First half dooms Jay County (08/18/07)

MUNCIE - The season opener left the Patriots still playing a game - the "what if" game.

What if two first-half interceptions hadn't resulted - one immediately and one eventually - in Delta touchdowns?

What if a high snap on a punt try had not given the Eagles possession just five yards from the end zone?

What if they had been able to score on any one of their three tries from the 9-yard line at the close of the first half?

And what if they had been able to take advantage of any of Delta's three-and-outs in the third quarter?

In the end those questions are what will haunt the Jay County football team about Friday night's game, in which it shut out the Delta Eagles in the second half and score twice in the fourth quarter of a 28-18 defeat.

"It's kind of the same old thing," said JCHS coach Shane Hill. "Our defense plays really hard and does some good things but we can't put them out there 80 percent in the first half ... We still had a chance to score there ... but you can't give them turnovers and they can't result in touchdowns."

Three first-half turnovers and the errant snap helped Delta, which has not lost to the Patriots since 1992, take control of the game.

The Eagles (1-0) grabbed the lead on Greg Heban's 21-yard counter less than four minutes into the game, and then capitalized on a Jay County miscue. On the second play of the ensuing drive Jacob Smedley picked off a Billy Wellman pass and took it 35 yards untouched to the end zone.

"That was huge," said Delta coach Grant Zgunda. "We were just trying to mix up coverages and trying to get pressure on him, which we did at times but then we couldn't tackle him."

The third Delta score came after the high snap on a punt set the home team up on the Patriot 5-yard line, from where it took junior running back Kyle Stevens just a single play to tally his first touchdown of the year.

An Eagle fumble set up Jay County's only score of the first half - a 12-yard pass from Wellman to Justin Mann.

However, Delta followed with its only sustained drive of the game - 14 plays for 76 yards - for a 1-yard Stevens touchdown and a 28-6 lead.

Left with 43 seconds on the clock, a halfback option pass for 28 yards, a 19-yard completion and a pass interference penalty gave the Patriots an opportunity to slice the deficit. But three pass attempts from the 9-yard-line fell incomplete.

The only true bright spot for JCHS in the first half was junior cornerback Dalton McGill, who picked off a potential Eagle touchdown pass in the end zone and recovered the fumble that led to the Mann touchdown.

"Oh my goodness, what a night for him to debut," said Hill. "Aaron Daniels has been working with him ... and has taken him under his wing and kind of been a mentor to him as a senior. ... He's talked to him about the pressure of playing on Friday night and about being out there on an island like we put our corners ... Dalton did a great job."

The effort by the Patriots (0-1) was much better after the intermission as they limited Delta to just a single first down in the third quarter. But they also failed to score from inside the Eagle 10-yard line on their second drive of the second half, missing another golden opportunity.

They did manage to get in the end zone twice in the fourth quarter on passes of 80 yards to Justin Mann and 40 yards to Adam Garringer from Wellman. But the second of those came with just 49 seconds on the clock as they fell to the 10-point defeat.

Wellman finished with 250 yards through the air on 11 completions, five of which went to Mann for 133 yards. Michael Jobe ran 10 times for 49 yards, and Lance Franklin had all of his five carries for 30 yards in the second half.

"The first quarter just comes back to haunt me. I think about that first quarter and the mistakes that we made," said Hill. "But we outscored them in the second half, they punted the ball quite a bit in the second half, our defense I think really stepped up. Our offensive line started protecting for Billy so he could see the field. ... I think we saw tonight that our offense has the quick strike ability if we can get the ball to people in the open field they can do stuff with it in a hurry.

"And our defense as a whole, it'll be really scary to see what our defense can do when our offense plays as much as they do. If we can split the game into half offense, half defense, and our defense is fresh ... it's scary what our defense will be able to go out there and do to other teams."

Two Delta quarterbacks combined for 151 yards through the air - 77 to all-state receiver Brady Young - but unlike last season, the Eagles also pounded Jay County on the ground. Stevens rumbled 30 times for 111 yards with just one carry of more than 10 yards.

"They just wear on you, and their line was big this year," said Hill. "They were all 230 plus. They laid on us tonight, and then Stevens coming at 225 is a big load. And when you get a lead like that, you can do that."[[In-content Ad]]