JCHS defeats Indians (10/16/2008)

HARTFORD CITY - Jay County High School's boys soccer team earned its first regional berth in school history Wednesday night. But that accomplishment was marred by an ugly post-game incident.

The Patriots won a contentious game - an Anderson player was red-carded and thrown out, and seven yellow cards were issued between the two squads - by a 3-2 score in the second of two regional semifinal games at Blackford.

But as the players walked off the east side of the field to line up to shake hands, Anderson goalie Andrew Wilson went running into the fan seating area on the west side. He chased a fan, identified as a Blackford High School student, north behind the bleachers before the fan slipped and Wilson dived into him cleats first.

As other fans began to get involved, Wilson's teammates realized what was going on. Then the entire Anderson roster went sprinting across the field, creating a mob scene just south of the concession stand.

Fortunately it did not turn into a full-scale riot, and officers from the Blackford County Sheriff's Department were able to disperse the crowd and direct the Anderson players to their bus. Police remained on hand until the parking lot was clear, and BHS Athletics Director Marty Daniel said no arrests were made.

Daniel said in the aftermath he was told by Patriot fans that the Blackford student involved did not say anything to incite the melee, but rather it was Jay County adult fans who were behaving poorly.

"I just think it's unfortuntate when kids work so hard to try to accomplish a goal athletically or anything ... that parents can just kind of steal some of the shine and the enthusiasm from it by trying to get involved in the game," said Daniel, who noted that a report will be made to the IHSAA. "Instead of cheering for their team, they're cheering against the other team. If we could all just find a way to cheer for our team maybe we'd all be better off."

No JCHS players were involved in the incident, as the coaching staff and other school officials ushered them back to their bus parked on the road that runs along the east side of the field.

A phone message left requesting comment from Anderson AD Steve Schlindler this morning was not returned.

JCHS athletics director Ted Habegger would not comment on Wednesday's events, but said that he and other Jay Schools officials will be on hand at Saturday's regional championship game to encourage good sportsmanship.

Jay County will play Muncie Central, a team it defeated 4-2 in its season opener, in the title game at Blackford Saturday at 11 a.m. The Bearcats, who scored all of their goals in the second half to win Wednesday's first semifinal game 3-0 over New Haven, have never won a regional championship in five previous finals appearances.

On the field Wednesday, the Patriots' victory came thanks to three second-half goals.

After the Indians took a 1-0 lead into halftime, Jay County (17-0-1) wasted little time in evening the score. Less than four minutes into the second half, Patrick Johnson pushed the ball up the right side and then hit a crossing pass from near the end line.

The ball flew over a jumping Trey Dunn in front of the goal and on to Brad Horn, who used a header to put the ball in the left corner of the net with 36:42 on the clock.

Just four minutes later Derek Bartlett took a free kick from the 25 yards out on the right side. He hit a shot at Wilson, who made the save but was unable to hold on to the ball. Fernando Garcia tried to clear it, but was unable to and Dunn was on the spot to tap the ball into the net and give JCHS the lead for good.

"That was beautiful," said JCHS coach Alan Bailey of the first goal. "That was just our typical play.

"Today we didn't get our real good hard shots," he added in regard to the second, "but our trash ball came in today. It was just hard effort going after it."

The Patriots added an important insurance goal after Isaac Poole was tackled with 10 minutes left in the game. Dunn took the ensuing free kick but just tapped the ball backward to Joe Rasmussen, who slammed a shot to the right corner for a 3-1 lead with just 9:36 remaining.

That goal became huge when Anderson's Justin Stafford hit a shot from the right corner of the 18-yard box, and it glanced off the head of a JCHS defender and in to the left corner of the goal with less than four minutes to play.

Jay County was able to hold on the rest of the way for the 3-2 win.

The final 56 minutes of the game were played with the Patriots holding a one-player advantage because Anderson's Jose Librado was red-carded and ejected after he threw a punch at Jordan Moser.

In soccer, when a player is thrown out, his team does not get to replace him. Instead, the Indians played the remainder of the game with 10 players on the field and the advantage allowed Jay County to make some adjustments.

"I pushed Joe (Rasmussen) up more into the midfield instead of having him play back, so I could have him controlling the ball hopefully with his passing skills," said Bailey. "We just put more pressure on the midfield to keep the ball down here and not let them have a chance to make their runs. There were only playing two forwards then."

Moser picked up a yellow card for his part in the exchange with Librado.

Patrick Freeman, Andrew Gray, Fernando Garcia, William Dorf and coach James Kempson of Anderson all had one yellow card in the game, and David Darby picked up a yellow card for the Patriots.

The two cards against Jay County will have a lasting affect, as it marked the fifth of the seaseon for both Moser and Darby. By IHSAA rule, any playing who receives five yellow cards in a season is suspended for the next game.

Despite being down one player, Anderson was able to take the lead in the first half. That score came with 10:15 on the clock when Ephraim Lieway took control near midfield after a JCHS goal kick and moved the ball up to his left. He then passed left to Gray, who sent a long shot toward the goal.

Patriot goalie Adam Daniels tried to jump on the ball, but it skipped past him on the rain-soaked grass to and into the right corner of the net.

Bailey said his team was not worried, despite the trailing on the scoreboard.

"If you could've seen how comfortable these kids were at halftime, I mean, I'm biting at the bullet and these guys were laid back," he said. "They weren't concerned. They knew they were going to come out and play hard."

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