Patriots hold off Bruins

With a three-goal lead, the Patriots thought they had the victory in the bag.
The Bruins proved otherwise.
Blackford scored three-second half goals in the span of 15 minutes Tuesday, but JCHS junior Gabbie Mann responded with her third goal of the game and the Jay County defense held on to give the host Patriots a 4-3 win on senior night.
“I saw (the ball) come in from the outside and I just took the opportunity to find the corner and get it in,” said Mann, who notched her sixth hat trick and seventh multi-goal game of the season. “We connected well. We all motivated each other to bring each other up and get that goal.”
The Patriots (6-6) saw their lead vanish on a goal by BHS junior Sara Carpenter and a pair of goals by her classmate Allie Jennerjahn.
Carpenter scored during the 49th minute when JCHS goalkeeper Lilly Rogers came out to make a play on the ball. It deflected off the Patriot sophomore, trickled away from her and Carpenter gathered herself and kicked the ball into an open net.
Nearly 11 minutes later, Jennerjahn tallied her first score on a through pass from Marah Green at midfield, Jennerjahn darted past the Jay County defense and sent a right-footed chip shot over Rogers and into the right side of the net. She scored less than five minutes later on a cross from Hanna Simmons.
“My girls never, ever stop,” said Blackford coach Michelle Gross, whose team is 11-2-1. “I think they came back and got to where they did with teamwork. They just continued to pressure as a team. They knew they didn’t want to go down without a fight.”
Just one minute, 40 seconds after Jennerjahn tied the game, Mann gave the Patriots the lead with her team-high 24th goal of the season. The junior took advantage of a Blackford turnover at the top of the 18-yard box, juked a pair of Bruin defenders then and buried a right-footed shot past BHS goalkeeper Lauren Godfrey for the game-winning goal.
Despite Mann scoring the late goal, the Bruins continued to pressure the Jay County defense. Jennerjahn had a chance at her own hat trick, but her breakaway shot with seven minutes left on the clock went wide right.
A minute later on a corner kick from Maggie Weeks-Foy, a header attempt went over the top of the net. With about four minutes remaining, Rogers punched away a Bruin chance, and Carpenter’s secondary try was sent wide.
“We needed to play a little more lockdown (defense) in the second half and we didn’t,” Laux said. Even though Blackford erased a three-goal deficit, Laux credited his seniors on the back line. “I want to shout out to my defense who has been getting it done a lot — Lexi Myers and Sarah Newton. They were pumped for senior night.”
But it was a junior that stole the show.
In the 12th minute, Sophie Bader sent a left-footed cross that bounced through the Bruin defense and to Mann, who put a shot past Godfrey for the first goal of the game.
Mann scored her second goal of the game in the 27th minute when she got a pass at midfield turned on the jets toward the Blackford goal. A Bruin defender caught up with her, but the junior forward switched to her left foot, dribbled to the center of the field and found and open spot in the right side of the net.
Dunn, the Patriots’ second-leading scorer, got her ninth goal of the season with five minutes left in the opening half. Godfrey turned away a shot from Carmen Lopez, but the rebound bounced to Dunn with the right side of the net wide open. Dunn had missed a couple easy shots earlier in the half, but she didn’t miss this time.
“She was being a playmaker as usual,” Laux said of the senior. “She goes out there to get it done. I love seeing her get another goal.”
The Patriots close out their regular season Thursday against the sectional rival Muncie Central Bearcats. The Patriots are 1-1 this season against sectional opponents, beating the Delta Eagles 5-0 on Sept. 23 but losing to the Yorktown Tigers 3-1 two days later.
Jay County opens its sectional tournament at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Yorktown Sports Park against the Eagles. Yorktown faces Muncie Central in the other semifinal, with the winners advancing to the championship at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11.