Starfire shutout

The Patriots had little to no answer, whether the Starfires were running or throwing the football.

They weren’t able to move effectively on offense, either.

It was a tough night to be a Patriot.

James Arnold was perfect through the air as the South Adams Starfires scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters Friday in handing the Jay County High School football team a 55-0 defeat for homecoming at Harold E. Schutz Stadium.

“That is a really, really good football team,” said JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team dips to 0-7 (0-4 Allen County Athletic Conference) and has been shut out three times this season. “They just physically manhandled us in every facet.

“We knew since seventh grade this was their year; they’ve been building toward it.”

Grant Moser, whose Class A No. 1 Starfires (7-0, 4-0 ACAC) did not play well despite beating county rival Adams Central 29-9 last week, said the focus was cleaning up small things as far as mistakes and penalties.

“I was most happy probably, it might be as near to a perfect game as we could play in all facets of the game,” he said. “Near perfection in all facets of the game. We have to keep getting better though because we want to make a run come tournament time.”

Arnold, a senior, began the night with a measly 6-yard pass to Braden Bixler on the Starfires’ opening drive. Then, instead of a quick out like Moser had scripted, Wanner hit a streaking Drew Stutzman on a fade route down the right side of the field for a 58-yard TD.

After Jay County went three-and-out, just like it did on the game’s opening possession, it took just three plays for Arnold and Stutzman to connect for a 38-yard TD. The Starfires were on top 14-0 and the game hadn’t even reached the midway point of the opening quarter.

Forced to a three-and-out again, Jay County punted, and Trey Schoch returned Sheldon Eley’s punt 83 yards for a touchdown.

Following a Christian Summersett 5-yard touchdown that gave South Adams a 28-0 lead less than four minutes into the second quarter, Arnold threw his third and final touchdown pass, a 44-yard post over the middle to Aidan Wanner.

The junior, who also kicks extra points and on Friday became the program’s all-time leading scorer, added a 25-yard TD run later in the quarter.

Arnold completed all 10 of his pass attempts for 226 yards and three touchdowns all while not playing the second half.

“The passing game starts with Arnold and that dude has a lot of weapons,” Millspaugh said.

Stutzman’s two TD catches covered 96 yards, and Wanner had two receptions for 63 yards. Arnold threw to six different receivers.

“That makes them unbelievably difficult to defend,” Millspaugh said.

Summersett, who had 46 rushing yards on six attempts, also added a 15-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and sophomore Brady Beall scampered 51 yards for his first career TD in the fourth quarter.

The Starfires ended with 361 yards of total offense (237 passing, 124 rushing) on just 28 plays, an average of 12.9 yards per play.

Jay County, meanwhile, ran 40 plays and covered just 64 yards for an average of 1.6 yards per play.

The South Adams defensive front got penetration through the JCHS offensive line no matter if it was rushing the ball one of its 33 times or on the seven pass attempts.

“When we tried to run the ball inside, we couldn’t,” said Millspaugh, whose team was without its leading rusher, Bailey Cox, because of a leg injury. “They just physically manhandled us. We tried to get the ball outside and the pitch was no good. We tried to throw the ball on a three-step drop and the pressure, they were all over us.”

Friday’s loss marked eight in a row and 15 losses in the last 16 games for the Jay County, which is 0-7 to start the year in back-to-back seasons. The Patriots play their final home game of the regular season Friday as they host the Lapel Bulldogs (5-2).

“Sometimes you’re just outmatched. That’s true not just in football — in sports — but in parts of your life, that’s just how it is,” Millspaugh said. “You’ve got to be able to regroup and try and learn from this.”