Patriots clobbered 51-14 on road trip (10/02/04)

LAFAYETTE — If only the game could be judge by the opening drive alone. Or even the first two.

Jay County played its most inspired football of the season early in the game Friday night, scoring each of the first two times it touched the ball. But, it would not score again while the Lafayette Jefferson Bronchos repeatedly reached the end zone in a 51-14 romp over the visiting Patriots.

"It's exactly what we wanted to do," said Jay County coach Shane Hill of his team's first two drives. "Our main focus was to make sure we had drives that lasted big chunks of time on the clock. They have a fast-strike offense, and we had to give them as few opportunities as possible.

"We did that on the first one, and even the second one. The problem is we started to turn the ball over and everything started to snowball on us. Before we knew it we were in a deep hole we couldn't get out of."

The Patriots (2-5) received the opening kick-off and came out like a team on a mission. They marched down the field, with junior quarterback Cory Locke leading the way.

Locke had three plays of 10 or more yards on the drive, including the 12-yard touchdown run which capped it.

Jefferson (6-1), 12th in last week's Class 5A AP voting, answered right back with a four-play touchdown drive in just 1:05. The Bronchos got most of their yardage on two plays, a 45-yard run by Chris Zeese and a 46-yard touchdown pass from Will Bowman to Nick Ott.

Jay County fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but the defense held for a three-and-out.

With the ball back in his hands, Locke engineered another excellent drive to put the Patriots ahead once more.

He started with a 12-yard run of his own, and later passed to Ben Freeman for 29 yards to get the ball into Bronchos territory, and the Patriots got a 15-yard personal foul penalty tacked onto the play.

Justin Gilbert followed with a 22-yard sweep around the right end to get to the 6-yard line.

After a 10-yard holding penalty, Locke faked to Gilbert, rolled left and hit Corey Comer on a crossing pattern for Jay County’s second score and a 14-7 lead.

“We didn't come out to play,” said Jefferson coach

Fred Kutruff of his team’s early effort. “They’re not a bad ball club. They're going to get things worked out. ... But, we weren’t ready. I think we have a pretty good defense, the kids just weren't wrapping up. We got things straightened out. The coaching staff did a great job making a few adjustments."

If they weren’t ready to start the game, they got there as they stared at a seven-point deficit with 2:37 to play in the first quarter.

Jefferson immediately put together another four-play drive, tying the contest on a 41-yard pass from Bowman to Phil DiFabio.

The Patriots again fumbled the kick-off, giving the Bronchos the ball at the 19-yard line. It took them just two plays to score as Bowman went in on a 2-yard bootleg which gave Jefferson the lead for good.

"It's not that we fumble the ball, it's when and where we fumble the ball that's so bad for us,” Hill said. ‘It's bad news. It's the same thing with penalties. ... We’ve just got to mentally stop making mistakes that kill us."

Jefferson continued to put up points, mostly on the strength of Bowman’s arm. He tossed touchdown passes of 36 yards and 2 yards to Zeese and James Hannah-White in the second quarter.

Those scores sandwiched a 7-yard touchdown run by Zeese and gave the Bronchos a 42-14 halftime lead.

Outstanding Jefferson kicker Cameron Miller added a 47-yard field goal in the third quarter, and third-string quarterback Timmy Fogarty passed for a 35-yard touchdown to Juan Gonzalez in the fourth.

There was another touchdown scored which didn’t count in the final total. It meant a lot more than six points to all who were involved.

In a repeat of a gesture at a high school game in Ohio last season Jefferson’s Ben Reuzanaar, who has Down syndrome and was also crowned homecoming king at halftime, entered the game in the fourth quarter and was allowed to run for a touchdown.

He bobbled the ball, but then gained control and ran around the right side.

Reuzanaar went all the way for a 58-yard score, tossing the ball over his head as he cross the goal line with players from both teams cheering him on.

Bowman tossed for 238 yards and four touchdowns, completing 14-of-22 passes. DiFabio caught four balls for 91 yards.

Zeese finished with 82 yards on the ground as Jefferson racked up 379 yards of total offense.

"We had some guys make some nice plays,” said Kutruff.

Jay County got most of its 130 yards of offense on the first two drives of the game. Locke finished 4-of-10 passing for 57 yards. He also led the team with 42 rushing yards.

Devon Huftel had 33 yards on the ground in relief of Gilbert, who carried six times for 26 yards.

Gilbert suffered a neck injury in the second quarter. The injury was not thought to be serious, but he was taken to the hospital for X-rays.

Jay County will return home for its final two games, starting with the homecoming game Friday night against Culver Military at 7:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]