Bruins dominate Jay County, 19-0 (08/30/03)

PORTLAND — A sloppy, wet field Friday night turned the game over to the men in the trenches. Blackford’s simply did a better job.

The Bruin football team opened a season at 2-0 for the first time since 1984 as it turned in two defensive touchdowns on the way to a 19-0 victory over the Jay County Patriots.

“Our defense came up with great plays tonight,” said Blackford coach and Jay County graduate Steve Boozier. “They played their butts off tonight.”

Turnovers again destroyed any chance for the Patriots as they gave up the ball four times, three of which ended up in scores.

Two of those scores came from the defense, both by defensive back Mark Isenberg. The junior put the Bruins on the board in the first quarter, stripping the ball from Alex Loucks at his own 30-yard line and returning it all the way for a score seven minutes into the game.

Neither team did much for the next two quarters until Isenberg struck again just moments into the final period. Adam Foster — who was brought in to try to kick start the offense — was picked off by Isenberg on his second attempt, and again Isenberg took it to the house for six points and a 12-0 lead.

Jay County (0-2) finally did move the ball into the red zone for the first time on its next drive, but Loucks fumbled again on a fourth-down run to give the ball away. Blackford gave it back with a fumble of its own, but the Patriots deepest penetration down the field would end in another turnover.

After pushing all the way to the Blackford 14-yard-line with a few big plays from Loucks and Devon Huftel, Foster fumbled a snap and Joey Batten pounced on it with 4:37 to play. It took the Bruins a little longer to score after that turnover, but not much, as Batten finished what he started with a 79-yard scoring run.

Batten served as the Bruins workhorse as he, Isenberg and Bonvillian turned in big play after big play. He ran the ball 22 times for 144 yards, surpassing his 19-carry, 130-yard game a week ago against Southern Wells.

Isenberg rushed for 18 yards and turned in the two defensive touchdowns, and Bonvillian had 19 yards on the ground to go along with a blocked punt and an interception.

“He’s an ironman,” said Boozier of Batten. “He was on the field all night. Again, that offensive line blocked well for him.”

“Turnovers are huge,” said Jay County coach Shane Hill. “We turned the ball over last week. It was sloppy conditions, but they had sloppy conditions too. You can’t give people points.”

Blackford did a better job of controlling the ball as well. It had a few fumbles, but lost just one of them for their only turnover.

The Patriots’ offense did nothing to keep their defense off the field in the first half.

They managed just two total yards of offense as the Bruins manhandled them on the line of scrimmage, and didn’t earn a first down until there was 6:40 left in the third quarter. The did not make it past the 50-yard line until the fourth quarter, and saw the red zone just once.

The shutout marked the third in a row, as Jay County has not scored since last season’s first-round sectional victory over Bellmont. They lost to Muncie Central 20-0 in the next round.

Loucks led the team in rushing with 10 carries for 33 yards. The team averaged just 2.2 yards per run — compared to 4.6 yards per carry for Blackford — and had 12 plays go for negative yardage.

Hill said he’s just not sure what buttons to push to get the right effort and desire out of his team after two rough games to open his second season.

“At times we look great,” he said. “At times we move the ball. And, at times we fall apart.

“Plan D, E or F, whatever it is, I’ve got to go to it.”

He’ll see if any of those plans work next Friday when Southern Wells — which lost to Blackford 29-14 in its opening game — visits Harold E. Schutz Stadium at 7:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]