive plays in the other direction, SAHS faced third-and-goal from the 5.
Arnold rolled to his right, like he had on most of his pass attempts, and connected with Drake Deitsch for a 5-yard touchdown pass and a 38-28 lead with 9:06 to play.
The ensuing Jay County possession stalled on its own 28, only to have the Starfires return the favor by turning it over on downs at the Patriot 10.
Two plays later, however, Christian Summersett intercepted a tipped Holton Hill pass, and Stuber later ran 5 yards into the end zone to put the game out of reach.
Stuber carried the ball 23 times for 151 yards.
Arnold completed 18 of his 23 pass attempts. Miller caught four Arnold passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Arnold hit him in stride for a 53-yard TD in the first quarter, and they connected for an 11-yard score on fourth-and-4 in the second quarter. Deitsch, a fullback, hauled in six passes out of the backfield for 73 yards.
South Adams, which won the first five games of the season before losing to Adams Central on Sept. 22, had 432 yards of total offense.
With Arnold, the Starfires had full use of their playbook. Instead of dumbing down the playcalling for a young signal-caller, Arnold worked the offense as if he had been doing it for years, rather than just quarters.
“I think he is in the argument for the most coachable kid we have on the entire team,” said SAHS coach Grant Moser. “We are really happy with him.”
And Arnold can use his performance in his first career start as a springboard until Nic Stuber recovers.
“It’s pretty nice when you have two quarterbacks who are pretty good and pretty composed and one’s a sophomore and one’s a freshman,” Moser said.
Although South Adams lost three fumbles on its own, the Starfire defense jumped on three fumbles and picked off a pair of Hill passes to turn possessions in the home team’s favor.
“I don’t think people realize how good our defense played tonight because we gave up 28 points,” said Moser, whose team allowed Jay County’s Noah Harris to score on an 84-yard kickoff return. “Our defense was huge. Jay County is a great team offensively. They really are.”
Deitsch and Austin Gorney led SAHS with 8.5 and eight tackles respectively. Gorney — the freshman was one of seven underclassmen starters for the Starfires — had 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.
Hill was 10-of-15 through the air for 128 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown toss to Cole Stigleman.
Stigleman hit the century mark rushing, finishing with 110 yards on 12 carries. He had a 48-yard scamper in the opening quarter that set up the first of Michael Schlechty’s two rushing scores.
“Stigleman is one of the best players in the ACAC without question,” Moser said.
Stigleman also led the Patriots, who host Arlington for homecoming on Friday, with six catches for 76 yards.
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