Patriots stomp Southside (09/17/05)

MUNCIE — For the second time in four years, the conference title is within sight.

Jay County got a couple of quick touchdowns and sealed the game with two more in the fourth quarter as it defeated the Muncie Southside Rebels 34-8 Friday night. The Patriots can secure their second Olympic Athletic Conference title in four years when they travel to Connersville Friday.

“The kids are excited,” said JCHS coach Shane Hill. “The kids want this. We’re in the driver’s seat and we’re going to control our own destiny. It’s just a matter of going out and taking it.”

The Patriots (3-2, 2-0 Olympic Athletic Conference) took control early against Muncie Southside despite being tackled for losses on each of their first two plays.

Facing third-and-13 from their own 20-yard line, Cory and Corey hooked up on a big pass play which would be the staple of the team’s offense on the night. Quarterback Cory Comer and tight end Corey Locke got more than enough yardage for the first down as they connected on a 40-yard pass over the middle.

Two plays later Locke and Comer hooked up again, this time on a 34-yard pass for Jay County’s opening score.

The pair would unite for another touchdown pass, this time of 21 yards, in the third quarter. Five of Locke’s seven completions went to Comer, who finished with an easy career high of 156 yards receiving.

Locke, who tossed for 176 yards against Southside last year, went 7-of-9 through the air for 170 yards.

“He’s always been there, we’ve just had trouble getting him the ball, or sometimes we haven’t needed to,” said Hill of Comer. “Tonight was definitely a time that we could get him the ball.

“They said, ‘We’re not going to let Steve (Castillo) and Justin (Gilbert) beat us tonight. We’re going to make Corey Comer, Cory Locke, two wide outs on the outside (beat us). Someone else is going to beat us other than your two running backs.’ (Southside coach Mike Paul Class 4A No. 5) held Muncie Central to 14 points doing that same philosophy.”

Castillo did break a 55-yard touchdown run on the Patriots’ second drive for a 13-0 lead, but Southside was fairly successful at stopping the run for the remainder of the first half.

After scoring twice in the first 5:56 of the game, Jay County went without a point for the rest of the opening half. It had just 44 rushing yards outside of Castillo’s scoring run as Southside pulled all 11 players to within six or seven yards of the line of scrimmage.

“We came out and scored pretty early after a big emotional game last week and maybe they started letting down a little bit thinking that this would be a walk in the park for them,” said Hill. “We came out in the second half real strong. I’m real pleased with that. We wanted to give them a chance to respond.”

Muncie Southside (0-5) opened the second half with a 12-play, eight-minute drive, but could not get any farther than the Patriot 41-yard line. Jay County answered with a nine-play drive which ate up most of the rest of the third period, with Locke and Comer capping it with their second touchdown connection.

Justin Gilbert scored another Patriot touchdown on a 4-yard run four minutes into the final period, and sophomore running back Justin Mann scored his first varsity touchdown on a 48-yard run with 4:17 to go.

Castillo followed up last week’s 200-yard performance with 106 yards on 10 carries. Gilbert picked up 50 yards on 17 rushes.

“I think they’re a pretty good football team,” said Southside coach Mike Paul “They’ve been beaten by Franklin County, who I thought was the best team we’ve played, and they played them well. ... I think (Jay County does) a great job.”

The Rebels’ lone points, and just their second touchdown of the season, came from by far the littlest player on the field. Freshman Jamil Smith, who is listed at 5-foot-4, 103 pounds, managed to squirt through the right side of the Patriot defense and outrun Mann up the right sideline to the end zone.

He picked up nearly a third of Southside’s total offense on that one run, and finished with 77 yards rushing on four carries.

“He’s just a great athlete,” said Paul, revealing that the freshman is even smaller than the roster indicates. “We could probably put him in (all the time) right now, but he’s so little. ... He weighs 94 pounds, I just weighed him the other day. We might have to put him out there because he runs things awful well.

“He competes like he’s a 180 pound kid. We’re real proud of the way he’s performed.”

The only other Southside player to break the 50-yard mark was Chad Nash, who got all of his seven carries for 56 yards in the second half. J.P. Shopher ran three times for 33 yards, and quarterback Wenstone Nash carried 14 times for 31 yards.

The Rebels did not attempt a pass in the defeat.[[In-content Ad]]