Carpenter scores two as Jay beats Scots (10/13/03)

PORTLAND — Jay County needed a win to gain back some momentum as sectional play begins this week. It also had a little Olympic Athletic Conference pride on the line.

The Patriot boys soccer team captured second place in the OAC and ended a two-game losing skid with a 2-0 victory over the Anderson Highland Scots Saturday.

“It felt good to end the season with a win and second place in the conference,” said senior Kyle Carpenter, who scored both of Jay County’s goals. “Now we can go into sectional with some confidence.”

The Patriots will need all the confidence they can get as they open tournament play against the team which has denied them the OAC title in each of the past two seasons. They will play their first-round game at the Blackford Sectional against the Huntington North Vikings Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Jay County dropped a 3-2 decision at Huntington North earlier this season.

“It was a lot better than we played against Muncie Central the other night,” said Patriot coach Alan Bailey of the win over the Scots. “This was an important win to go and get ready for Huntington.

“Confidence-wise it helps me,” he added. “My two senior fullbacks (Jonas Schoenherr and Andy Enyart) stepped up and played the kind of game we need right now.”

Schoenherr and Enyart aided defensive leaders Adam Brandt and Drew Lloyd in silencing the Anderson Highland offense. It had only nine shots in the contest, with the defense saving two and goalie Trent Bailey rejecting the other seven.

The Scots didn’t have much of an answer for the Jay County offense early in the contest.

Less than two minutes into the game the Patriots worked the ball across midfield, with senior Dave Johnston taking control on the near the top of the 18-yard box on the right side. Johnston pushed the ball inside to Kyle Carpenter, who spun around his defender and found himself wide open.

Carpenter ripped a shot past the Highland goalie for an easy score an a 1-0 Jay County lead at the 38:30 mark.

The Patriots (10-5, 3-1 OAC) nearly scored again just moments later. A corner kick from the left side just barely flew past several Jay County header attempts.

Still, the Scots could not break through in the first half, with Bailey making a beautiful save on a header from point-blank range to deny their best try with 5:30 to play before intermission.

The score remained 1-0 through the first 15 minutes of the second half before Carpenter struck again. This time the Patriots worked the ball up the left side of the field, with freshman Luke McClung finding Carpenter with a pass.

Always ready to shoot, Carpenter fired away from about 20 yards out, sailing his shot over the goalie’s head and into the back-right corner of the net. The score gave Jay County a 2-0 lead with 23:26 to go in the game, and that score would stand for the final margin.

“I got some nice passes,” said Carpenter, the team-leader in shots with four. “(The win) is a big confidence builder. We’ll go out and play as if we can win the game (Wednesday).”

Brandt, Sergio Woo, Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman and Chad Keen also took one shot apiece for the Patriots. Bailey said he was happy to see his team outrun the Scots for 90 minutes.

“Our endurance was really good,” he said. “Everybody played hard. Hopefully we’re sitting (in good shape) now.”

Junior varsity

Jay County’s junior varsity team played a couple of games back-to-back Saturday, scoring a 3-0 win over the Muncie Central Bearcats in the opener and suffering a 2-1 defeat to Anderson Highland in the second game.

Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman had two goals for Jay County in the first game, one in each half. Mason Shreve also picked up a first-half score.

Derek Mills denied each of the Bearcats’ three shots on goal.

The Patriots trailed 2-0 in the second game before coming up with a score late in the contest. Shreve scored the goal on an assist from Drew Schoenherr.[[In-content Ad]]