Hernly leads No. 10 Delta over JC (08/19/06)

Jay County's football team did a lot of positive things in its opening game Friday night. But Tyler Hernly is recognized as the best quarterback in the area for a reason.

Hernly and receiver Brady Young, both juniors, hooked up on six plays - two of them went for touchdowns of 58 and 82 yards - to lead the Class 4A No. 10 Delta Eagles over the host Patriots 42-14.

"That's why he's the guy we're going to hang our hat on this year and he's going to have to carry us," said Delta coach Grant Zgunda of Hernly, who went 11-of-20 for 302 yards with 203 of those to Young. "That's what we expect out of him.

"Jay County comes after you. They're real aggressive. Any time you play a defense like that they're going to get you for a loss, and then sometimes we catch them in the wrong thing and we got some big plays."

Hernly had touchdown passes of 64 and 82 yards in the first quarter, but Jay County responded and trailed just 14-7 at halftime.

Then the Patriots missed a golden opportunity on the first drive of the second half, and the game got away from them.

On a third-and-14 play from the Delta 46-yard line, JCHS sophomore quarterback Billy Wellman tossed a perfect fade route down the left sideline. However, Dustin Harris short-armed the ball and it fell off his fingertips and incomplete.

Delta turned around and got a 58-yard scoring pass from Hernly to Young to push its advantage to 21-7. Justin Mann fumbled the ensuing kickoff return leading to another score to put the game well in the Eagles' hands.

"We had two huge hits heading into the locker room that just got the fans on their feet," said Hill of the spirit at halftime. "Our kids were all jacked up."

He said he knew the Patriots could throw the ball, and the near-miss from Wellman to Harris would have tied the game at 14.

"We've never been there before," Hill said. "I'm not sure what would have happened there.

"It was a big swing. You could feel the air, at least I could down on the sideline, being sucked out of the stadium. We've just got to find a way to respond."

Instead Delta pushed the advantage to 35-7 thanks to a fourth Hernly touchdown pass, this time to Jadien Isom for 20 yards, late in the third quarter. The squads traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the final margin.

While the Eagles continued their trend of torching Jay County through the air, the home team also showed it has the ability to hit the home-run ball.

Both of the Patriots' scores came on deep passes from Wellman to fellow sophomore Adam Garringer. The first went for 38 yards in the second quarter, and the second for 52 yards in the fourth.

Garringer also made a great catch in the third quarter, taking a ball away from a pair of Delta defenders as his three receptions accounted for 115 of Wellman's 148 yards through the air.

Hill said Garringer will need to work some short routes to keep the defense honest, but he's excited about the possibilities of opening up the passing game.

"If we give our quarterback time to throw the ball, most times he can put it in the right place," he said. "We can make some things happen."

Neither team got much done on the ground.

Delta picked up 116 yards, but most of that came when both teams had their second units on the field in the fourth quarter. Kyle Stevens and Antonio Altamirano shared the team lead with 33 yards apiece.

Jay County managed just eight yards on 24 carries as Wellman was sacked five times for a total loss of 31 yards. Corey Comer had 17 yards on 11 carries.

Defensive leaders for the Patriots were Alex Michael with eight tackles and Casey Waters with five. Aaron Daniels added an interception.

"We've got our work cut out for us, but we've got six games ahead of us that we've been looking at all offseason," said Hill. "If we don't head down to Indianapolis (to play Class 4A No. 1 Indianapolis Cathedral) at 6-1, we're going to be pretty disappointed."[[In-content Ad]]