Poor first half dooms Jay (09/13/03)

PORTLAND — Jay County football fans haven’t had much to get excited about during the first half this year. And, by the time the Patriots have awakened after the intermission, the games have been all but over.

Such was the case for Jay County again Friday as it was outscored by 17 in the first half on the way to a 27-17 loss to the Anderson Highland Scots.

The game marked the second time this season the Patriots (0-4, 0-1 Olympic Athletic Conference) have not gotten a first down in the first half. They went three-and-out five times before the break with just 18 offensive yards, scoring only on a Trent Bailey 31-yard field goal after a 72-yard kick return by Michael Myers to open the game.

Jay County played better in the second half but it was again too little, too late. When asked about his team’s second-half surge, coach Shane Hill responded with a quick “I don’t care.”

“This is not a game of two quarters,” he said, adding that the team’s slow starts are a mental problem. “This is a game of four quarters. Playing (well) in the second half doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.”

The Patriots have now been outscored 101-9 in the first half this season in falling to 0-4 for the third time in school history. They will try to avoid matching the worst start in JCHS history (0-5 in 2000) when they visit the Muncie Southside Rebels (1-3) Friday at 7:30 p.m.

There was hope for Jay County against the Scots after Myers returned the opening kick to the Anderson Highland 18-yard line. The offense stalled, but Trent Bailey booted his field goal to give his team its first lead of the season.

The lead was short-lived however, as the Scots (4-0, 1-0 OAC) paraded easily down the field on the ensuing possession. They used just 2:14 on a 71-yard drive which ended on a 4-yard run by the state’s rushing leader Andre Payne for a 6-3 lead.

Anderson Highland got perhaps the biggest play of the game to start the second quarter, still ahead by three. Bailey tried to punt on 4th-and-8 from his own 38, but found himself staring 6-foot-2, 300-pound lineman Donald Coates right in the face.

Coates’ blocked punt gave the Scots the ball at the Patriot 22-yard line, and after a holding penalty they reached the end zone on a 28-yard pass from Kai McCurdy to Drew Irwin. A failed 2-point try left the score at 12-3.

As Jay County’s offense continued to sputter, the Scots were successful on their next drive. They took the ball 54 yards, finishing on a 7-yard run by Tony Wilson.

The 2-point pass from McCurdy to Drew was good for the 19-3 halftime margin.

Payne, who had averaged 250 yards per game in the first three weeks, ran 32 times for 158 yards. Wilson and David Hill each picked up 31 yards on the ground.

McCurdy finished 7-of-16 for 94 yards passing, and Drew was on the receiving end of three of those passes for 49 yards.

The Patriots pulled to within 11 points when Adam Foster scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter. The play came after a nice 33-yard strike from Foster to Mark Kelly.

But a couple of key fourth-quarter plays went Anderson Highland’s way.

The Scots faced a fourth-and-1 less than a minute into the final period, and converted on a keeper by McCurdy. The drive ended on an 8-yard scoring run by Payne with 8:35 to play.

Jay County nearly found a way to stay in the game anyway when Foster took a one-step drop, hit Justin Gilbert with a quick slant and watched the sophomore fly 65 yards to the end zone. But, the play was called back on a holding penalty.

“That score would’ve been nice,” said Hill. “But, we have to play through that adversity. If we hadn’t been in such a big hole, that one play wouldn’t have made such a big difference.

“We can’t hang our hat on one or two plays. If we’re a consistent team that plays every down, those penalties won’t kill us.”

The Patriots would eventually get their final score with 2:15 to play on a nice 21-yard sweep by Gilbert, his only run of the game. Foster hit Kelly in the back corner of the end zone for the 2-point conversion.

Foster went 5-for-12 for 78 yards in his first start of the season. Kelly caught three balls for 66 yards, and Alex Loucks carried the ground attack with 13 runs for 45 yards.

Perhaps the best sign for the Patriots was the zero-turnover total against Anderson Highland after having given up the ball 13 times in the first three games. They fumbled just twice, both on bobbled kick returns.[[In-content Ad]]