July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Stunning win (09/15/07)
JCHS football
Stunning win (09/15/07)
By By RAY COONEY-
MUNCIE - "I love Brandon Reynard."
Lance Franklin said it. Everyone was thinking it.
Reynard's 41-yard touchdown reception with 5.9 seconds remaining put an exclamation point on an insane final nine minutes, giving Jay County a 27-25 high school football victory Friday night over the Muncie Southside Rebels.
"We're good at always sticking together," said Reynard, emphasizing all the team effort that allowed Jay County to overcome a 19-7 fourth-quarter deficit. "That's the thing we do best, I think."
The final quarter included five touchdowns - two in the final 45 seconds - a blocked punt, an interception return for a touchdown, a Southside drive for what seemed to be the winning score and, of all things, sprinklers. But Reynard's moment will be the one that is remembered.
Already having a career receiving night - and after the sprinklers turned on with 13.8 seconds left to cause a delay of several minutes - Reynard got the call. With the ball on the 41-yard line and time running out, the junior was split out wide to the left with a pair of receivers in the slot to his right.
He ran hard down the left sideline and was seemingly ignored by the Southside defense. Wellman delivered a perfect pass, and Reynard made a diving catch at the goal line as the clock ticked past six seconds.
"It was a full vertical, and it looked like everybody was cheating over to the right side of the field," said Reynard, who finished with career highs of eight receptions and 150 yards. "I ran as hard as I could and everybody wasn't really paying attention."
The Patriots had several highlight reel plays, most of them coming in the final nine minutes.
When Southside scored on a double-pass with 10:14 remaining to take a 19-7 lead, it seemed it had the game well in hand. But that all changed when Jay County forced a fourth-and-11 with 8:36 to go.
Jon Rodeffer busted cleanly through the Rebels line, blocking the punt, recovering the ball and taking it to the 15-yard line. Michael Jobe was in the end zone two plays later, pulling the Patriots to within five points.
On the opening play of Southside's next drive, quarterback Jamil Smith attempted a pass over the middle. But Franklin tipped it, caught it and made a 22-yard jaunt to the end zone to give the Patriots the lead.
"I really don't remember what happened. He threw the ball at me, I tipped it and somehow it ended up over there," Franklin said, pointing toward the end zone. "I've got to give credit to the guys blocking when I got that ball ... everybody did their part on that play."
The Jobe and Franklin touchdowns were separated by just 16 seconds, and had the Jay County crowd rocking. However, Southside wasn't finished.
A fumble gave the Rebels the ball with 2:47 remaining for a final chance to take the lead. And that's exactly what they did.
Smith turned in the key play, scrambling all over the backfield before finding Chris Lewis on the left side for a 34-yard strike. A pass interference penalty pushed Southside to the 12-yard line, and two plays later Smith threw a quick pass to Wenstone Nash on the right side. Nash cleared the corner of the Patriot defense and dove into the end zone for a 25-21 lead with 44.8 seconds left.
Jay County (3-2, 1-1 Olympic Athletic Conference) simply refused to stay down, getting scrambles of 18 and 7 yards from Wellman after Aaron Daniels' kickoff return placed them at the 34-yard line. Wellman tossed one incompletion over the middle - the sprinklers came on during the play - before hitting Reynard for the winning score.
"That went from one of my best wins ever, to my worst loss ever," said Mike Paul, who is in his 30th year as the Rebels' head coach.
"It's almost impossible to (do that against) a prevent defense ... That just can't happen."
Wellman finished 12-of-29 passing for 200 yards, with most of that going to Reynard.
It was also the best rushing game of the season for the Patriots. Sam Lyons picked up 87 yards on 19 carries, including a 15-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and Jobe had 86 yards on just seven attempts filling when Lyons was injured in the fourth quarter.
"I just think the confidence has skyrocketed," said JCHS coach Shane Hill. "When you comeback and you do those sorts of things, I think you realize the talent that you have, the potential that you have and the fact that you're never out of a ball game. ... I think it's huge. ... This was a big win for us."[[In-content Ad]]
Lance Franklin said it. Everyone was thinking it.
Reynard's 41-yard touchdown reception with 5.9 seconds remaining put an exclamation point on an insane final nine minutes, giving Jay County a 27-25 high school football victory Friday night over the Muncie Southside Rebels.
"We're good at always sticking together," said Reynard, emphasizing all the team effort that allowed Jay County to overcome a 19-7 fourth-quarter deficit. "That's the thing we do best, I think."
The final quarter included five touchdowns - two in the final 45 seconds - a blocked punt, an interception return for a touchdown, a Southside drive for what seemed to be the winning score and, of all things, sprinklers. But Reynard's moment will be the one that is remembered.
Already having a career receiving night - and after the sprinklers turned on with 13.8 seconds left to cause a delay of several minutes - Reynard got the call. With the ball on the 41-yard line and time running out, the junior was split out wide to the left with a pair of receivers in the slot to his right.
He ran hard down the left sideline and was seemingly ignored by the Southside defense. Wellman delivered a perfect pass, and Reynard made a diving catch at the goal line as the clock ticked past six seconds.
"It was a full vertical, and it looked like everybody was cheating over to the right side of the field," said Reynard, who finished with career highs of eight receptions and 150 yards. "I ran as hard as I could and everybody wasn't really paying attention."
The Patriots had several highlight reel plays, most of them coming in the final nine minutes.
When Southside scored on a double-pass with 10:14 remaining to take a 19-7 lead, it seemed it had the game well in hand. But that all changed when Jay County forced a fourth-and-11 with 8:36 to go.
Jon Rodeffer busted cleanly through the Rebels line, blocking the punt, recovering the ball and taking it to the 15-yard line. Michael Jobe was in the end zone two plays later, pulling the Patriots to within five points.
On the opening play of Southside's next drive, quarterback Jamil Smith attempted a pass over the middle. But Franklin tipped it, caught it and made a 22-yard jaunt to the end zone to give the Patriots the lead.
"I really don't remember what happened. He threw the ball at me, I tipped it and somehow it ended up over there," Franklin said, pointing toward the end zone. "I've got to give credit to the guys blocking when I got that ball ... everybody did their part on that play."
The Jobe and Franklin touchdowns were separated by just 16 seconds, and had the Jay County crowd rocking. However, Southside wasn't finished.
A fumble gave the Rebels the ball with 2:47 remaining for a final chance to take the lead. And that's exactly what they did.
Smith turned in the key play, scrambling all over the backfield before finding Chris Lewis on the left side for a 34-yard strike. A pass interference penalty pushed Southside to the 12-yard line, and two plays later Smith threw a quick pass to Wenstone Nash on the right side. Nash cleared the corner of the Patriot defense and dove into the end zone for a 25-21 lead with 44.8 seconds left.
Jay County (3-2, 1-1 Olympic Athletic Conference) simply refused to stay down, getting scrambles of 18 and 7 yards from Wellman after Aaron Daniels' kickoff return placed them at the 34-yard line. Wellman tossed one incompletion over the middle - the sprinklers came on during the play - before hitting Reynard for the winning score.
"That went from one of my best wins ever, to my worst loss ever," said Mike Paul, who is in his 30th year as the Rebels' head coach.
"It's almost impossible to (do that against) a prevent defense ... That just can't happen."
Wellman finished 12-of-29 passing for 200 yards, with most of that going to Reynard.
It was also the best rushing game of the season for the Patriots. Sam Lyons picked up 87 yards on 19 carries, including a 15-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and Jobe had 86 yards on just seven attempts filling when Lyons was injured in the fourth quarter.
"I just think the confidence has skyrocketed," said JCHS coach Shane Hill. "When you comeback and you do those sorts of things, I think you realize the talent that you have, the potential that you have and the fact that you're never out of a ball game. ... I think it's huge. ... This was a big win for us."[[In-content Ad]]
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