Jay Co. finally exorcises the Vikings (10/16/03)

HARTFORD CITY — In less than 20 seconds, Jay County’s season could have ended.

When Dave Johnston’s penalty kick was rejected 15 minutes later, the Patriots could have given up. It just wasn’t their night.

But, with goals from seniors Johnston and Kyle Carpenter, they made it their night. Jay County rallied after allowing a goal just 17 seconds into the game to defeat the Huntington North Vikings 2-1 in first-round sectional action at Blackford Wednesday.

“Payback, finally,” said Jay County coach Alan Bailey, whose team had been denied Olympic Athletic Conference titles by the Vikings in each of the last two seasons. “Oh my, that was a big game. That was a good game. Except for 17 seconds, we controlled the entire game.”

“We got down,” said Johnston, “but it was great how it didn’t affect us. We knew this was our game to win.”

The victory — the Patriots’ first ever against Huntington North in boys soccer — sends them to a semifinal showdown Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Norwell Knights. Jay County (11-5) defeated Norwell by a score of 3-0 during the regular season.

A win over Norwell would send Jay County to the championship game, where they could meet Bellmont or defending champion Heritage Saturday at 7 p.m. The Patriots lost to Bellmont 2-0 this season, and were eliminted by Heritage in last year’s sectional semifinal round.

Jay County reached this year’s semifinal thanks to its pair of senior goals and an outstanding effort from a senior-led defense.

The Patriots flew down the field for the tying score in the 21st minute of the first half, with Chad Keen taking a long punt from Trent Bailey. Keen went off to the races down the left sideline and sent in a beautiful crossing pass.

Goalie Ryan Zimmerman of Huntington North had a bead on the ball, but Carpenter cut just in front of him and knocked in the first goal with a header. It was undoubtedly the turning point of the game, with Jay County dominating play the rest of the way.

The second, and game-winning, Patriot goal was almost identical to the first, this time with Carpenter controlling the ball on the left side. He ripped in a crossing pass to Johnston, who sliced in front of Zimmerman at exactly the same spot on the field and booted the ball in for the score.

“I was down for a while,” said Johnston, who had been denied the tying score on a penalty kick by a great Zimmerman save earlier in the game, “but I knew I couldn’t let that miss keep me down. I picked my head up, kept hustling and got my goal.”

Johnston and Carpenter, who each finished with two shots on goal, came close a couple times early in the second half before the game turned to Jay County’s defense. Led by seniors Adam Brandt, Drew Lloyd and Jon Starr, the Patriots refused to give Huntington North a decent look at the goal.

The Vikings (7-6-3) didn’t have a good shot in the second half, and were limited to six shots on goal in the game. Three of those came from Michael Reust.

“We put the pressure on from the get go,” said Bailey. “All the kids stepped up. There wasn’t a weak link out there.”

The Patriots didn’t look particularly strong when the Vikings jumped in front on a goal by Austin Kline after just 17 seconds of play. Jay County needed a great diving swipe by Bailey six minutes later to steal a crossing pass by Reust which could have easily turned into a 2-0 Viking lead.

But, Bailey made another awesome leaping grab of a crossing pass later, leading to the punt to Keen and the tying score. From there it was the Patriots’ game to win, and they did.

“They swarmed the ball,” said Huntington North coach Tim Becker. “I don’t know what it was, but they beat us to the ball.

“We had some good opportunites, some good flurries, we just couldn’t connect on them.”[[In-content Ad]]