Immediate impact

Editor’s note: Sports editor Chris Schanz has taken thousands of photographs since the summer of 2013. In this “Photo Focus” series, he will take a look back at a handful of his favorite pictures and describe the story behind them.

••••••••••

There are times as a photographer when you know you’ve got “the shot.”

In down-to-the-wire games, especially in basketball, it could come late in the fourth quarter or perhaps in overtime.

The image could be of the game-winning basket or the celebration that follows. At the other end of the spectrum, it could be the reaction to a would-be winner that didn’t go through the hoop.

Other times, the defining moment could come at any time of the competition in any sport. More often than not, a photographer knowing he or she has “the one” could come down to a number of things; a sight not often seen, impeccably stopped action or a moment which accurately describes the outcome of the contest.

If a picture has all three, it is without a doubt deemed “the one.”

But only one of the three above circumstances — there are many others, too — can be a guide when determining the impact and usage of a photo.

And like I said earlier, sometimes a photographer just knows when he or she has gotten “the shot.”

On Sept. 1, 2017, I knew early in the game I had the photo I was going to use to accompany the impending story of the Jay County High School football team dismantling the Southern Wells Raiders at Carnes Field in Poneto.

Jay County, which was 1-1, jumped out to a 14-0 advantage in its Allen County Athletic Conference opener against Southern Wells, which had the same record.

Michael Schlechty’s 5-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the first quarter put the Patriots ahead 6-0, and then Gaven Hare notched his first career TD by barreling through the line for a 3-yard score. Schlechty ran in the 2-point conversion for the 14-0 lead.

At the quarter break, Jay County was facing first down from its own 37-yard line. The Patriots marched the field quickly, aided by a 36-yard reception by Caleb Webster, early in the second quarter.

Deep in the red zone, Schlechty took a handoff from quarterback Holton Hill on a power run. Schlechty was met in the backfield by Xavier Walden, who proved no match. The 6-foot, 2-inch, 235-pound Schlechty shrugged off Walden — 5-10, 165 pounds — and made his way to the right side of the line of scrimmage.

Schlechty moved the ball from his left to his right hand and continued to bowl his way toward the end zone.

The Raiders’ free safety, Dustin Woodward, dropped to one knee at the 2-yard line in an attempt to reach for Schlechty’s legs — he wanted nothing to do with going shoulder-to-shoulder with the big guy.

Schlechty cut to the left and attempted to leap over Woodward. The Raider clipped Schlechty’s left knee as the Patriot runner rose into the air, sending him flying toward the goal line.

Josh Beeks, 6 inches shorter and nearly 100 pounds lighter than Schlechty, met the JCHS junior in the air at the 1.

Schlechty fell just short of the goal line, but punched the ball into the end zone for the second of his three TDs a play later.

Just after Woodward clipped Schlechty’s knee and a moment before Beeks made contact, Schlechty soared through the air headed for the goal line captured at 1/1,000th of a second.

Before the play, I crouched down to one knee to get a different angle. Because of the lowered level, the height to which Schlechty jumped comes into play. A Raider defender in the background shows Schlechty’s waist high above the other player’s belt line.

If I would have been standing, the picture wouldn’t have had the same meaning; it would have a different look with a less clear view of the height Schlechty reached.

After the play, when I had a chance to look back to see if I had captured the moment, I knew it was the photo I was going to use in the following day’s paper. The likelihood of getting a better photograph the rest of the night was going to be small, so I didn’t take many more pictures; only 73 more, to be exact.

Eight months later, the “Soaring Schlechty” shot was awarded first place for best sports photo at the Indiana Associated Press Media Editors awards banquet.

“This is a slam dunk — or touchdown — by the photographer,” one judge said. “All the elements of a first-place sports photo are here.”

And a year after the photo was taken, it picked up another first-place nod for best sports action photo in the Hoosier State Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

Sometimes, you just know when you’ve got “the shot.”