Sectional 12 is up for grabs (10/19/06)

What's the difference between Terrell Owens and Indiana's Sectional 12?

Well, T.O. would have fans believe he is always wide open. This year's Class 4A football sectional actually is.

"We had our sectional luncheon last Tuesday, and all the coaches there were talking about the great match-ups we have in the first round," said Jay County coach Shane Hill, whose team will visit the Connersville Spartans Friday at 7 p.m. "Nobody's a shoo-in. This could be pretty exciting this year."

For the first time in ages the grouping - other quarterfinal games include Greenfield-Central at Muncie Central, Muncie Southside at Pendleton Heights and Delta at New Castle - has no one ranked in the state's top 10.

Delta and Central have been those ranked teams, and the prohibitive favorites going into the tournament, in recent seasons. Occasionally another team, such as Jay County a year ago, has posed a threat, but none has broken through.

In each of the last five seasons - twice in the championship, twice in the semifinals and once in the first round - the Delaware County rivals have met in the tournament with winner always taking the crown. Delta, the defending champion, won titles in 2000, '01 and '05 while Central picked up three straight from 2002-04. The last team to break the stronghold was Muncie Southside in 1999.

This season, most every team has an opportunity.

Delta (7-2 and 4-0 against sectional opponents) with quarterback Tyler Hernly (1,734 yards and 17 touchdowns), running back Kyle Stevens (1,188 yards and 11 TDs) and receiver Brady Young (50 receptions for 1,088 yards and 10 TDs) remains the favorite to repeat. And Greenfield Central (1-8, 0-4), which lost 37-14 to the Patriots last week, is a long-shot. But the six teams in the middle all have reason to believe they can be playing for a sectional crown.

Four of those - Jay County (5-4, 3-1), Pendleton Heights (5-4, 1-1), New Castle (4-5, 2-0) and Muncie Central (4-5, 1-1) - sit within a game of .500 either way. Muncie Southside (2-7, 1-3) and Connersville (1-8, 0-2) each bring unimpressive records, but showed potential against some sectional foes during the regular season.

"I think Muncie Central is still athletic," said Hill of the Bearcats, who lost 28-21 to Delta in triple overtime in the 2005 sectional finale.

"They're going to have athletes all over the field," he added, mentioning tight end and Purdue recruit Ryan Kerrigan (31 receptions for 644 yards and five touchdowns). "Any time you can put a Big Ten kid on the field you're going to have an advantage."

Hill also touted the dangerous New Castle running-back combination of Andrew Alford (1,056 and 10 TDs) and Andre Turner (346 yards and four TDs), who spent much of the year injured, as well as the potent Pendleton Heights passing pair of Kyle Tweed (2,939 yards and 28 TDs) and Kody Lemond (84 receptions for 1,151 yards and 13 TDs).

In order to see any of those teams, Jay County will first have to survive their trip to Connersville.

The Patriots have never lost in the series in Shane Hill's five season's, but each of the last three games have come down to the wire. In this year's regular-season meeting, Jay County jumped out to a 21-7 lead before holding on for a 21-20 win.

Quarterback Gary Cerqua led Connersville back, scoring what could have been the tying touchdown early in the first quarter. But, the Patriots blocked the extra-point attempt to preserve a one-point lead.

Cerqua again marched the Spartans down the field in the closing minutes, using mostly a quarterback option play. But again Jay County held strong, stopping senior running back Jamie Taylor on a fourth-and-3 try from the 11-yard line.

Although he was injured against Anderson Highland and did not play last week against Batesville, Hill said his team expects Cerqua to be on the field Friday night. He also said stopping the senior will be the key to making the semifinal round for the fourth time in his five seasons.

"We weren't very disciplined on the defensive side of the ball," said Hill of that first meeting. "We were trying to make too many plays instead of just trying to handle our individual assignments.

"Offensively we've just got to sustain things. We came out early in the game and moved the ball relatively easily, and then they made some adjustments. And we didn't adjust to their adjustments."

After building the 14-point lead in that contest, the Patriots went scoreless after the intermission. They were out-gained 366-199, despite Billy Wellman's first-half touchdown passes of 42 yards to Justin Mann and 34 yards to Sean Hatzell.

Still, they kept their winning streak against Connersville intact as they won their second straight Olympic Athletic Conference title.

Hill said his team, having won eight straight against the Spartans, is feeling confident.

But, "we're not overlooking anyone," he added. "... the past three have been one-point victories and could have gone the other way very easily."[[In-content Ad]]