Sectional gets 3 new teams (03/30/2009)

INDIANAPOLIS - Two foes from the early days of Jay County High School will be in the sectional mix for the next two seasons.

The IHSAA released its football tournament series realignment today with three new teams joining Jay County in Sectional 12.

More than half of the sectional group will remain the same as the Patriots, Delta, Marion, Muncie Central and Muncie Southside stay put. But Mount Vernon, New Castle and Pendleton Heights have left the group to join five schools from the Anderson and Indianapolis areas in Sectional 13.

Replacing that trio in Sectional 12 will be Wayne, New Haven and Fort Wayne South Side.

In the previous grouping, Jay County won its first sectional title by defeating Muncie Central, New Castle and Muncie Southside in 2007. The Patriots finished 3-7 last season with a first-round sectional loss to Marion.

Fort Wayne South Side went 6-6 last season and its last sectional title came in 2005. Wayne was 5-7 and New Haven finished 2-9.

Jay County has never played Fort Wayne South Side in football, but the other two newcomers to Sectional 12 were both once on its regular-season schedule.

Wayne was the season-opening opponent for the Patriots from 1977 through '80, and was also on the schedule during the 1991 and '92 seasons. The Generals also defeated JCHS in the opening round of the 2001 sectional tournament.

New Haven and Jay County played regular-season games in 1976 and '77.

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