Blacked out (08/29/2008)

HARTFORD CITY - Branigan Norton carried the Blackford Bruins to an early lead in the opening week of the season only to see it slip away in defeat.

Norton didn't play Friday against Jay County High School. But the senior quarterback's teammates didn't let it faze them one bit.

Again Blackford jumped out to an early lead, and again let it slip away. However, this time the Bruins had a bit more fight in them and rallied to defeat the visiting Patriots 46-41.

"After last week we were disappointed with our execution, with the way we played, with the way we coached. We were not happy with just everything about our performance," said first-year Blackford coach Eric Davis, who got 75- and 85-yard TD runs from Norton on the first two drives last week but still lost 39-21 to Southern Wells. "They really responded this week. I guess that's why you coach, to be a part of these kinds of things. To see how much better we got in one week was amazing."

"It's very exciting," he added of his first coaching victory. "I hope there's a lot more of them."

With Norton sidelined because of an injury, Blackford (1-1) still jumped out to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter. The Patriots (0-2) scored three consecutive touchdowns to push ahead 27-20 at the end of three quarters, but the home team refused to let a week one repeat itself.

Tyler Riley scored two TDs for the Bruins, and then Jorden Nickols, replacing Norton, hit the Bruins with his third and fourth TD runs of the game. His 18-yard jaunt with 2:04 to play put Blackford on top 46-40, and Adam Barnes picked off Billy Wellman in the end zone on Jay County's final drive to seal the victory.

"It was a huge play," said Davis after watching Barnes fight off the Patriots' Ben Vance for the interception. "Adam made a great play. ... I was glad to see him make that interception."

All of the Bruins' 374 yards of total offense came on the ground as Nickols torched Jay County on the outside and Riley hammered the visitors on the inside.

Nickols, running the option for Blackford, had scoring runs of 29, 63, 61 and 18 yards for a total of 184 on 19 carries. Riley pounded the ball inside for 136 yards on 16 carries, including TD runs of 8, 4 and 59 yards.

"The frustrating thing was our defensive scheme was putting the linebackers right where they were running the football with the quarterback," said JCHS coach Shane Hill, who repeatedly watched Nickols ramble around the left end. "We either were too slow to get there or went too wide and gave him a seam up inside. ...

"They were still playing hard. There's just some technique things we need to get better on and I think we will."

After falling behind 20-7 in the first quarter - the Bruins scored twice in the final 23 seconds of the opening period thanks to a muffed kickoff return - Jay County put a TD on the board in the second to close the gap to 20-7 at halftime. Lance Franklin and Michael Daniels had scoring runs of 16 and 17 yards respectively in the third quarter to push the Patriots ahead only to have Riley and Nichols bring Blackford back to life in the final period.

"You put the two teams up there on paper and you go, 'OK, it's a mismatch,'" said Hill. "But that's why paper doesn't play football. Their kids never quit.

"I mean, we were controlling them in the second half. The third quarter, we owned. ... They never quit. They never gave up hope."

Wellman was solid through the air, completing 21-of-33 passes for 238 yards and two TDs before getting picked off on his final attempt of the game. His favorite target was fellow senior Adam Garringer, who finished with 11 receptions for 135 yards. Dexter Shreve added four catches for 34 yards.

Lance Franklin carried the ball 10 times for 66 yards.

The Patriots will return home next week to host Franklin County, which is 1-1 after defeating Connersville 22-16 Friday night. It opened with a 60-20 loss to Muncie Southside.

Hill said they obviously must improve defensively and stop allowing 40-plus points per game. But he's just as focused on his team off the field.

"We've just got to stay together. That's the biggest thing right now," said Hill, whose team has lost each of its last three trips to Blackford. "Delta was a tough game. It's always a tough game. Blackford was a game we thought we'd come in and we'd be 1-1 at the end of this week and now we're 0-2. The biggest thing we've got to do is really not football. We've got to stay together as a team. ... We've got to fight through this adversity right now. ..."

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