Patriot win crushed Berries

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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A rushing record. A passing milestone. A defensive stand.

All resulted in an 11th game for the first time in half a decade.

It’s Oct. 20, 2017. The Jay County High School football team is hosting the Logansport Berries at Harold E. Schutz Memorial Stadium in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4A sectional.

The Berries entered 5-4, with three of those losses by a combined 113-0. The Patriots were 3-6 and coming off just their third win of the season after snapping a five-game losing streak.

John Harrell’s website predicted Logansport to win, 35-28, while CalPreps.com predicted the Berries as 10-point favorites.

But wins and losses are decided on the field.

Cole Stigleman, then a senior, kicked things off for Jay County with an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and after the conversion run failed the Patriots were ahead 6-0 with 2:22 remaining in the opener.

Before the JCHS cheerleaders could complete their six pushups, Logansport tied the game. Oscar Grimaldo took the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown, and the point-after attempt by Marlo Perez — remember that name — put the Berries ahead, 7-6, in nearly the blink of an eye.

In the second quarter, JCHS quarterback Holton Hill scrambled out of the pocket and threw a pass to Stigleman, who reached the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown. On the play, Stigleman’s second TD of the night, Hill surpassed 3,000 career passing yards. He became just the third Patriot quarterback to reach the milestone and the first since Billy Wellman — he’s the career leader with 5,289 yards — did it in 2008.

Hill then connected with Parker Grimes for the 2-point conversion, and Jay County had its lead back, 14-7, midway through the second.

Because of the Patriots taking nearly 10 minutes off the clock on the game’s opening drive, another lengthy scoring drive in the second quarter and Grimaldo’s kick return TD, Logansport didn’t run its first offensive play until there was 6:09 left in the first half.

The Berries were still able to answer the Patriots’ second score. Myles Dungy reached pay dirt from the 2-yard line, and Perez booted the PAT to make it 14-all with 3:20 to go before half. That’s where the score stood at intermission.

With 24 minutes in the books, Jay County had a 170-78 edge in total offense.

Logansport retook the lead early in the second half on Grimaldo’s second TD of the night, this one a 43-yard pass from Elijah Crowe. Jay County played from behind the rest of the quarter, and trailed by the same score heading into the final stanza.

Stigleman notched his third and final touchdown of the game, reaching the end zone from the 7-yard line. He took in the conversion, too, putting the Patriots ahead 22-21 with 6:50 to play.

Logansport lost a fumble 2 yards away from the end zone on its ensuing drive, but Jay County wasn’t able to capitalize and had to punt.

The Berries took over at their own 29-yard line, 2:54 on the clock and two timeouts.

Another Logansport fumble thwarted a potential go-ahead score, and the Patriots got the ball at their own 23 with 1:46 to go. Both teams still had a pair of timeouts.

Jay County wasn’t able to seal the game, and was forced to punt in the final minute while backed up into its own zone.

A short punt gave Logansport the ball at the Jay County 41. The Berries had no timeouts and there were 39 seconds remaining to play.

They got down to the JC 10 with six seconds left, and called upon Perez.

It’s the last thing the Patriots wanted to see. Perez had made all three of his extra point kicks. During warmups, he was making kicks from further than 40 yards.

A 27-yarder from the left hash mark seemed like it would be nothing but a chip shot.

A false start backed the Berries up 5 yards, leaving Perez with a 32-yard attempt for the win. Jay County coach Tim Millspaugh used his final timeout in an attempt to ice Perez.

The snap to Dusten Wilson was high, and the Logansport senior had to take off running. Jay County’s Ethan Theurer and a host of Patriots chased him down for a 10-yard loss, sealing the Patriots’ one-point win.

Noah Hummel ripped off his helmet and ran to the sideline, where he was met by Stigleman, who became the school’s all-time leading rusher on a 9-yard carry in the second quarter. They jumped in jubilation by the painted numbers in front of their sideline, celebrating the team’s first sectional win since 2013.

“It was the greatest feeling ever,” Theurer said. “Knowing that we get to play another week of football, the best feeling ever.”

One week after totaling a career-best 225 rushing yards, Stigleman carried the ball a career-high 36 times for 158 yards, his fourth straight game with 100 or more yards.

“Our offensive line did a great job,” he said. “It was tough. They were big and physical, but I feel like our line did a good job against them and our running backs ran hard.”

Even with Stigleman’s record and Hill’s passing milestone, the game will be remembered most for the field goal that never happened.

Millspaugh said after the game he was fortunate Perez wasn’t able to get off the kick.

“That kid has a leg,” he said. “It really made me nervous. As soon as they crossed the 40 … I knew we were starting to get into that range. I’m still glad the ball didn’t get to the tee. That was in our best interest.”