Pats power past Cougars (10/13/07)

GREENFIELD - A victory going into the tournament is always good for the confidence. For the fifth straight season, the Patriots are heading to the sectional on that high note.

The Jay County High School football team, which will host Muncie Central in the opening round of sectional play next week, capped its regular-season Friday night with a 28-13 victory over the host Greenfield-Central Cougars.

"We told the kids that 5-4 was not an option. The only way we were leaving Greenfield-Central was 6-3," said JCHS coach Shane Hill, whose team is now guaranteed a third consecutive winning season. "We couldn't drop two heading into a sectional that we think we can compete in and have a chance of winning. It's just not good for your psyche, not good for your confidence level. So this was a much-needed win."

The Patriots (6-3) looked like they could put up a blowout victory to end the regular season as they scored twice in the opening four minutes. But the offense, often because of dropped passes, stalled for the remainder of the opening half and Jay County led just 12-6 at the intermission.

But in the second half the Patriots put together a couple of sustained drives to keep control of the game.

After forcing a three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half, Jay County took control at its own 21-yard line. Thirteen plays and nearly five minutes later, Michael Jobe scampered to the end zone on an 11-yard touchdown run.

"They did a nice job moving the ball, which was a big concern of ours," said Greenfield-Central coach Roger Dodson after watching his team give up nearly 400 yards of total offense. "They've been putting 34 points per game on the board. We needed to be a little more consistent ourselves. We didn't really help our defense out."

Greenfield-Central's second long touchdown pass of the game pulled the home team back to within seven early in the fourth quarter before the Patriots put the game away for good.

Taking the ball at its own 29-yard line with nearly seven minutes remaining, Jay County put together a nine-play drive. The effort included a key 17-yard catch and run, including several broken tackles, by Dexter Shreve on a third-and-6, and Billy Wellman finished it off with a 5-yard stroll to the end zone.

Hill praised his team's second-half effort.

"We didn't do that last week. That was the focus this week, to make sure we played four quarters of football," he said. "Even with the mistakes that we made in the first half, we were still competing at a very high level and playing the kind of football we want to play.

"We had some great drives in the second half when we really needed them, and the defense came out and made some adjustments and did some things well."

Wellman powered the offense in more ways than one against the Cougars (4-5), who were on their longest winning streak since 2002 - three games - before running into Jay County. The junior quarterback completed half of his 30 pass attempts for 189 yards, including a 34-yard scoring pass to Brandon Reynard on the game's opening drive. He also had a 54-yard TD run in the first quarter as part of a 13-carry, 98-yard evening.

"We put that in a couple weeks ago," said Hill of Wellman's running. "We kind of took a page out of the book of Urban Meyer at Florida. ... I think that's working here for (Billy). ... He was definitely on tonight and he managed the game very well."

After being limited to just three yards on five carries in the first half, Jobe had four runs of 10 yards or more in the second and finished with 89 yards.

Shreve had one of the best receiving nights of his career, catching seven balls for 72 yards. Reynard had four receptions for 92 yards.

"Dexter's big thing that we can not figure out, and it's in practice too, is for some reason the kid can't be tackled. It just dumbfounds me," said Hill. "He breaks tackle after tackle after tackle. ... Catching the ball underneath and then turning and getting yards after the catch (is huge). For some reason he's just really elusive."

Greenfield-Central's two scores came on long passes from quarterback Justin Hiser to receiver Ben Zirkle, both seniors. They connected on a 35-yard strike with just 1:06 left in the first half to pull within 12-6, and hooked up again on a 62-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter.

Hiser completed just 8-of-23 passes, but racked up 207 yards. Most of his tosses went in the direction of Zirkle (five catches, 146 yards).

"With those two guys, and really John (Tennant) on the other side, we can get on the board pretty quick," said Dodson. "We were able to do that and that kind of got it turned a little bit for us."

Alan Brown and Lance Franklin led the defense with six tackles apiece. Brown had a sack and a forced fumble, and Franklin came up with a fumble recovery.[[In-content Ad]]