Jay offense blasts Bruins

The Bruin offense got off to a good start, scoring on its first drive.
The Patriot offense was simply better.
Jay County took advantage of two Blackford turnovers and scored 26 points in the first quarter in a 46-21 victory Friday night.
“It feels really good,” JCHS senior Drew Huffman said of his team’s first victory of the season. “We were God-awful in week one. It is good to move past it and win this one.”
“I give a lot of credit to coach (Tim) Millspaugh,” said Blackford coach Steve Rinker, whose team fell to 0-2 on the season. “They are doing some good things with their skilled kids that they have. They are utilizing their speed.”
Blackford drove 65 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, but didn’t score again until midway through the third quarter.
Jay County, meanwhile, answered with a 60-yard scoring drive of its own, capped by a 15-yard run by Huffman. Blackford held on to its lead when the point after attempt failed.
Bryan Stancliffe recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and then caught a pass down the right sideline from quarterback Holton Hill. On the next play, Huffman went untouched into the end zone from 6 yards out for a 13-7 Patriot lead.
The mishaps continued for the Bruins on their next drive, as they were forced to a three-and-out. On the subsequent punt, Jacob Confer couldn’t handle the low snap, corralled the loose ball in the end zone and was met almost immediately by Huffman. Confer battled to get out of the end zone to prevent a safety and was brought down at his own 1-yard line.
Jay County lost 5 yards on the first play of its drive before Stigleman went around the right side of the line from 6 yards out for his first of three touchdowns on the night.
The sophomore carried the ball 13 times for a game-high 144 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Huffman added 80 yards on 10 carries as the Patriots racked up 264 yards on the ground.
“My offensive line is awesome,” Huffman said. “They do a great job for me, Cole and Levi (Hummel) — whatever backs are in. It is nice. It makes your job easy when no one touches you.”
“We expect a lot of them and they delivered tonight,” Millspaugh said of his backfield.
The Patriots’ passing game was almost as effective as the run.
Following Stigleman’s first score in the opening quarter, Blackford was forced to punt yet again. On the next play, Hill found Aaron Neal wide open down the left sideline and connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass.
Hill was 8-of-17 passing for 219 yards and two TDs.
“We wanted to hit some short passes and we saw what they were doing a little bit and thought we had some shots deep,” Millspaugh said. “Neal we got on a fade route, we felt like he could outrun the guy and he did a nice job.
“Holton put the ball up and gave him a chance to compete.”
Hill’s eight completions, 200-plus passing yards and two touchdowns — he found Stigleman wide open on a wheel route early in the fourth quarter — are all career-highs for the sophomore signal caller. It was the most passing yards for the Patriots in more than three years.
“The thing I really like about Holton in the QB position — he’s not the biggest in terms of height or weight — he is a pretty smart kid. He communicates what he sees and matchups he likes.
“I was really pleased with how he played tonight.”
The Patriots led 26-7 at halftime, and the Bruins came out of the locker room a much better team than they went in at intermission.
Trailing 33-7 after Stigleman’s touchdown reception, Blackford scored 14 straight points on touchdown runs from Chase Mahan and Colin Jones. Mahan, the quarterback, kept the ball on an option read play and ran up the middle for a 29-yard score. On the Bruins’ next drive Mahan gave the ball to Jones on the option and he ran 40 yards for a touchdown.
“We finally got some things going in the second half offensively,” said Rinker, whose team had cut the deficit to 33-21. “I thought we executed well and did some pretty good things. Again a couple mistakes, the momentum switched and it went down the wrong way again.
“We were never consistent enough in stopping the big plays. If we could have done that it would have allowed us to be a little more competitive.”
Stigleman’s long run came on the next Patriot possession, and Mahan threw an interception the next time Blackford had the ball. The turnover — the fourth takeaway by Jay County — led to Huffman’s final touchdown run of the game.