January 8, 2019 at 6:04 p.m.
Key moments in Patriot history
The first 999 games of Jay County High School boys basketball
Key moments in Patriot history
By By Chris Schanz and Ray Cooney-
One thousand games.
It’s a staggering amount. After tonight, it will be reality for Jay County High School.
When the Patriots take the court against the Adams Central Flying Jets in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament this evening at The Hangar in Monroe, it will be for the 1,000th time.
Five hundred seventy-six wins. Four hundred twenty-three losses. And one more pending.
Through the years there have been countless memories made for players, coaches and fans alike. They range from the most obvious — the Class 3A championship game in 2006 — to those that are only carried on in the hearts of individual players.
There’s no way to chronicle all of them or to tell the entirety of the story of JCHS basketball in a single newspaper. Instead, we’ve selected 10 moments — not the top 10, necessarily — that highlight the history of the Patriots.
Nov. 25, 1975
Two firsts in one
It didn’t take long for the newly-minted Patriots to get the first win in program history. Cevin Collins, son of inaugural coach Bob Collins, recorded the first two points for Jay County in an 87-67 triumph over South Adams. Cevin Collins finished with 18 points, second only to teammate Mike Walters’ 21.
March 6, 1976
Champions
The team’s first year also yielded the program’s first sectional title. Dean Hunt scored 25 points to lead the Patriots in a 69-66 win over Monroe Central for the first tournament victory. In the title game, Collins tallied 16 points as Jay County knocked off Union City, 58-50. In the regional tournament, Mike Walters’ 22 points carried the Patriots past 22-1 Tri before the run ended in the regional final with a 56-42 loss to Richmond. Jay County ended the year 11-13.
Jan. 27, 1983
Century club
Jay County sat at 99 program wins for seemingly ages. After a 66-40 drubbing of Union City, the Patriots were denied the 100th for five games. Muncie Southside, New Castle, Pendleton Heights, Marion and Monroe Central all did their part to prevent the milestone win.
Finally, against the Bellmont Braves, Jay County was dominant on its home court in a 57-37 win. Billy Davis scored 22 points. Billy Bentz tallied 11 points and Brad Daniels finished with 10, as the Patriots snapped the team’s longest losing streak in six years.
Feb. 5, 1988
Upset
The shot heard ’round the state. Randy Minnich with the inbound pass to Tony Overton at the top of the arc. Overton jumped as he passed to Mark Hardwick at the right wing for a 3-pointer. Swish. Down goes Richmond.
Jay County needed an extra period to get one of the biggest wins in program history, a 74-73 overtime win over top-ranked Richmond. Despite the 46 points from Richmond’s future Mr. Basketball, Woody Austin, Overton (24 points) and Hardwick (20 points) got the best of the Red Devils.
A video, which goes black for a moment, and audio of Rob Weaver’s call of the final shot, is available on YouTube by visiting https://bit.ly/2Fed418.
Feb. 6, 1993
First to 1,000
Twelve players from Jay County high schools had reached the 1,000-point milestone prior to the 1975 consolidation. It took nearly 20 years for the new school to get its first.
Dan Ferrell, who would hold the all-time scoring lead for two decades, scored his 1,000th point on a 3-pointer with 6:15 on the clock in the third quarter. His hoop closed a 10-0 run to open the second half against Richmond. (The run pulled the Patriots to within eight of the third-ranked Red Devils, but they ended up falling 79-51.)
Ferrell finished the game with a dozen points for a total of 1,002.
1993-94
One and won
It was no fun, until it was.
Jay County opened 0-5, beat Union City for its first win and never put another W in the column during the regular-season.
Then came the sectional.
Suddenly, the Patriots click, beating Wes-Del in the opening round and then stunning Wapahani 52-51 in double over time to win the sectional championship. (JCHS still holds the record as the team with the fewest regular-season wins to earn a sectional title.)
JCHS didn’t go quietly from the regional, either, pushing Alexandria to the limit before Brad Howell of the Tigers hit a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left.
Dec. 23, 1999
Towell’s 43
Chad Towell is no longer even among the top 20 scorers in Jay County history. But no one has ever put together a more prolific individual scoring effort in a single game.
Towell and Fort Recovery senior Chuck Bihn got into a scoring dual, finishing with 43 and 37 points, respectively. Towell scored 33 of his in the second half of the Patriots’ 74-73 defeat, including four 3-pointers.
His total easily surpassed the previous scoring high of 36 points held by Dan Ferrell and remains the JCHS standard today.
2005-06
State run
The 2005-06 Patriots were a good team. But a 14-6 regular-season didn’t foretell the success they would have in the postseason.
After beating Elwood in the opening round, Jay County nearly had its season end in the sectional semifinal. It took a Scott Bruggeman jumper with three seconds left in overtime to lift the team to a 52-50 win.
The Patriots topped Mississinewa for the sectional title a night later, and used tremendous free-throw shooting (50-of-59) to put away Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee in the regional the following week.
On March 18, 2006, Corey Comer rolled a shot from the paint over the front of the rim with 1.6 seconds left in overtime to send Jay County to the state championship game with a 53-52 victory over Plymouth.
A 51-43 loss to New Castle in the state championship game did little to dampen the local enthusiasm for the squad, which was welcomed back to JCHS with a massive fan rally.
Feb. 22, 2013
Scoring king
Barring injury, it had become a forgone conclusion that Brock McFarland would become the Patriots’ all-time scoring leader.
Fans packed the JCHS gym for the team’s game against Bellmont knowing McFarland was just 10 points away from breaking Ferrell’s 20-year-old record of 1,155.
The senior got off to a quick start, burying a 3-pointer off of a Trey Teagle assist and pulling even with Ferrell less than four minutes into the game. It took three more minutes until he grabbed a rebound off of a Scott Schwieterman miss and put it back up and in, breaking the record and sending the Patriot fans into a frenzy.
“My head’s still racing a million miles an hour,” said McFarland after the game. “I’m still just trying to grasp what’s going on. …
“I almost couldn’t think because it was so loud when it happened. It was just crazy.”
Feb. 1, 2014
Make that 500
What had become a staple of Teagle’s Patriot teams — defense — carried Jay County past the Blackford Bruins 46-38 for the program’s 500th win. The Patriots didn’t allow the Bruins to score for nearly six minutes to begin the game, and Blackford struggled to score in the second half as well.
Trey Teagle led Jay County in scoring with 20 points, and Jacob Schlosser chipped in 17 as the only two players to reach double figures. Jay Houck, who later finished third on the school’s career points list with 1,127, was in the starting lineup for the first time.
It’s a staggering amount. After tonight, it will be reality for Jay County High School.
When the Patriots take the court against the Adams Central Flying Jets in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament this evening at The Hangar in Monroe, it will be for the 1,000th time.
Five hundred seventy-six wins. Four hundred twenty-three losses. And one more pending.
Through the years there have been countless memories made for players, coaches and fans alike. They range from the most obvious — the Class 3A championship game in 2006 — to those that are only carried on in the hearts of individual players.
There’s no way to chronicle all of them or to tell the entirety of the story of JCHS basketball in a single newspaper. Instead, we’ve selected 10 moments — not the top 10, necessarily — that highlight the history of the Patriots.
Nov. 25, 1975
Two firsts in one
It didn’t take long for the newly-minted Patriots to get the first win in program history. Cevin Collins, son of inaugural coach Bob Collins, recorded the first two points for Jay County in an 87-67 triumph over South Adams. Cevin Collins finished with 18 points, second only to teammate Mike Walters’ 21.
March 6, 1976
Champions
The team’s first year also yielded the program’s first sectional title. Dean Hunt scored 25 points to lead the Patriots in a 69-66 win over Monroe Central for the first tournament victory. In the title game, Collins tallied 16 points as Jay County knocked off Union City, 58-50. In the regional tournament, Mike Walters’ 22 points carried the Patriots past 22-1 Tri before the run ended in the regional final with a 56-42 loss to Richmond. Jay County ended the year 11-13.
Jan. 27, 1983
Century club
Jay County sat at 99 program wins for seemingly ages. After a 66-40 drubbing of Union City, the Patriots were denied the 100th for five games. Muncie Southside, New Castle, Pendleton Heights, Marion and Monroe Central all did their part to prevent the milestone win.
Finally, against the Bellmont Braves, Jay County was dominant on its home court in a 57-37 win. Billy Davis scored 22 points. Billy Bentz tallied 11 points and Brad Daniels finished with 10, as the Patriots snapped the team’s longest losing streak in six years.
Feb. 5, 1988
Upset
The shot heard ’round the state. Randy Minnich with the inbound pass to Tony Overton at the top of the arc. Overton jumped as he passed to Mark Hardwick at the right wing for a 3-pointer. Swish. Down goes Richmond.
Jay County needed an extra period to get one of the biggest wins in program history, a 74-73 overtime win over top-ranked Richmond. Despite the 46 points from Richmond’s future Mr. Basketball, Woody Austin, Overton (24 points) and Hardwick (20 points) got the best of the Red Devils.
A video, which goes black for a moment, and audio of Rob Weaver’s call of the final shot, is available on YouTube by visiting https://bit.ly/2Fed418.
Feb. 6, 1993
First to 1,000
Twelve players from Jay County high schools had reached the 1,000-point milestone prior to the 1975 consolidation. It took nearly 20 years for the new school to get its first.
Dan Ferrell, who would hold the all-time scoring lead for two decades, scored his 1,000th point on a 3-pointer with 6:15 on the clock in the third quarter. His hoop closed a 10-0 run to open the second half against Richmond. (The run pulled the Patriots to within eight of the third-ranked Red Devils, but they ended up falling 79-51.)
Ferrell finished the game with a dozen points for a total of 1,002.
1993-94
One and won
It was no fun, until it was.
Jay County opened 0-5, beat Union City for its first win and never put another W in the column during the regular-season.
Then came the sectional.
Suddenly, the Patriots click, beating Wes-Del in the opening round and then stunning Wapahani 52-51 in double over time to win the sectional championship. (JCHS still holds the record as the team with the fewest regular-season wins to earn a sectional title.)
JCHS didn’t go quietly from the regional, either, pushing Alexandria to the limit before Brad Howell of the Tigers hit a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left.
Towell’s 43
Chad Towell is no longer even among the top 20 scorers in Jay County history. But no one has ever put together a more prolific individual scoring effort in a single game.
Towell and Fort Recovery senior Chuck Bihn got into a scoring dual, finishing with 43 and 37 points, respectively. Towell scored 33 of his in the second half of the Patriots’ 74-73 defeat, including four 3-pointers.
His total easily surpassed the previous scoring high of 36 points held by Dan Ferrell and remains the JCHS standard today.
2005-06
State run
The 2005-06 Patriots were a good team. But a 14-6 regular-season didn’t foretell the success they would have in the postseason.
After beating Elwood in the opening round, Jay County nearly had its season end in the sectional semifinal. It took a Scott Bruggeman jumper with three seconds left in overtime to lift the team to a 52-50 win.
The Patriots topped Mississinewa for the sectional title a night later, and used tremendous free-throw shooting (50-of-59) to put away Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee in the regional the following week.
On March 18, 2006, Corey Comer rolled a shot from the paint over the front of the rim with 1.6 seconds left in overtime to send Jay County to the state championship game with a 53-52 victory over Plymouth.
A 51-43 loss to New Castle in the state championship game did little to dampen the local enthusiasm for the squad, which was welcomed back to JCHS with a massive fan rally.
Feb. 22, 2013
Scoring king
Barring injury, it had become a forgone conclusion that Brock McFarland would become the Patriots’ all-time scoring leader.
Fans packed the JCHS gym for the team’s game against Bellmont knowing McFarland was just 10 points away from breaking Ferrell’s 20-year-old record of 1,155.
The senior got off to a quick start, burying a 3-pointer off of a Trey Teagle assist and pulling even with Ferrell less than four minutes into the game. It took three more minutes until he grabbed a rebound off of a Scott Schwieterman miss and put it back up and in, breaking the record and sending the Patriot fans into a frenzy.
“My head’s still racing a million miles an hour,” said McFarland after the game. “I’m still just trying to grasp what’s going on. …
“I almost couldn’t think because it was so loud when it happened. It was just crazy.”
Feb. 1, 2014
Make that 500
What had become a staple of Teagle’s Patriot teams — defense — carried Jay County past the Blackford Bruins 46-38 for the program’s 500th win. The Patriots didn’t allow the Bruins to score for nearly six minutes to begin the game, and Blackford struggled to score in the second half as well.
Trey Teagle led Jay County in scoring with 20 points, and Jacob Schlosser chipped in 17 as the only two players to reach double figures. Jay Houck, who later finished third on the school’s career points list with 1,127, was in the starting lineup for the first time.
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