Seeing Stars

BERNE — Even though they punted on their opening drive, the Patriots had a good first possession.

It began with a quality kick return, and ended by pinning the Starfires at their own 10-yard line after the punt.

And they made one of the top teams in the state take 16 plays to march 90 yards.

They weren't quite as effective from thereon out.

Jay County High School's football team allowed six plays of 33 yards or more, including three long-distance scores, and struggled to move the ball after its starting quarterback left the game with an injury in a 42-0 loss to the Class A No. 2 South Adams Starfires on Friday night at Starfire Field.

It was the third scoreless game of the season for the Patriots (0-7, 0-5 Allen County Athletic Conference), who have started the season with seven consecutive losses for the first time in program history.

South Adams, meanwhile, improved to 7-0 (4-0 ACAC) after its fourth shutout of the season.

“We have a lot of talent offensively,” South Adams coach Grant Moser said. “The best thing this year for our offense is we've given up zero sacks through seven games. James (Arnold) has worked hard all summer on his progressions, getting rid of the ball quick and checking down and moving around the pocket to avoid those sacks.”

Arnold, a junior quarterback, was surgical on the Starfires' opening drive. He completed five of his six pass attempts — none for more than 17 yards — to complement a Christian Summersett rushing attack.

Summersett capped the 16-play, 90-yard drive with a touchdown run from the 3-yard line.

Following a Jay County punt on its next drive, the big plays started coming.

Arnold connected with Drew Stutzman for a 33-yard touchdown after Trey Schoch returned the punt 41 yards.

The same connection resulted in a touchdown of 58 yards in the second quarter on second-and-22, and then Arnold hit Schoch for a 3-yard TD as the Starfires went into halftime ahead 28-0. The Schoch score was set up by a 41-yard pass to junior tight end Nick Miller on third-and-39 from the JCHS 45. On the play, Miller surpassed current assistant coach and 1993 graduate Craig McKean's record of 1,342 career receiving yards.

“He ran a post and split two safeties in quarters (coverage) on the hash mark,” JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh said of Miller's record-breaking catch. “How the heck do you let the best player on their team run straight through the middle like that? That's an issue.”

Arnold, who last week set the single-game school record with 471 yards through the air, had 323 yards against Jay County on 15-of-20 passing. He also had a 63-yard touchdown toss to Aidan Wanner in the third quarter.

“We have three or four really talented receivers that it's hard for other teams to match up with,” Moser said.

Wanner had four catches for 101 yards, Stutzman had three receptions for 100 yards and Miller totaled 79 yards on two grabs. Schoch (29 yards) and Summersett (14) also had three catches each.

Summersett finished with 14 carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns, including a 10-yard run around the left side of the line late in the third quarter, the game's final score.

Offensively, Millspaugh said the plan was to run away from Miller, an all-state defensive end. On the first drive, the Patriots were able to do that, but after that SAHS defensive coordinator Scott Steiner disguised Miller's position before the snap so as to not give him away.

Jay County managed just 109 yards of total offense, and lost two fumbles on the center-quarterback exchange after Sam Dunlavy injured his collarbone in the second quarter.

“Offensively we wanted to maintain possession and chew up the clock,” Millspaugh said. “I really felt like we did a good job of doing that in the first half. Obviously, when we started having our fumbles they were getting short fields and made things difficult.”

Dunlavy was 3-of-4 passing for 42 yards in the first half, and Jay County only ran one pass play after his injury. Bailey Cox led the Patriots in rushing with 78 yards on 12 carries, but no other player had more than 5 yards on the ground.