The Patriots had put together three straight wins, including a couple that gave them a share of the Allen County Athletic Conference title.

Up against a sectional opponent Saturday, the streak ended.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team fell behind in the first half and was unable to rally in a 51-44 loss to the defending sectional champion Yorktown Tigers.

The Patriots, who slipped back below .500 at 8-9, couldn’t keep up with Yorktown (14-5) in the first half as they fell behind by 12. They cut that deficit in half in the third quarter, but the Tigers stopped the rally there for the seven-point win.

Abraham Dirksen was the lone JCHS player in double figures in the loss as he finished with 13 points. Seniors Dusty Pearson and Josh Dowlen added nine points apiece.

Senior A.J. Dunn powered Yorktown to its sixth win in its last seven games with 27 points.

Jay County will face perhaps its toughest test of the season Friday when it hosts Class 3A No. 3 Norwell. The sectional tournament draw is scheduled for Sunday.



Eruption in 4th

PLEASANT HILL, Ohio — A big fourth quarter lifted the Fort Recovery boys basketball team Saturday as it erased an eight-point deficit to beat the host Newton Local Indians 48-44.

FRHS (12-8) faced slim deficits at the end of the first and second quarters before getting outscored 14-8 in the third to fall behind by eight.

But Rex Leverette scored all of his 11 points in the final period and Cole Rammel added seven as the visitors rallied for the win.

The fourth-quarter comeback included four 3-pointers — three from Leverette and Rammel’s fifth of the game. Rammel totaled 28 points, with Leverette joining him in double figures and Landon Post chipping in seven.

Fort Recovery cruised to a 58-31 victory in the junior varsity game, scoring at least 13 points in each quarter. Mason Diller’s 18 points led the way, and Briggs Overman added 14 points.



JCJH tankers roll

Jay County’s junior high swim team dominated the visiting Adams Central Jets for a pair of victories Monday with the girls team winning 167-65 while the boys triumphed 153-76.

Kaitlyn Fisher led a group of six individual event winners for the Patriot girls team, taking first place with times of 30.4 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 1 minute, 8.02 seconds, in the 100 freestyle. Alyvia Muhlenkamp led a top-three sweep of the 100 breaststroke in 1:41.55 ahead of teammates Lila Wendel and Gillian Keller.

Also earning individual wins for the girls team were Kali Wendel (2:39.93 – 200 freestyle), Maria Laux (1:17.33 – 100 backstroke), Gabby Gibson (5:55.47 – 400 freestyle) and Elly Byrum (33.23 – 50 butterfly).

The Beiswangers each won a pair of events for the Jay County boys team. Raif finished first in the 200 freestyle in 2:28.62 and the 50 butterfly in 31.71 while Rockland posted winning times of 5:55.47 in the 400 freestyle and 1:28.84 in the 100 breaststroke.

Picking up single wins were Carson Westgerdes (1:13.35 – 100 IM), Jaxson DeHoff (31.89 – 50 freestyle) and Cooper Glentzer (1:02.71 – 100 freestyle).



Three finish first

Khoden Bentz, Jax McClain and Owen Michael led a group of Jay County Wrestling Club athletes who competed this weekend.

Bentz (54 pounds) won the third/fourth grade division at the Indiana Grade School State Qualifier and McClain and Michael finished first in their divisions at the Franklin Central Beginners Tournament. Joining Bentz in qualifying for the Indiana Grade School State Championships were Blake Wood (second) and Bryce VanSkyock (second).

Qualifying for the freshman/sophomore state finals via a tournament at Hobart were Jayla Huelskamp, Lina Lingo and Tatianna Willis in the girls tournament, and Landon Mills-Blowers and A.J. Heskett for the boys.

Gabe Ardizzone was second at Delta’s Rumble at the Nest, Cooper Reynolds, Max McClain and Alex Huntsman were each third in the Franklin Central Open and Parker Huntsman, Cage Reynolds and Eli Michael were all third at Franklin Central.