Jay holds off Spartans (09/23/06)

It doesn't matter how many points they come by, as long as the Patriots can put them in the win column.

Jay County stopped Connersville running back Jamie Taylor on fourth-and-3 with 50.6 seconds left Friday night for a third straight one-point victory over the visiting Spartans, 21-20.

The Patriots held off Connersville 14-13 last season, and won by the same 21-20 score in 2004. This year's one-point win gave them a second straight Olympic Athletic Conference title, with their three OAC victories coming by a combined total of 11 points.

"It feels great, a win's a win," said linebacker Casey Waters, who stopped quarterback Gary Cerqua on the second-to-last play for the Spartans. "I doesn't matter if you beat them by a mile or a yard.

"We just finally said, 'Enough's enough.' We put our fist down, stayed at home, read our keys and we finally got the job done."

After Waters held off Cerqua, who had marched his team down the field, Kyle Cook led the defensive charge on what would be the final play for Connersville.

Facing fourth-and-3 at the Patriots' 11-yard line, the Spartans came out of a timeout in a one-back set with Cerqua under center and Taylor lined up as a wing back on the right side. They sent Taylor in motion to the backfield, and Cerqua turned and pitched to Taylor running left. But he was met by a host of Patriot tacklers, led by Cook, and never had a chance.

Taylor was tackled at the 10-yard line, leaving him two yards short, and Jay County quarterback Billy Wellman took a knee twice to run out the remaining 50.6 seconds.

"Oh man, I was freakin' out," said Cook, the wild-haired junior defensive end, after the contest. "I saw them running to my side and I had one thing on my mind - wrong arm the guy and get under it and spill it to the outside. We did and the boys came through and cleaned it up nicely.

"It's amazing to have two conference championships in a row. That's something that hasn't happened for us, ever. It's nice."

JCHS coach Shane Hill, who has now led the Patriots to three OAC titles in his five seasons, credited the defense for coming up big when the game was in its hands.

"We just looked at our defense during that time out and we said, 'If you stop them ... we are conference champs.' We put it all on their shoulders. We were trying to defend everything because we didn't know what they were going to come out in. We were ready for play-action, the option they were running with Cerqua ... Our kids stepped up and penetrated the line and made the play when we needed to."

Jay County had a 21-14 lead and was lining up for a key fourth-and-2 play when the game was halted by lightning for nearly an hour. The 2003 meeting between the same two teams at Connersville was also delayed by lightning before being stopped for a 33-7 Patriot win.

Following the long delay, the Spartans stood strong and then cruised down the field behind senior quarterback Gary Cerqua.

Slowed only by a couple of holding penalties, Cerqua expertly moved the ball down the field. He completed a 27-yard pass to DeAngelo Burton on a third-and-9 play, then kept the ball himself on seven of the next eight plays.

Cerqua racked up 55 yards on those seven runs, the last of which put Connersville on the 11-yard line for its fatal fourth-and-3.

"We tried to stretch them with formation, we tried to stretch them with motion - textbook what you do with a situation like that," said Snodgrass. "We just didn't get the play. We didn't get the yardage we needed.

"We gave it to our best back behind our best lineman, and that's what happens."

The short fourth-down run marked the Spartans' second failure in trying to rally to tie or beat Jay County. Cerqua scored what could have been the tying touchdown with a 10-yard run 2:04 into the final period, but Mitchell Martyne busted through the line to block T.J. Godar's extra-point try.

"We've had some close games here in the conference that we've been fortunate to pull out," said Hill. "That's playoff atmosphere. You're not going to go into a playoff game and walk through teams and beat them by three or four touchdowns. You're going to have to win those one-point games, those three-point games, those one-score victories. We've been faced with three weeks in a row and we've came out on the winning edge."

Jay County never trailed in the game, despite being out-gained 366-199, after opening the scoring on a 42-yard pass from Wellman to Justin Mann less than two minutes into the game.

Connersville tied the score early in the second period when Tre Riddell swept around the left end for a 51-yard touchdown, his second scoring run of more than 50 yards in as many games.

Sean Hatzell put the Patriots back on top for good on a 34-yard pass from Wellman with 9:10 left on the second-quarter clock. Both of his receptions this year have gone for touchdowns.

Jay County then got some help from the wind when Michael Jobe's kickoff got hung up in the air and became a de facto onside kick. The Patriots recovered the free ball and moved the remaining 42 yards in 12 plays, going up 21-7 on Corey Comer's 2-yard touchdown run.

Cerqua got the Spartans within one score with his 9-yard run with just 59 seconds remaining in the opening half, but the blocked extra-point and fourth-down failure kept Connersville from its second victory of the season.[[In-content Ad]]