Back in 3A

Class 3A.

The Patriots are back in Class 3A after spending the last 12 seasons as one of the smallest schools in the state’s “big school” class.

They will make that transition to what they hope will be a better situation with a team low on varsity experience but brimming with grit.

“You’re going to see a group of kids that plays extremely hard,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team is seeking to extend the streak of 18 consecutive winning seasons. “They’re great kids. Great leaders. They work hard.”

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team, which opens its season Tuesday against Hagerstown, brings back just one athlete who saw significant varsity playing time last season.

In that role, Noah Arbuckle will be looked upon to lead the Patriots, who finished 13-10 a year ago. Arbuckle, who has signed to play college baseball at Huntington University, averaged 3.3 points and 2 rebounds during his junior campaign.

Those are numbers he’ll need to bump up significantly following the graduation of twins Michael and Ryan Schletchty, Parker Grimes, Wyatt Geesaman, Xavier Ninde and Matt Franks. Together, that group accounted for about three-quarters of Jay County’s 47.5 points per game last season.

“What Noah did well was he let the game come to him,” said Krieg. “I expect the same thing out of him this year. He’s not going to force things.

“During the summer, he did a great job of attacking the basket, shooing the three.”

The only players other than Arbuckle who are back after seeing any varsity action last season are sophomores Ethan Dirksen and Gavin Muhlenkamp. They each played in four games.

Even so, Dirksen is being looked upon to take a major step.

“Probably our best all-around player,” said Krieg. Just a workaholic. He’s like his brothers (Justin and Adam).

“He’ll be a little bit everywhere. He can take it off the dribble. He can shoot the three.

“He’s one of those kids who has a knack for being around the ball. … He can get shots off … around the basket because he does have long arms for a kid whose only 6 feet tall.”

The varsity rotation will also feature seniors Gavin Lambert, Peyton Nichols and Brayden Sprunger, sophomore Quinn Faulkner and freshman Bennett Weitzel. Dusty Pearson, another freshman, will split his time between varsity and JV.

“We knew that we were going to have a group of kids that didn’t have a lot of varsity experience,” said Krieg. “But they make up for it with heart and hard work.”

The hope is that willingness to get after it will help as JCHS makes a stylistic change.

After hitting the 60-point mark just three times over the course of the last two seasons, the Patriots want to pick up the pace. They’ll play pressure defense and try to move quickly on offense.

“You’re going to see a group of kids that is going to push the basketball down the floor,” said Krieg. “We’re going to pick up full-court. We’re going to do a lot of things on both ends of the floor that we have not been accustomed to in the last few years.”

The Patriots are coming off of an up-and-down 2018-19 season in which they lost the opening game of the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament but went undefeated to win the ACAC regular-season title.

They had won six times in a span of seven games before dropping their final four, including a 50-42 sectional loss to Wayne.

Krieg said he sees the conference as wide open this year, and he’s hoping the shift to Class 3A opens up some tournament opportunities for Jay County.

In the school’s 16 years as a Class 4A school — the last 12 in addition to the first four after class basketball was introduced in 1997-98 — the Patriots won one sectional championship. In six seasons in Class 3A, they earned four sectional titles, played in two regional finals and finished as the state runners-up in 2006.

Krieg isn’t predicting that kind of tournament success to resume right away. But, he said, the change does open the door.

“Obviously dropping down to 3A is huge for us,” he said.