July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

A real class act

Opinion

Not one, but two.

On Saturday, Jay County High School athletes brought home not one, but two sectional championships.

The JCHS boys' basketball team captured its second-straight sectional title at Blackford Saturday night, while the Patriots' girls' gymnastics team triumphed in its sectional competition earlier in the day.

Everyone knows that you don't measure the success of a school by its athletic victories. And many folks would argue that the emphasis on athletics and on winning sometimes gets out of control.

But, just the same, there's nothing quite like a championship to put a smile on students’ faces. And spirited athletic competition has a way of bringing people closer together.

That was clearly the case Saturday.

Jay County should not only be proud of its victors. It should be proud of its fans. Their support and their behavior were simply inspiring this weekend.

The gymnasium at Blackford County High School holds about 4,000 people.

On Saturday night, there were about 3,500 on hand rooting for JCHS and Missinewa High School in the championship basketball game.

It was, at times, a wild night. There was plenty of screaming to be heard on both sides of the gym. At times, emotions were running very high.

But Jay County fans knew when to reach the right level of intensity.

They cheered. They yelled. They moaned now and then. They let the officials know what was on their minds. But they behaved with class.

Coming in a year when schools have had to deal with fans rushing the court in anger, when an ugly incident in Mercer County saw an angry fan punching out a referee after a game, that was reassuring.

So celebrate the twin titles, wallow in the wins, but take special pleasure in knowing that Jay County was a class act in the heat of competition.

That's one more thing to be proud of. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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