A step forward

BLUFFTON — Unlike previous games this year, the Patriots didn't have much trouble moving the football.

They set a season high for total offense.

But when they got into the red zone, they had trouble going the next handful of yards.

Defensively, they had their best performance stopping the run despite being without two starters. They just gave up too many big plays.

The Jay County High School football team had four drives stall inside the 15-yard line and couldn't stop Hayden Nern and the Bluffton Tigers in suffering a 48-7 loss Friday night.

“I felt like tonight, we did have some injuries, for our kids to come out and compete, play as hard as they did — beat up — to win the line of scrimmage, to win the rushing battle … I was very, very pleased,” said JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team drops to 0-5 on the season for the second consecutive year and is 0-2 in Allen County Athletic Conference play.

“I thought the effort was something we can build on,” he continued. “I felt kids actually have some confidence to compete against good teams.”

Jay County, which rushed for a season high 314 yards and was without juniors Quinn Faulkner and Kess McBride because of injury, had its opening drive stall on the Bluffton 14 when Sam Dunlavy was a yard short on quarterback bootleg on fourth-and-5. Bluffton (4-1, 2-1 ACAC) marched down the field and scored on its first possession.

Early in the second quarter, Jay County faced first-and-goal from the 10, but didn't get closer than the Bluffton 3. On fourth-and-goal, Rylee Huftel got chased down from behind and brought down at the Tiger 6 for another turnover on downs.

Midway through the third quarter, Bailey Cox had a Dunlavy pass for a would-be touchdown slip through his hands.

Then, late in the same period, Dunlavy’s first-and-goal pass from the 9-yard line got deflected at the goal line and Kody Kinsey hauled in the interception.

“I was really pleased with our ability to run the football going for over 300 rushing yards and 18 first downs,” Millspaugh said. “Certainly we were able to win the line of scrimmage, but when you get inside the red zone the field gets smaller and you get more blitzes.

“Execution becomes more important when the (field) becomes smaller.”

Nern completed 19 of his 29 pass attempts for 342 yards and he scored seven total touchdowns. The 6-foot, 3-inch, 203-pound senior used his legs for the Tigers' first score of the day, a 9-yard run in the opening quarter.

After that he relied mostly on his arm, including a handful of big plays, to throw for more passing yards than he did through the first four games of the season combined.

Nern's first TD pass was a 3-yard toss to Seth Bennett just 1:42 into the second quarter and the Tigers led 14-0. After Bluffton stopped the Patriots inside the 5-yard line, Nern faked a swing pass to Cody Mittlestedt and hit a wide open Robert Malcolm for a 96-yard touchdown.

The first of Malcom's two TDs — he also had a 2-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter — came after he dropped two perfect passes from Nern in the first quarter.

“You just want to try to be consistent,” Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel said. “I think he was looking at green grass before he caught the ball. That happens. Hayden has confidence in him and kept coming back to him. We have confidence in Bobby as a coaching staff to keep coming back to him as well too.

“I was happy he made a big play when his number was called again.”

Nern and Mittlestedt connected for a 25-yard touchdown in the second quarter to put Bluffton on top, 28-0, and they had an 80-yard pitch-and-catch score late in the third quarter.

“Hayden played a really, really good game,” Kunkel said. Nern also was the team's leading rusher with 78 yards on six carries when the pocket broke down. “But I think what factored in there is our offensive line gave him time. Our five guys up front I thought blocked tremendously well.

“What we know about Hayden, he has got a live arm and he is really reading defenses well. We've tailored our whole offense to what he can do. Hayden, when he's on I think he's one of the best around.”

Cox racked up 190 rushing yards on a whopping 27 carries, finishing 14 yards shy of his career high he set in the regular season finale against Heritage as a junior. He entered Friday with 244 yards through the first four games this year.

Caleb Hale ended with a career-high 78 yards, the bulk of which came on the Patriots' scoring drive. The junior took a toss from Dunlavy and went around the right side of the line for a 29-yard TD, the first time he has reached the end zone.

“(Hale) had a really good week of practice,” said Millspaugh, whose team hosts the idle Woodlan Warriors (0-4, 0-2 ACAC) next week.