Patriots get first win of season 33-7 (09/27/03)

CONNERSVILLE — The lightning didn’t come quickly enough to save the Spartans.

Instead, Jay County used a thunderous ground attack to go with an occasional huge pass to score its first win of the season Friday night, as it beat Connersville 33-7. The game was called with 8:45 to play because of lightning.

It was a much needed win for the Patriots, who avoided setting a new mark for worst start to a season in school history.

“You have no idea (how good it feels),” said junior linebacker Ben Freeman, who had missed the last couple games after suffering a head injury earlier this season. “It was just great because watching it from the sidelines is the worst thing in the world.”

Freeman’s coach knows the feeling. Shane Hill had been tormented from the sideline for the first five weeks before seeing his team bring everything together against the Spartans.

“It’s the best total team effort that we’ve given,” he said. “We put all the pieces together. Cory (Locke) had some great throws tonight.”

Locke’s big plays — all four of his completions went for more 18 yards or more — combined with the pounding rushing duo of Alex Loucks and Steven Castillo.

Connersville (0-5) struck first on its Homecoming night, but the 11-yard Dominic Woodward touchdown in the first quarter to cap a 25-yard drive was all the scoring it would muster. The TD came after a fumbled snap on a punt try by Trent Bailey, and the Patriots would not allow any more easy opportunities.

Jay County erased the Spartans’ lead with an Alex Loucks touchdown with eight seconds to go in the first period. It took the lead when Loucks went in from 30 yards out with 3:36 to go in the half, and the Patriots exploded to the victory after the intermission.

After holding Connersville to a three-and-out on the first drive of the second half, Jay County wasted little time with just 45 yards between it and the end zone. Looking to build on the 14-7 halftime lead, Castillo opened the drive with a 19-yard run to the right side and followed with a 9-yard jaunt up the middle two plays later.

Then it was Loucks’ turn, as he pushed 17 yards for his third touchdown of the game just more than three minutes into the second half. Castillo took care of the rest of the scoring, and Loucks went on to finish with 127 yards on 14 carries for his second straight 100-plus yard game.

The next Patriot score came on a 70-yard drive, with a Cory Locke 23-yard screen to Loucks and an 18-yard Loucks run setting up Castillo.

The sophomore running back took the ball in for his first career score from two yards out with 3:41 to go in the third period. His second career touchdown came about five minutes later when he punched the ball in from one yard away after an 18-yard pass from Locke to Phil Brown.

The 1-yard touchdown was the last offensive play of the game for Jay County, with Castillo finishing just behind Loucks with 16 carries for 110 yards.

The Patriots got the ball back again and called a timeout as they prepared to send the second team onto the field. Then the lightning came, delaying and eventually ending the contest at the 26-point margin.

“It’s about time we won,” said Castillo. “It was our offensive line. They had holes the size of semis that anyone could have ran through.”

“You could tell in the first half that it had been awhile,” added Hill, whose team had another Loucks scoring run erased on a holding call before the break. “We still didn’t have everything the way we wanted it. We made some adjustment and these kids just come out and took control in the second half.”

The whole game amounted to a domination by Jay County as it gained 252 yards on the ground compared to just 141 by the Spartans. Connersville didn’t get a single first down in the second half.

Locke supported his team’s rushing effort by going 4-of-11 for 116 yards, with passes of 38 yards to Mark Kelly and 37 yards to Justin Adams.

Connersville quarterback Joe Gesell had an awful night in the wet conditions, missing on all nine of his attempts and throwing a pair of interceptions. In fact, the final play of the shortened game was an interception by Mark Kelly as the Spartans tried to convert on third-and-six.

Woodward topped Connersville in rushing with 10 carries for 63 yards, and Kyle Miller took the ball 10 times for 42 yards.

“Practice to game, this was the best carry over we’ve had all year,” said Freeman. “If we stay focused in practice, I think we’ll be able to play up to our potential at Homecoming. We’re 1-5, but we’re a different team now than we were.”

The Patriots will try to even their Olympic Athletic Conference record in their Homecoming contest against the Huntington North Vikings next week.

Each one of the players commended the fans for turning out to the wet game at Connersville and hoped for continued backing as they return home.

“Hopefully we keep this momentum going and roll on through the rest of the season to sectional,” said Loucks. “Right now, we just focus on Huntington North.”

“We’re far from finished,” said Hill.

“One win against Connersville is definitely not something we want to end on. We think with a four-game winning streak heading into sectional we’ll be a very, very hard team to beat.”[[In-content Ad]]