Patriots beat Bruins

HARTFORD CITY — It took a quarter for the Jay County offense to get rolling.
Once the Patriots got moving, the Bruins had a hard time slowing them down.
The Jay County High School football team had 342 yards of total offense — all but 3 of it rushing — in a 21-14 victory Friday over the Blackford Bruins.
It was the sixth straight win for the Patriots over the Bruins.
“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for what they did offensively,” Blackford coach Steve Rinker said of the Jay County running game. “If you don’t have big horses to go against that offensive line and what they’re doing in the backfield, it makes it tough.
“They were pretty efficient.”
Jay County (1-1) had a 7-6 lead at the intermission, and on the first possession of the second half it drove deep into Blackford territory before turning the ball over in the Bruins’ red zone.
On the ensuing drive for Blackford (1-1), Jay County forced a three-and-out as the Bruins were unable to move the ball. The Patriots extended their lead to 14-6 by marching 70 yards on seven plays, including a 16-yard touchdown run by Levi Stant.
The Bruins only managed 24 yards on their next drive — they had 193 yards of total offense — and Jay County extended its lead to 21-6 by taking more than seven minutes off the clock in the final seconds of the third quarter and into the fourth.
“They were steady and consistent offensively,” Rinker said. “Those long drives, they’re eating up the clock and we’re saying ‘we’ve got to get our defense off the field.’”
But the Patriots chipped away at the Blackford defense, going 12 plays on the scoring drive, in which Nick Clemens reached the end zone twice. The first TD run was called back by a holding penalty.
Blackford didn’t give up, however.
On their ensuing drive, Mahan hit Jacob Tobey on an out route for 8 yards on a third-and-5. After an incomplete pass, Kien Gee, who accounted for all three touchdowns in Blackford’s 20-0 win Aug. 22 over Freemont, took Mahan’s option pitch eight yards across midfield to the Jay County 46 yard line.
Two plays later, Mahan found Brandon Burkdull on the right side of the field for a 31-yard TD pass to make it a one-score game.
On the following kickoff, the Bruins attempted an onside kick. But Jay County’s Aaron Neal, who picked off Mahan’s pass late in the second quarter, jumped on the ball at the Patriots’ 31-yard-line with 3:26 remaining in the contest.
Jay County went right back to its bread and butter, taking two minutes off the clock on the next four plays before the Bruins called their final time out with 1:16 remaining. After the break in the action, Jay County came out in the victory formation, running out the clock for its first win of the season.
“I thought the kids did a nice job,” JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh said, “Last week we struggled after drive one. It takes some guts for your kids to see a lot of poor play and believe they can continue to do it.
“To their credit, they persevered through it.”
Jay County fell behind early 6-0 when Blackford returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to the Patriot 20-yard-line. Gee scored on Blackford’s first play from scrimmage on an option pitch around the left side of the Patriot defense.
“He did a nice job as a hard runner,” Millspaugh said of Gee, who finished with 94 rushing yards on 11 carries.
After its opening drive stalled in Blackford territory, Jay County had its second drive end on a turnover inside the Bruins’ 25. The Patriots defense forced the Bruins to a three-and-out on its next possession, and Jay County drove 69 yards on eight plays to take a 7-6 advantage midway through the second quarter.
Andrew McShane capped off the Patriots’ four-minute scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown for his first career TD.
The Bruins threatened to retake the lead just before halftime, but Mahan’s pass on third-and-goal deflected off wide receiver Daniel Strickland and into the hands of Neal in the end zone for a touchback.
Jay County’s defense held Blackford to fewer than 200 yards after surrendering more than 400 in a 48-6 loss to Delta, and Millspaugh said the Patriot offense was able to feed off the defense’s improvement.
“When we started to make some stops, I could see the bench and the energy of the kids,” he said. “I think without question, they because the catalyst for the offense.”