Fans enjoy tourney run (03/24/06)

With each step of the tournament, the fan base for the Jay County boys basketball team has grown.

The school sold more than 4,000 tickets to the Patriots’ Class 3A state championship game against New Castle, the end to what has been a special trip. A team which has this kind of late-season success will always have its band-wagon jumpers enjoying the ride, but it’s even more special to those who were there from the beginning.

And that especially goes for the students.

“This season’s been really magical,” said senior Josh Shatto, one of a group of student fans which has been a mainstay on the front row throughout the season. “The community has been able to come around the boys a lot. We’ve just had a lot of fun with it.”

“At the beginning of the season everybody thought the team was going to be good and it was going to be a good year, but after each win I think that the students got more excited,” added junior Theresa Reinhart. “Now we’re heading to state and the whole school, the whole county, has just exploded in so much spirit. It’s just crazy.”

Senior Joseph Vormohr credited the 2005 graduating class with showing the current students how to be the true heart of the Patriot cheering section. He said it was slow to start this year, but as time went the enthusiasm just kept growing. They had tailgate parties before games and have relished the chance to be a part of three victorious caravans back to Jay County after sectional, regional and semi-state victories.

Coach Craig Teagle said he couldn’t be happier about the way the community, and especially the students, have responded to his team’s run.

“It’s unbelievable support,” said Teagle, noting that the high fives and well wishes in the hallways of JCHS have been constant. “We’ve always had a great adult fan base here at Jay County and they travel well. But as we’ve started this tournament run, our students have just really come out in flocks.

“That’s great, because that’s really what it is. It’s a school thing, it’s a community thing. ...

“I truly believe there have been two or three times in games where the crowd’s enthusiasm and noise and passion for what’s going on has really energized us and allowed us to make a couple plays that maybe we weren’t able to make otherwise.”

JCHS cheerleading coach Mindy Weaver said the tournament run has been a dream come true for someone in her position. The inherent enthusiasm of a state run makes life easy for those in charge of pumping up the crowd.

And several of the cheerleaders have made special efforts to be a part of it.

Senior Jessica Howell was supposed to leave for Germany Wednesday along with a group of other JCHS students studying German. Instead she stayed behind and will fly alone to Europe Sunday, a day after the state championship game.

Junior Kelsey Bone has been battling illnesses for much of the tournament run. Even with mononucleosis, she’s been at every game.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m never going to be able to do it again,” said Howell of the state finals.

“I couldn’t miss this exciting time,” added Bone. “It’s awesome. We’ve never been this far. I couldn’t miss it just because I’m sick.”

The run has also served as inspiration.

Many of the most loyal student fans of the Patriot boys basketball players are their fellow athletes. This run has proven to them just how much they’re capable of accomplishing.

“I can’t even imagine how they’re feeling right now,” said Chelsea DeBoy, a senior on this year’s sectional championship girls basketball team who also plays softball. “It’s awesome.”

“They’re setting the standard for Jay County sports from here on out,” added Reinhart, who plays volleyball and basketball. “I know the girls basketball team is ready for next season already because we know we were so close.

“You don’t have to be a Delta, you don’t have to be a Huntington North to be in the state finals. Jay County can get there.”[[In-content Ad]]