Shootout loss still made for great night

Editor’s note: In more than six years, sports editor Chris Schanz has seen his fair share of athletic contests. Some stick out more than others. In this “Greatest Games” series, he will reminisce about some of the games he’ll never forget witnessing.

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When we think of the greatest games we’ve ever seen, they usually resulted in a victory four “our” team.

Whether a come-from-behind victory, a thriller for a win, a big upset or a championship, some of our fondest memories are times of jubilation and triumph.

But good games don’t always result in wins for the team we support or cover.

Sept. 14, 2018, was a historic night for the Jay County High School football team.

A total of 125 points were scored, the most combined points in program history.

Quarterback Parker Grimes had a career night, and finished one touchdown shy of the school record for TD passes in a game.

The Patriots rallied, and JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh put the game in the hands of one of his seniors, Michael Schlechty, on the final play of the night.

A 2-point conversion came up short, and the Patriots lost a shootout on the road to the Bluffton Tigers, 63-62.

It was the fourth-most points in a single game in team history, and the most the Patriots had scored in a game since scoring 64 against the now-closed Indianapolis Marshall in 2015, and five years removed from a school-record 69 points against Anderson Prep Academy.

Bluffton jumped ahead of Jay County 63-56 with 2:16 to play. Gabe Faulkner returned the ensuing kickoff to the 36-yard line, and a late-hit penalty gave the Patriots the ball at the Tigers’ 49.

The Patriots converted a fourth-and-3, but faced fourth down again from the 22 with 25.8 seconds remaining before benefitting from a pass interference for a new set of downs at the 11. Backed up again, the Patriots had third-and-20 at the 21.

Grimes threw over the middle to Ryan Schlechty — they connected nine times for 189 yards and three touchdowns — but the ball got tipped. Isaac Moeller was there to haul in the loose ball for the touchdown as time expired to make it 63-62.

Millspaugh called upon No. 40, Michael Schlechty, to cover the final 3 yards and give the Patriots the win. A month earlier, Schlechty barreled his way through the Blackford defense for a game-winning conversion.

Bluffton was more fortunate than the Bruins, stopping Schlechty to hang on for the win.

“In the moment it makes it worse but I don’t know that I can recall a loss, regular season, as painful as this,” Millspaugh said. “It’s a great game. If you win, you are so jacked. If you lose, it’s awful.”

It was a game that had the makings from the start to be a shootout, reminiscent of the Patriots’ 54-50 win against the Tigers — also on the road — in 2014.

Jay County and Bluffton traded blows for 48 minutes.

Long gone was Jay County’s run-and-shoot offense, for on this night a Patriot quarterback lined up in shotgun. Jay County’s air assault was engaged.

Jay County scored first on a 40-yard touchdown catch by Gabe Faulkner 3:44 into the game. Bluffton responded with two touchdowns in a span of less than two minutes. Kain Thornton connected with Gavin King for a 17-yard TD toss, then Everett Johnson warmed up his legs with a 17-yard score.

Bluffton led Jay County 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The Patriots scored eight touchdowns over the final three quarters, started by a 36-yard pass from Grimes to Ryan Schlechty just seven seconds into the second period. Gavin King answered with a 1-yard score, and the Grimes-to-Schlechty connection resulted in a 75-yard TD, making it 21-20 Bluffton.

Johnson and Schlechty had one more touchdown each, and it was 28-all at halftime.

Bluffton built a 47-42 lead after the third quarter thanks to three more Johnson touchdowns, of 2, 5 and 27 yards. The Schlechtys — a 20-yard pick-six by Ryan and a 2-yard TD run from Michael — kept the Patriots close.

Johnson ended the day with 298 yards on 37 carries with five touchdowns.

The fourth quarter, just like the second, had 36 total points scored.

Caleb Webster began it by hauling in a 19-yard TD reception from Grimes. Bluffton followed with a 56-yard score by Robert Malcolm. King threw a pass to Thorton, but the ball was just out of his reach. He got enough of it, though, to deflect it to Malcolm, who went the rest of the way to the end zone.

Bluffton 55, Jay County 48, with 8:19 to play.

Michael Schlechty scored a 7-yard TD before powering the conversion to put Jay County on top, 56-55.

Cody Middlestedt of Bluffton put the Tigers back out front, 61-56, and Johnson’s conversion made it a seven-point game ahead of the Patriots’ final drive.

Jay County totaled 511 yards of total offense compared to 536 for Bluffton.

Grimes completed 16 of his 27 pass attempts — two were spikes to stop the clock — for 353 and six touchdowns, one fewer than 2008 graduate Billy Wellman’s school record of seven TDs in a single game. He also had the fourth-most passing yards in a game. Wellman has the top two — 425 and 403 — while Brad Bennett threw for 398 yards twice in 1998.

“I thought offensively we played really, really well,” Millspaugh said. “I was really, really proud of the effort there and we executed what they gave us.”

It was an offensive output not often seen out of Jay County’s football program. It was just one of three games the Patriots scored more than 22 points that season, and the most points the team had ever put up in a defeat.

But given the fact this night had the most points ever scored in the history of the team, and the notion it still came down to the final play, makes it one of the greatest games since 2013.