Headed to finals (10/10/2008)

HARTFORD CITY - Many teams might panic when falling behind in a tournament game. But being down on the scoreboard has become the Patriots' comfort zone.

Like the first game between the nearby rivals, Jay County High School's boys soccer team fell behind South Adams in their sectional semifinal contest Thursday at Blackford. But as has been the case all season, the Patriots roared back with four unanswered goals for a 4-1 victory over the Starfires.

Before closing the season by winning its final three games by a combined 16-1, JCHS had made a habit of falling behind early. It trailed in six out of seven games from Sept. 11 through Sept. 27, but rallied to win them all.

"That's what we do," said Patriot coach Alan Bailey, whose team is now 15-0-1. "It's the same old story every game it seems like.

"We knew they were tired at the end of the first half and we knew that was our chance, to widen the wings and good things were going to happen. And they did."

Jay County will return to Blackford Saturday to take on the host Bruins in the sectional championship game at 11 a.m. Blackford, which led the Patriots during the regular season before falling 6-3, earned its sectional title berth by beating Union City 10-0 Thursday evening.

South Adams coach Tom Sprunger agreed his team was tired following Tuesday's 2-0 loss to Marion in its regular-season finale.

"It wore my guys out," Sprunger said. "I mean, they gave everything they had. ... Tuesday night was a big battle, probably too much.

"But they played well. They played hard the whole, entire game."

The key goal for Jay County came with 7:14 left in the first half when Trey Dunn worked past the defense on the right side. He hit Brad Horn with a crossing pass, and Horn turned, worked for a shot and scored past goalie Jose Rodriguez.

Horn's goal broke the 1-1 tie that had lasted for 18 minutes and gave the Patriots the all-important halftime lead.

"That was huge," said Bailey. "That put the momentum with us. If they're coming into halftime with us tied 1-1, that plays into their hands. ... Getting that lead puts them on their heels.

"Give them credit. They still came at us. It was a good game."

Jay County took firm control early in the second half.

The Starfires (4-11) tried to clear the ball, but JCHS kept it on its offensive third of the field and pushed the ball up to Dunn on the right side. The senior this time passed back to Patrick Johnson, who worked to the left of a pair of defenders before sending a laser inside the right post past the diving Rodriguez.

"It was just footwork," said Bailey of the goal that came 8:38 into the second half. "He did a nice job working it in there. The keeper didn't have a chance. He just drilled it."

Bailey also said the key to his team's play in the second half was keeping the ball wide and using Johnson's skills on the wing.

"Patty on the outside was just, I mean, they couldn't handle him," he said. "They couldn't control him."

Isaac Poole capped the scoring with his second goal of the game with 13:28 on the clock. Jeremiah Cotherman sent a crossing pass in from the left side and the ball got past Rodriguez, leaving Poole to come flying in for a diving header goal.

Poole also scored the opening goal for Jay County, pushing hard to the right post before firing to the left corner at the 25:26 mark of the first half. That score tied the game at one.

"They've got the will to score, and they're going to get it in the net one way or the other," said Bailey. "All three of them, they had to work to get all of them."

South Adams, which won the sectional title last season, had the lead for about seven minutes prior to Poole tying the score. Its lone goal of the game came when Travis Lavy and Patriot goalie Adam Daniels battled for a high ball near the left post. It bounded away from them, and Starfire sophomore Zack Sharp was there to knock it in for a 1-0 lead.

Although SAHS went on to the loss, Sprunger said he was happy with the effort this year.

"Out of my eight seniors, six of them were new," he said. "We just wanted to have a season and guys came out just so their friends had a season. I couldn't be more proud of them. ... I couldn't ask for anything more."

After Tuesday's regular-season finale senior Trey Dunn said the key to a possible championship battle against Blackford would be that the Patriots keep their composure. Bailey agreed with that assessment following Thursday's victory.

"That will be our focus in practice tomorrow," said Bailey. "They know we have to come in focused and not let (the Bruins) get in their heads.

"There is no love lost between these two teams. It should be a doozy. ... We're going to come out and just play our game."[[In-content Ad]]