East Jay seventh tops Bruins

Landon Grimes and Brody Auker both reached double figures Monday in a 34-12 victory against the Blackford Bruins.
The EJMS eighth graders lost, 40-28.
Grimes totaled 11 points and Auker added 10 to lead the EJMS seventh graders (3-5). While those two paced the offense, it was the defense that was just as important as the Chiefs held the Bruins scoreless during the third quarter.
The Chiefs had a narrow 6-4 lead after the first quarter, and extended the advantage to 13-6 at halftime. Nine points in the third put East Jay ahead 24-6 heading into the final period.
Griffin Mann added five points, with Nicholas Fields, Bailey Cox, Drake Imel and Brian Zhang scoring two points each.
Brayden Sprunger tallied nine points for the East Jay eighth graders (3-5). Noah Arbuckle and Alex McFarland followed with six points each, and Sheldon Upp chipped in with five points. Gavin Lambert added two points.

Five win hoop shoot
Five winners were crowned Friday in the Elks Hoop Shoot contest at Jay Community Center in Portland.
Griffin Mann was the 12-and-13-year-old boys champion, with Sam Myers (10-and-11-year-old) and Levi Muhlenkamp (8-and-9-year-old) winning the other two boys divisions. Landon Grimes, Abraham Dirksen and Isaac Dues were the runners up respectively.
Braylee VanSkyock won the 10-and-11-year-old girls division, edging runner up Katie Haffner. Jenna Dues finished ahead of Jayla Huelskamp in the 8-and-9-year-old division.
The top two competitors advance to the district competition Jan. 24 in Yorktown.