July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Bearcats blasted (10/20/07)
JCHS football
Bearcats blasted (10/20/07)
By By RAY COONEY-
Friday night's sectional opener between Jay County and Muncie Central stands in stark contrast to last season's semifinal slugfest.
A year ago, offense was hard to find as the Central Bearcats escaped the home of the Patriots with a 6-0 win on a sloppy field. This time around, Jay County rolled up 474 yards of total offense, including three runners totalling more than 100 yards, and scored four touchdowns in the final 13 minutes in a 49-29 victory.
The rushing outburst - the Patriots garnered 350 yards on 42 carries - came in a game in which two of their three top receivers were unavailable. Adam Garringer missed the game after suffering a concussion last week at Greenfield-Central, and Brandon Reynard was out with an illness.
Jay County was still effective through the air to the tune of 124 yards on 8-of-13 passing, but "that wasn't what the defense was giving us," said coach Shane Hill, who got 100-plus yards from Billy Wellman, Lance Franklin and Micahel Jobe. "They were playing some press coverage with some pretty good athletes out there ... If they were going to give us a six-man box then we were going to run it at them.
"Those five guys up front were huge."
The Patriots (7-3) never trailed after pulling ahead on a safety in the second quarter, but the game was far from secured midway through the third. Jauwan Scaife pulled Central to within 23-21 at the 4:14 mark with his second touchdown reception of the game - 41 yards following a 74-yarder in the second quarter.
But while Scaife, who caught half of quarterback Troy Johnson's passes for 122 yards, was the Bearcats' only real threat, Jay County's offense never stopped coming.
After Scaife's second TD cut the Patriot lead to two, the home team marched right back down the field. JCHS needed just nine plays and barely three minutes to travel 80 yards and push its lead back to nine points. Franklin fumbled on the opening play of the drive, but the ball bounced right back to him and he turned it into a 20-yard game. Wellman also had a 15-yard run on the drive before Franklin capped it with a 15-yard scoring run.
Then Franklin came up big on defense, as he has all season. With Central facing fourth-and 2 from the JCHS 48-yard line, Franklin shot into the backfield to bring down Anthony Mann for no gain.
"It was huge," said Hill, speculating how the game could have been different had Central kept that drive alive. "That's a big play. I think it swung the momentum of the game, because then we went down and put another one on the board."
Jay County needed just four plays to put that next one on the board as Jobe turned in a run of 15 yards before diving in from the 2-yard line.
The Patriot defense stopped Central 3-and-out on its next possesssion, then needed just four plays again to reach the end zone. The key play came when Wellman found Scott Houston down the right sideline for a 26-yard gain, and then passed 6 yards to Dexter Shreve on the next play for the score and a 43-21 lead with five minutes left in the game.
The Bearcats (1-9) scored with 3:26 remaining to again get within two TDs, but Jay County put on the exclamation point with its final drive. Runs of 12, 15, 5 and 10 yards from Jobe pushed the ball down the field before Franklin capped the effort with a 20-yarder for his third TD of the game.
"We couldn't stop them," said Central coach John Hochstettler, whose team had made it to at least the sectional championship in each of the previous six seasons. "That's been our issue all year. We've got some issues with matchups."
Franklin's last carry, his 10th, gave him 114 yards on the evening. Wellman finished with 14 attempts for 117 yards, and Jobe (two TDs) ran 16 times for 112 yards. Each of them had at least four runs of 10 yards or more, including a game-long 33-yarder by Wellman on the third play of the game.
Shreve caught three of Wellman's passes for 50 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Jobe also shared the team lead of eight tackles with Kyle Cook while coming up with an interception and a fumble recovery. Alan Brown added six tackles and a sack as the Patriots limited Central to just 84 yards on 31 carries for an average of 2.7 yards per rush.
Jay County never trailed in the game, and Hill said he was happy with the way his team reacted each time the Bearcats made a run.
"That has not been the case for the most part. We usually get in a rut ... and then we're punting the football and putting our defense back out there," he said. "We were sustaining drives tonight, moving the chains. The emergence of the offense tonight being able to control the game was huge."
The Patriots advance to play at New Castle (4-6), which scored a 42-36 overtime victory over Pendleton Heights (1-9) in its sectional opener Friday, in the semifinal round of Class 4A's Sectional 12 Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.
Hill said after last season's loss to Central, which went on to win the sectional title 24-3 over Delta before falling to Bishop Dwenger by two points in the regional, his team was thrilled with the victory.
"The guys said that after the game was over. 1-8 or not, it feels good to beat Muncie Central," he said. "We're really happy with this win, but nothing's been accomplished yet. We've got to win round two to get to where we really want to be."
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A year ago, offense was hard to find as the Central Bearcats escaped the home of the Patriots with a 6-0 win on a sloppy field. This time around, Jay County rolled up 474 yards of total offense, including three runners totalling more than 100 yards, and scored four touchdowns in the final 13 minutes in a 49-29 victory.
The rushing outburst - the Patriots garnered 350 yards on 42 carries - came in a game in which two of their three top receivers were unavailable. Adam Garringer missed the game after suffering a concussion last week at Greenfield-Central, and Brandon Reynard was out with an illness.
Jay County was still effective through the air to the tune of 124 yards on 8-of-13 passing, but "that wasn't what the defense was giving us," said coach Shane Hill, who got 100-plus yards from Billy Wellman, Lance Franklin and Micahel Jobe. "They were playing some press coverage with some pretty good athletes out there ... If they were going to give us a six-man box then we were going to run it at them.
"Those five guys up front were huge."
The Patriots (7-3) never trailed after pulling ahead on a safety in the second quarter, but the game was far from secured midway through the third. Jauwan Scaife pulled Central to within 23-21 at the 4:14 mark with his second touchdown reception of the game - 41 yards following a 74-yarder in the second quarter.
But while Scaife, who caught half of quarterback Troy Johnson's passes for 122 yards, was the Bearcats' only real threat, Jay County's offense never stopped coming.
After Scaife's second TD cut the Patriot lead to two, the home team marched right back down the field. JCHS needed just nine plays and barely three minutes to travel 80 yards and push its lead back to nine points. Franklin fumbled on the opening play of the drive, but the ball bounced right back to him and he turned it into a 20-yard game. Wellman also had a 15-yard run on the drive before Franklin capped it with a 15-yard scoring run.
Then Franklin came up big on defense, as he has all season. With Central facing fourth-and 2 from the JCHS 48-yard line, Franklin shot into the backfield to bring down Anthony Mann for no gain.
"It was huge," said Hill, speculating how the game could have been different had Central kept that drive alive. "That's a big play. I think it swung the momentum of the game, because then we went down and put another one on the board."
Jay County needed just four plays to put that next one on the board as Jobe turned in a run of 15 yards before diving in from the 2-yard line.
The Patriot defense stopped Central 3-and-out on its next possesssion, then needed just four plays again to reach the end zone. The key play came when Wellman found Scott Houston down the right sideline for a 26-yard gain, and then passed 6 yards to Dexter Shreve on the next play for the score and a 43-21 lead with five minutes left in the game.
The Bearcats (1-9) scored with 3:26 remaining to again get within two TDs, but Jay County put on the exclamation point with its final drive. Runs of 12, 15, 5 and 10 yards from Jobe pushed the ball down the field before Franklin capped the effort with a 20-yarder for his third TD of the game.
"We couldn't stop them," said Central coach John Hochstettler, whose team had made it to at least the sectional championship in each of the previous six seasons. "That's been our issue all year. We've got some issues with matchups."
Franklin's last carry, his 10th, gave him 114 yards on the evening. Wellman finished with 14 attempts for 117 yards, and Jobe (two TDs) ran 16 times for 112 yards. Each of them had at least four runs of 10 yards or more, including a game-long 33-yarder by Wellman on the third play of the game.
Shreve caught three of Wellman's passes for 50 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Jobe also shared the team lead of eight tackles with Kyle Cook while coming up with an interception and a fumble recovery. Alan Brown added six tackles and a sack as the Patriots limited Central to just 84 yards on 31 carries for an average of 2.7 yards per rush.
Jay County never trailed in the game, and Hill said he was happy with the way his team reacted each time the Bearcats made a run.
"That has not been the case for the most part. We usually get in a rut ... and then we're punting the football and putting our defense back out there," he said. "We were sustaining drives tonight, moving the chains. The emergence of the offense tonight being able to control the game was huge."
The Patriots advance to play at New Castle (4-6), which scored a 42-36 overtime victory over Pendleton Heights (1-9) in its sectional opener Friday, in the semifinal round of Class 4A's Sectional 12 Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.
Hill said after last season's loss to Central, which went on to win the sectional title 24-3 over Delta before falling to Bishop Dwenger by two points in the regional, his team was thrilled with the victory.
"The guys said that after the game was over. 1-8 or not, it feels good to beat Muncie Central," he said. "We're really happy with this win, but nothing's been accomplished yet. We've got to win round two to get to where we really want to be."
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