Deficit destroyed (09/16/06)

Looking at the scoreboard and seeing a 21-0 deficit, how can a team possibly think it still has a chance?

"I'm going to have to give that one to the kids," said coach Shane Hill, whose Jay County football team found itself in that exact situation late in the first quarter Friday night. "The kids said that it's not over. They never gave up. They never quit."

The Patriots trailed 13-0 after Muncie Southside's first offensive play, and 21-0 with 2:52 left in the first quarter. And they were down 27-7 with less than five minutes to go in the opening half.

But it was not nearly enough to keep Jay County down. The home team scored three touchdowns in a span of 4:33 to reclaim the lead before the intermission on the way to a 35-27 win over the Rebels.

It was hard to believe the Patriots had a chance to get back in the game, but "we were trying hard to get it into our heads not to give up," said senior fullback Corey Comer.

The first glimpse of hope looked lost when Southside responded to Jay County's first score with a 79-yard touchdown pass. The toss from Jamil Smith to Wenstone Nash put the Rebels back ahead by 20 points with 4:56 to play in the first half, but Justin Mann brought the confidence right back.

Mann took the ensuing kickoff all the way back for a touchdown, igniting the home bench. Clint Muhlenkamp picked up a Chad Nash fumble to get the ball back, and then Jay County put the game on Billy Wellman's right arm.

Starting from the left side, receiver Sean Hatzell faked toward the sideline then cut his pattern back to the middle of the field. Wellman hit him in stride and Hatzell ran the rest of the way for a 69-yard score.

Wellman said that play was the turning point in his mind.

"They had been jumping it all day and the wide receivers came up to me and said, 'Man, look back side,'" he said. "So, I looked play side, looked back side and he was wide open and ran in for a touchdown."

Hill called all of his three timeouts to get his team the ball back with just 21 seconds left in the half and Wellman made it pay off. With the ball on his own 43-yard line, Wellman rolled left as his receivers ran toward the end zone.

The defenders, seemingly thinking the receivers were out of range of the sophomore quarterback's arm, let Dustin Harris continue to run behind them. It proved to be a mistake.

Wellman launched the ball nearly 60 yards in the air, and Harris caught it inside the 5-yard line and strolled in for the score.

Comer credited the offensive line for allowing the comeback to happen, and Wellman echoed that sentiment.

"That was an amazing job by the line," said Wellman, whose second long touchdown pass gave the Patriots a 28-27 lead at the half. "That last play they gave me the time to let my receivers get down there.."

At halftime, "We were ecstatic in there," Wellman added. "We were bouncing off the walls."

"It was electric," added Hill. "The kids were flying high, cloud nine, whatever expression you want to use ...

"It was an unbelievable place to be at halftime."

Jay County busted through the Rebel line as they tried to punt early in the second half, and Chad Nash was forced to run. He was tackled at the 9-yard line, setting up a 4-yard Comer touchdown run two plays later.

Southside had some opportunities in the second half thanks to a blocked punt, a botched Jay County field goal and a fumble recovery, but could not convert. The Rebels picked up 292 of their 360 total yards of offense in the opening half.

"This game really kind of got to me, because our team has always acted great," said Southside coach Mike Paul, whose team missed a chance at their first win since Oct. 1, 2004, at Connersville. "We've always performed well. When they got out there and the adversity got to them a little bit, they didn't react the way we wanted them to. We started to attack each other and not play the way we wanted to.

"I thought we had a chance to end the streak, and we were way ahead."

Jay County's offense came together like Hill had hoped it would all season. The 35 points were just six fewer than the Patriots had scored in their first four games combined, and they racked up 358 yards of offense.

Wellman completed three passes of 49 yards or more and finished with 190 yards total. Corey Comer picked up 99 yards on 14 rushes, and Michael Jobe added 70 yards on 21 carries.

Smith, who likely falls short of his listed height and weight of 5-foot-6 and 109 pounds, was the highlight for the Rebels. He completed 17-of-28 passes for 307 yards, including touchdowns of 26, 62 and 79 yards as Southside built its huge lead.

Wenstone Nash was his favorite target, catching nine balls for 140 yards and two scores.

"You don't see very many kids who are 5-foot-6, under 100 pounds do what he does," said Hill. "They're walking around all over the place, but they don't play football. And they definitely don't play big, huge roles like that kid played. We smacked him a couple of times and he just got right back up and got right back in the huddle ... He's an amazing athlete."[[In-content Ad]]