Jay Co. takes crown (09/27/05)

Monday’s game was a celebration, almost from the opening kickoff.

Jay County’s boys soccer team scored four times in the first 8:20, rolling to an 11-1 victory over the Muncie Southside Rebels.

The win clinched the Patriots’ first Olympic Athletic Conference title as they finished 3-0 in their week of conference games. They had finished second in the OAC in each of the last three seasons.

“I’m definitely happy,” said JCHS coach Alan Bailey, noting how close the team had come in recent years only to fall short. “It’s so great for the kids.”

It quickly became clear that the Rebels had little chance to stop Jay County as the Patriots needed just 36 seconds to get their first goal. Shortly after the opening kickoff, Sean Adams found Nik Fejza for the game’s opening goal.

Fejza scored again just over a minute later when Dustin Fox found him with a pass from the right side. Fejza was unchallenged as he got to the ball and slammed it to the left corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead.

Goal number three came from Vlady Bjelica with just over five minutes off the clock. He took a pass from Matt Darby on the right side, dribbled easily to the middle of the field and knocked another shot to the left corner.

The prettiest goal came next when Justin Budde got control on the Patriots’ defensive end and sent a pass up the right side to Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman. Scooter cruised down the right side of the field and launched a centering pass.

Aaron Poole was ready, scoring on a header for a 4-0 lead.

Just 34 seconds later Matt Darby swiped the ball from a Southside defender in front of the goal, did a quick spin and knocked the ball into the net.

Darby’s score completed Jay County’s run of five scores in just over eight minutes. It also gave goals to four of the team’s five seniors — Fezja, Bjelica, Poole and Darby — as they played the final home game of their career.

Sean Adams made it 5-for-5 late in the half.

Adams, who picked up his first career goal last week, got a pass from McClung in front of the net to give the Patriots a 6-0 halftime lead.

“That was my goal, to get all of the seniors a score,” said Bailey. “I’ve never had that done before.”

While the victory over Southside was never in much doubt, Bailey said his team has really found it’s groove over the last couple of weeks beginning with their victory at Centerville. He said the difference in their most difficult conference game Saturday against Anderson Highland was his team’s focus.

“They knew they had a chance (to win the conference),” Bailey said. “We knew Saturday was the game that we had to win. They were totally focused and probably played the best game we’ve played all year.”

Jay County, which went heavily to its bench throughout the game, finally gave up a goal to the Rebels six minutes into the second half. Joey Williams, a junior, scored past Matt Darby, who had taken over in the net after regular goalie Derek Mills had taken to the field.

It was all Patriots again after the rest of the way, even as Darby and Bruggeman split the goalie duties for most of the second half.

Luke Darby gave Jay County a 7-1 lead when he beat the Southside goalie to the ball and booted it into the net at the 31:50 mark of the second half. Ryan Wellman nailed a goal less than two minutes later, and Kyle Laux, Bjelica and Justen Moser each added scores for the final margin.

“This was a coaching game,” said Bailey, noting that it was good to get so many players on the field with the sectional just two weeks away. “We could coach now, step back and see things, pull kids out and talk to them and put them back in.”

Jay County connected on 11 of its 19 shots on goal, getting scores from nine different players.

Southside managed just five shots, four of which came after the break. Bruggeman finished with three saves, and Mills had one.[[In-content Ad]]