Delta defense pounds Patriots (08/21/04)

PORTLAND — The general goal of rushing plays is to move forward. So, when more than half of your attempts on the ground go the other way, it’s not a good sign.

Jay County ran 36 times Friday night, but 20 of those plays went for negative yardage as the Patriots took a 33-2 loss to the visiting Class 4A No. 9 Delta Eagles.

“We told our kids when we came out here ‘On a night like tonight the trenches are where you win the ball game,’” said Jay County coach Shane Hill. “We just got controlled up front.”

“We’ve got a lot of speed on defense,” said Delta coach Grant Zgunda, pointing to his host of three-year starters on that side of the ball. “We’ve got people flying around and hitting people.”

The Patriot runners were constantly getting hit before they even had time to think about running. That futility along with a couple of big first-quarter plays by Delta put the home team in a hole it would never dig out of.

Delta (1-0) had a nice drive going on the opening possession, but stalled with three straight no-gainers on the Patriot 20-yard line. However, on fourth-and-10, it converted with an 11-yard pass from senior quarterback Tyler Eskew to senior receiver David Lewis.

The Eagles completed the 17-play drive just moments later when Eskew dove across the goal line from two yards out for a 6-0 lead.

Jay County (0-1) went three-and-out, losing a yard on its first drive, and junior Justin Gilbert was sent back to punt with the ball at his own 34-yard line. He never had a chance as a host of Delta players broke through the line for the block.

The ball bounded in the opposite direction until Chance Benbow picked it up at the 3-yard line and slid in for the Eagles’ second score.

Benbow’s touchdown followed by a two-point pass from Eskew to Michael Capstick gave the visiting team a 14-0 lead it would never give up.

“For some reason we aren’t in the mental frame to come back when we’re in a hole,” said Hill, referring to both the players and the coaching staff. “We’ve never done that well (since I’ve been here).

“Things are going to go bad. We have to rebound as a staff and as a team to get back into the game.”

Jay County did manage to end its three-year streak of getting shutout by the Eagles. Eskew gave the Patriots their only points after a bad snap came his way on a punt try and he jogged out of the back of the end zone instead of risking further damage.

Delta added a touchdown on a 9-yard run by Capstick for a 20-2 halftime lead.

With 4:42 to go in the third quarter Eskew hit Kevin Lynch with an 83-yard scoring strike.

In the fourth quarter Justin Blakely completed the scoring on a 1-yard run.

Eskew and Lynch accounted for most of the Eagles’ 161 yards through the air, hooking up three times for 139 yards. Eskew went 7-of-11 for 161 yards overall.

Blakely led Delta to its 153 rushing yards with 69 on 17 carries. Demetrius Anthony added 41 yards on seven fourth-quarter carries.

“Considering the conditions I think we came out and we played hard,” said Zgunda. “It was a typical first game. There were some mistakes here and there, but they played really hard.

“I’m excited about this team.”

Delta’s biggest problem was that it was called for eight penalties totaling 70 yards.

Jay County managed just 81 total yards of offense, most of which came from running back Steven Castillo. The junior proved he could move the ball when given a glimpse of daylight, notching carries of 22 and 35 yards to counteract his six negative carries.

Castillo ran the ball 14 times overall and finished with 60 yards. Gilbert was the only other rusher in positive figures as he ran five times for four yards.

Quarterback Cory Locke went 2-of-9 through the air for 25 yards. He was intercepted once.

Corey Comer had a good night defensively with a pair of sacks and a fumble recovery. Ryan Younts made 10 tackles (six solo) and Devon Huftel added nine tackles (seven solo).

“They executed better than we did,” said Hill. “When you’re playing against state-ranked teams you’ve got to execute as good as or better than they do to compete.”[[In-content Ad]]