Vikings raid Jay County homecoming (10/04/03)

PORTLAND — The Vikings run essentially the same play every time they snap the ball. But, they do it well, and Jay County couldn’t find a way to even slow it down.

Following a nice week at Connersville, the Patriots fell back into what they have done most of the season in a 49-14 homecoming drubbing at the hands of Huntington North.

The Vikings (4-3, 2-0 Olympic Athletic Conference) used mostly the triple option — where the quarterback can hand the ball off up the middle, run around the end himself or pitch to a runner on a sweep — to near perfection. The play was so successful that they had rushed for 275 yards at halftime, including 124 by quarterback Aaron Drummond.

“Ninety percent of their offense we called before they ran it,” said Jay County coach Shane Hill. “We practiced Wednesday on stopping two plays.

“We saw from the (Fort Wayne) Snider tape the main guy we need to stop was their quarterback. We worked, and we worked, and we worked, and he had 100 yards at halftime.”

Drummond was one of two backs to break the 100-yard mark as he finished with 147 yards on the ground in three quarters of play. Chris Kramer ran for 116 yards on seven carries, and two other backs ran for more than 60 yards on the night.

The onslaught by Huntington North was immediate as Kramer returned the opening kickoff 59 yards. Four plays later Ryan Satchwill (65 yards rushing) was in the end zone for the first score on a 5-yard run.

While the Patriot offense sputtered, Drummond and his crew just kept on coming. They put the ball across the goal line twice more in the opening quarter on 2-yard runs by Drummond and Ian Vining (64 yards rushing) for a 19-0 lead.

Matt Carmien added a 28-yard field goal at the 7:18 mark of the second quarter, and Drummond scored an impressive touchdown to close the half.

On the second to last play of the half Kramer was stopped at the 1-yard line. With no time outs and just 14 seconds on the clock when the tackle was made Drummond hurried his crew to the line, got the play off just before the clock expired and dove across the goal line to make the score 29-0 at halftime.

“We just ran our stuff,” said Huntington North coach Keith Wilkins, whose team totaled 433 yards on 58 carries. “The option game is tough to defend. There are a number of different ways to do different things from the same look. It makes it difficult.”

Jay County (1-6, 1-3 OAC) had its own difficulties before the intermission as for the third time this year it went the entire first half without picking up a first down on its own merit. They only Patriot first down of the half came on a 15-yard face mask penalty against Huntington North late in the first quarter.

Shane Hill’s squad went to intermission with just 16 yards of offense on 11 total plays. Jay County has now been outscored 144-23 in the first half this season.

“I just think they have to believe in themselves,” said Hill, of what his team needs to do to be competitive. “They at some point in time have to believe that they’re good.”

Hill credited the fans for again braving ugly weather at both the homecoming parade and the game, but said the players’ success down the stretch will have to come from within.

Huntington North scored twice more in the second half before Jay County got on the board on a 30-yard fumble return by Alex Loucks with 1:30 to go in the third quarter. Adam Foster added a 1-yard touchdown dive as time expired as the second team — which played the entire fourth quarter — accounted for the Patriots’ only offensive score.

Justin Gilbert led the team in rushing in that one quarter of action, finishing with 77 yards on six carries. His runs included a tremendous jaunt in which he cut back left and ran for 59 yards after Huntington North blew up an attempted sweep to the right.

“I told the team in the end zone (after the game) some of those guys had no idea what they were doing,” said Hill, who praised the second teamers for a great effort despite the fact that many of them were playing out of position. “They didn’t care. It looked like to me they were out there having fun just playing.”

Jay County managed just 139 yards on the ground, with Steven Castillo carrying 15 times for 57 yards. Foster completed one pass to Trent Bash for five yards.

Starting receiver and defensive back Mark Kelly did not dress for the game, and is no longer with the team.

Junior running back Michael Myers went down with a knee injury on his first kickoff return of the game and did not return. Junior linebacker Ben Freeman left in the third quarter with what appeared to be another head injury — he already missed two games this season after a concussion against Southern Wells — and his status for the rest of the season is in doubt.

The next game for the Patriots is at Culver Military Friday at 7:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]