Highland slams JC (09/12/2008)

ANDERSON - For a half, extra points were all that separated the Patriots from their hosts. The final 24 minutes were a different story.

The Anderson Highland Scots scored three times in the first six minutes of the second half and the Jay County High School football team never recovered in a 49-24 loss Friday night.

"They came out in the second half and whipped our butts in the third quarter," said JCHS coach Shane Hill, whose team is now 1-3 and 0-1 in the Olympic Athletic Conference. "We were in the game, down three points, moving the football, making some pretty good defensive plays, and came out at halftime and they took the wind right out of our sails. We never recovered from that. ..."

Each team scored three touchdowns in the first half, and the only difference on the scoreboard came by the way of Patriot misses on an extra-point kick and a pair of two-point conversion attempts. But Highland (4-0, 1-0 OAC) quickly widened the gap.

On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Jordon Segner blasted up the middle, shaking a group of tacklers off his back and rumbling 65 yards for a touchdown.

Facing third-and-18 on the ensuing drive Billy Wellman fought through pressure and tried to dump the ball over the middle, but was intercepted by Cody Teeters. The senior outside linebacker took the ball back 37 yards just one minute after Segner's score.

Jay County's next drive ended in a punt, and three plays later Nathan Walter showed why he is the No. 3 rusher in the state. He went untouched through the middle of the Patriot defense for a 58-yard TD run.

"We came out playing like we should have," said Scots' coach Randy Albano, who said he didn't think his team played as well overall as it could have. "Our kids rebounded real well the second half. The interception was a big thing that really changed the game. And Jordon Segner's run, I've never seen one like that. That was unbelievable."

Walters and Segner gave Highland a two-headed rushing attack that the Patriots could not stop.

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Walters, who was averaging 190 yards per game, ran 19 times for 228 yards, including two first half TDs and an 80-yard run to cap the scoring in the fourth quarter. Segner picked up 48 yards on his only first-half carry, added the impressive TD run on the first play of the second half and finished with 133 yards on just five rushing attempts.

"They scored four times in the second half. Three of them were big runs and then the one interception," said Hill. "You've got to make a team drive the football, and we didn't make them drive the ball in the second half. Big plays really did hurt us, and then the turnover just electrified them."

Kaleb Ogden completed 6-of-12 for 148 yards for the Scots, and five of those passes went to Derrick Hill for 136 yards. The duo hooked up on a 61-yard TD pass to open the scoring.

Most of Jay County's damage was done through the air as Wellman, who entered Friday's action as the No. 2 passer in the state, racked up 331 yards. He had TD passes of 29 and 25 yards to Dexter Shreve (six receptions, 103 yards), 35 yards to Brandon Reynard (three receptions, 62 yards) and 52 yards on a screen pass to Lance Franklin.

Adam Garringer also had six catches for 94 yards.

However, Wellman was also harassed much of the night by Highland's rush. He was sacked six times, and threw a pair of interceptions.

"The big thing on the pressure was the fact we couldn't establish a run game," said Hill, whose team could only manage 61 yards rushing on 35 attempts. "Our passing game is what it is, and people are going to have to respect that, but when you can't establish at least a little bit of a run game, then they can pin their ears back ..."[[In-content Ad]]