Pass attack powers Delta over Patriots (08/20/05)

MUNCIE — There were some positives, such as breaking the near half-decade long scoreless streak. But in the end, the result was familiar.

In his first varsity start, with just a couple of varsity passes under his belt, Delta quarterback Tyler Hernly torched the Jay County Patriots for more than 200 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns. His aerial effort led the Delta Eagles to a 32-6 victory over Jay County.

“This is a kid that’s wanted to be a quarterback at Delta High School since he was three,” said Eagle coach Grant Zgunda. “He got his chance tonight and he came through.”

After Delta (1-0) was stopped short on its first two drives, Hernly got it going on the third.

After Chance Benbow returned a Patriot punt 33 yards to the 16-yard line, Hernly took just one play to put the Eagles in the end zone. He hit senior Andy Kennedy for the score with 3:39 to go in the opening quarter.

Hernly engineered another one-play touchdown drive in the second quarter, hooking up with senior Brandon Huston on a 65 yard pass play for Delta’s third score. In all, he completed 13-of-21 passes for 226 yards before the break and finished with 237.

It was the second straight time an Eagle QB had racked up such passing numbers on his home turf against the Patriots as Tyler Eskew had more than 200 yards and four touchdowns in the first half of the 2003 contest.

Huston finished with six catches for 117 yards, and Kennedy also had six catches for a total of 101 yards.

Delta’s other two first-half touchdowns came from junior tailback Demetrius Anthony. He scored on runs of seven and two yards as the Eagles grabbed a 26-0 lead at the half.

“We started three new guys in the secondary,” said Hill of his team’s difficulty with pass defense. “Those guys are going to make mistakes in their first game out there.”

The Patriots (0-1) had their positive moments after making some adjustments at halftime.

They marched down the field on their opening drive, using just seven plays to go 65 yards for a touchdown. The score, at 7:44 of the third quarter, marked the first offensive points for a Jay County team against the Eagles since 2000 — a span of 18 quarters of football.

Micah Enyart keyed the drive when he caught a pass in the center of the field from Cory Locke. He avoided a couple of tacklers, broke for the left sideline and turned the play into a 43-yard gain before Delta could bring him down.

Enyart’s catch and run took the ball all the way to the Eagle 26-yard line, and Locke hit Corey Comer with a 7-yard touchdown passes five plays later.

“Very happy,” was how Hill characterized the way he felt about his team’s second-half start. “That’s not something we’ve done in the past. When we’ve gotten down, we haven’t come back very well.”

Jay County had a little something going on the next drive as well after Locke converted a fourth-and-1 with a quarterback sneak. But, then the turnover bug bit the Patriots.

Locke threw an interception on the next play, and another on the first play of the following drive. Delta scored following the second of those picks, and Comer fumbled the ensuing kickoff for Jay County’s third consecutive turnover.

“If the turnovers hadn’t happened I do believe we would have continued to move the ball,” Hill said. “That depleted the emotion we had coming out of the locker room.”

The Patriots finished with just 103 yards of total offense — the majority (65) coming on the second half scoring drive. They did not get a first down in the first half, punting seven times before the break.

Justin Gilbert paced the Jay County rushing attack with 12 carries for 37 yards. Locke finished 3-of-10 for 53 yards.

Delta, which was penalized nine times, got 120 yards on the ground from seven backs. Dane Cook led the pack with 10 carries for 44 yards, and Michael Capstick added five carries for 37 yards.[[In-content Ad]]